in 1961, the discovery of a manuscript caused a sensation in the music world. The archives of Radenín Castle, preserved in the National Museum in Prague, contained the part copy of Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major. Until then, the existence of the piece was known only through the entry in Haydn's own catalog of works; the sheet music, however, had been lost. The first performance in Prague and a first recording as well as a printed edition of the sheet music made the public acquainted with the piece in 1962 - the success was resounding.
Although the concerto was composed between 1761 and 1765, Haydn's first years as Kapellmeister to Prince Eszterházy, the piece presents itself as a fully realized masterpiece. There is no fumbling and experimenting, Haydn masters all formal and structural problems with which a composer in the epoch of the early classical awakening was confronted. With rapid virtuoso passages, it also places high demands on the soloist, and the melody is often enough in the technically demanding high register. Thus, the composition also testifies to the outstanding level of the princely court orchestra. Haydn had already entrusted the cellist Joseph Weigl, who was a member of his orchestra between 1761 and 1769, with several solo parts in his early symphonies. With his C major concerto, he made this extraordinarily talented virtuoso immortal.
The Second Cello Concerto, composed in 1783, also had a checkered history. The composition was dedicated to Anton Kraft, who, according to contemporary testimony, was the "first master of his instrument. Kraft's fame as a cellist seemed to outshine Haydn's esteem as a composer in the 19th century; otherwise it can hardly be explained that he was also considered the composer of the piece for a long time. Furthermore, the work was performed for a long time in an arrangement from 1890, which, although it did not challenge Haydn's authorship, virtually distorted the piece by profound interventions in the musical text. Thus a persistent prejudice of lack of tension and ponderousness against the D major concerto could arise. Only the recovery of the autograph in 1954 restored the work to its original beauty, its cheerfully entertaining tone and its sheer inexhaustible richness of melody.
