Haydn's divertimenti belong to a period of his life about which we have next to no reliable knowledge. Up to about 1757, when he was 25, Haydn was dependent on casual work as a musician to keep his head above water.
Of the works recorded here, the
Divertimento in F major Hob.II:20 is the earliest. It was most likely written before the "Morzin" period, not before 1755 and not after 1759. Next to the vivacious first minuet and the rather Baroque outer movements, the concerto gross-like slow movement with its far-reaching cadenzas is particularly outstanding: a wonderful solo violin arioso whose theme strongly recalls the first recitative from Handel's
Messiah ("Comfort ye").
A completely different atmosphere radiates from the
Divertimenti Hob.II:21/22 which were written later (probably for Morzin) and which must have bee composed as a pair of works (between 1757 and 1760). The remaining traces of Baroque writing have generally disappeared, the horns taken on an almost heroic dominance during part of the musical activity, and both works share the virtuoso design of the first violin part. The particularly intimate slow movements, which seem lost in reverie, are little violin concertos that are among the loveliest pieces that Haydn wrote.
Manfred Huss
Adapted from the CD-Booklet