Haydn’s last piano work is also considered to be his most famous single work for this instrument. The minor theme is filled with emotional depth: “a melancholy andante in f minor, with variations, as only a genius can do them, that almost sounds like a free fantasia” (thus described in a review of the time).

The form is also demanding: not merely one theme but two – one in a major key, the other in a minor one – are varied in turn. The autograph gives one to believe that the work was original...