In 1784 Joseph Haydn dedicated three piano sonatas to Princess Marie Esterházy in which the composer surprisingly turned to a two-movement form. This is also the case with the Sonata in G major Hob. XVI:40, which begins with a pastoral idyll in 6/8 time that is effectively complemented by a Presto full of clamorous gaiety.

The editor of our Urtext edition, Georg Feder, is considered one of the most important Haydn researchers of his time. The fingerings by piano pedagogue Hans-Martin Theopold...