Franz Joseph Haydn spent decades of his career in Hungary, in the personal employ of the Esterházy family and writing prolifically for small audiences. This included his first Cello Concerto in the early 1760s.

By 1784, Joseph Haydn was in his 50s and internationally famous due largely to his music being widely published. And though his later concert tours and final symphonies in London were still to come in the following decade, Haydn was already making important connections with his adoring English fans. The Second Cello Concerto - written twenty years after his second - was premiered by one of England's leading cellists, and it's been part of cellists' core repertoire ever since. You can hear Haydn's music as your Midday Masterpiece right here on KXPR at 2pm.