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The Arts: Blessed both in his protected life and in his prodigious musical gifts, the achievements of the great Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) can be overshadowed by those of his equally talented and more worldly contemporaries. Now an exhibition and a series of Irish concerts is bringing his legacy closer, writes Eileen Battersby

IT IS A suitably gracious setting; a subtly lit gallery dominated by the wonders of the Arts of the Bookpermanent exhibition at Ireland’s treasure, the magnificent Chester Beatty Library. The visitor will most likely hear the music of Haydn’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in D Major before the eyes rest on the original handwritten score currently on display in a long glass case. Also on display are other Haydn first-edition scores, including a Dublin first edition of Twelve Original Ballads, which was published by Edmund Lee of Dame Street in around 1820. In this year of the 200th anniversary of his death the world celebrates the achievement of the great Austrian composer, who knew that music is the universal language. Haydn never doubted this.