Joseph Haydn

Divertimenti for Piano (Cembalo)

In the Viennese classical era a divertimento was a light, multi-movement instrumental piece of cheerful, dance-like character. Alongside Mozart, it was above all Haydn who mastered the art of composing light, entertaining divertimentos of the finest quality. As so often with Haydn, the authenticity of the divertimentos for piano, two violins and violoncello attributed to him is not always certain. The present edition offers the five verifiably authentic works of the catalogue group Hob. XIV in its main section, and in the appendix the Divertimento Hob. XIV:C2, which in all likelihood was composed by Haydn. All six - predominantly in C major - are easy to play and thus well suited for domestic music-making. The piano dominates, while the strings provide sonority. For our Urtext edition, including the detailed preface, we were able to engage Haydn scholar Horst Walter.