Finale from Cello Concerto No. 1
The cello concerto in C Major was listed in one of Haydn’s own catalogues but remained unknown for almost 200 years until it was discovered by the Czech musicologist Oldrich Pulkert in 1961. The work was probably written for one of Haydn’s closest friends, Joseph Weigl who played principal cello for the court orchestra of Prince Paul Anton Esterazy. It is thought to have been written for an Esterhazy court concert in Eisenstadt during the early 1760’s shortly after Haydn became Kapellmeister to Esterhazy. Although the work wasn’t discovered until 1961 at a library in Prague, it has become one of Haydn’s most popular works for the cello. Its first modern-day performance was on May 19th, 1962 in Prague.
This arrangement of the finale, for tenor horn and piano, is great fun to practice but contains some fiendishly difficult intervals.