Joseph Haydn's Concerto No. 2 in D Major for cello and orchestra, Hob. VIIb/2, Op. 101, was composed in 1783 for Antonín Kraft, a cellist of Prince Nikolaus's Esterházy Orchestra.
The piece's authenticity was doubted for some time, and at one stage it was suggested that Kraft himself had written it, but most experts now believe that the work is indeed authentic after Haydn's autograph score was discovered in 1951.
In the first movement of the D Major Concerto, the tone is leisurely and soothing. However, the piece soon enters the development phase, where another theme, building upon the opening theme, is discovered. Finally, the recapitulation returns to the main theme.
In the second movement, the key shifts to the dominant, A major. The tempo marking is "Adagio", slower than many of Haydn's slow movements which are marked "Andante". In the middle of the second movement there is an episode in the rather distant key C major.
The final movement is the shortest movement of the concerto. It is in rondo form, featuring an episode in the dominant key of A major and a more somber digression in D minor. The work ends with a rather cheerful affirmation, less overtly virtuosic than its sister C Major Cello Concerto.
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