HMR Project: History of Music & Modern Recording

The Romantic Piano of Ignaz Moscheles

Ignaz Moscheles

Born on 23 May 1794 near Prague, Jewish Ignaz Moscheles (ig-nus mah-shuls) had a rich merchant who played guitar for a father. Most of Moscheles' works from Op 1 through Op 142 (plus WoO) were for piano and/or orchestra including a large number of sonatas and études (brief exercises or demonstrations of virtuosity). Upon the death of Moscheles' father he went to Prague with his mother in 1808 where he gave his first public concert, then Vienna, there to study counterpoint and theory under Johann Albrechtsberger and composition beneath Antonio Salieri. It isn't known when he completed his Op 1 in Vienna that is 'Variations sur un Thême de l'Opéra: 'Une Folie' for Piano'. His Op 2 which is '10 Variations sur l'Air favori de l'Opéra: 'Der Dorfbarbier' for Piano' arrived in 1808. I presume that his Op 3 which is 'Polonaise' in D major for piano arrived sometime 1808 to 1810. Chopin, whom Moscheles something prefigures, was born in 1810.

'Polonaise' Op 3 In D major for piano Ignaz Moscheles

Sometime 1808-1810

Piano: Debora Tempestini Italy 18 June 2015

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Beginning to make a name for himself as a piano virtuoso, he and Meyerbeer played duets together during his early Vienna period. He also met and worked for Beethoven, thereat to begin an important relationship between them. Moscheles prepared the piano score to Beethoven's only opera, his 1814 'Fidelio'.

Allegro spiritoso of 'Grande Sonate' Op 47:1 in E-flat major Piano 4 hands

Ignaz Moscheles c 1819 Dedicated to Archduke Rudolph of Austria

Piano: Nakamura Junko / Hayashikawa Takashi

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Andantino quasi allegretto of 'Grande Sonate' for piano 4 hands Op 47:2 in E-flat major

Ignaz Moscheles c 1819 Dedicated to Archduke Rudolph of Austria

Piano: Nakamura Junko / Hayashikawa Takashi

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Adagio & Allegro of 'Grande Sonate' for piano 4 hands Op 47:3-4 in E-flat major

Ignaz Moscheles c 1819 Dedicated to Archduke Rudolph of Austria

Piano: Nakamura Junko / Hayashikawa Takashi

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'Sonate Mélancolique' Op 49 1 movement allegro con passione in F-sharp minor

Ignaz Moscheles Pub 1821 by Maurice Schlesinger

Piano: Michael van Krücker

IMSLP Score

'Les Charmes de Pari' Op 54 Rondeau brillant by Ignaz Moscheles

Comp 1822

Piano: Marc Andre Hamelin Munich 1997

IMSLP Score

Eventually leaving Vienna to tour Europe, Moscheles landed on English soil for the initial time in 1822. In 1824 he became tutor to Felix Mendelssohn, age 15, in Berlin, accounting him a "phenomenon" and "master" already. As with Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Moscheles would work with each other in various ways in the coming years. 'Piano Concerto No.3' Op 60 below is often cited as Op 58 because it is written as such on a score, another case of op numbers confused due to multiple publishers. The proper Op 58 is a rondeau for piano titled 'Jadis et aujourd'hui' published about 1824.

Allegro Agitato of 'Piano Concerto No.3' Movement 3 of 3 of Op 60 in G minor Ignaz Moscheles

Sometimes confusingly cited as Op 58

Comp c 1820 Premiere 29 April 1822 in London Pub 1825?

Dedicated to German composer Ferdinand Ries

Piano: Michael Ponti

IMSLP Georg Predota

'Fantasia on 3 Scottish Airs' Op 57 in D major Ignaz Moscheles

Air 1: 'The Soldier's Return'

Air 2: 'This is no my ain Lassie'

Air 3: 'Over the Water to Charlie'

Pub 1823 in London by Maurice Schlesinger

Dedicated to one Miss Cockburn

Piano: Loredana Brigandi Rome 8 June 2006

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'24 Etudes' Op 70 Ignaz Moscheles

Comp 1825-26 Pub 1827

Piano: Fausto Bongelli

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'Symphony No.1' Op 81 in C major Ignaz Moscheles

Premiere 8 May 1829 in London? Pub 1831

Frankfurt State Orchestra / Nikos Athinaos

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In 1832 Moscheles conducted Beethoven's premiere of 'Missa Solemnis' in London. Moscheles translated and edited the 1841 English edition of Anton Schindler's 'The Life of Beethoven'.

'Piano Concerto No.7' Op 93 in C minor Ignaz Moscheles

Comp 1835 Pub 1837

Dedicated to German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer

Piano: Ian Hobson Sinfonia da Camera / Ian Hobson

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'Deux Études' Op 105 Allegro scherzoso & allegro feroce Ignaz Moscheles

Pub Nov 1841 in Wien by Pietro Mecchetti to fund the Beethoven monument in Bonn

Piano: Evan Chow 17 Oct 2011 at San José State University in CA

Hyperion IMSLP Score

'Quatre Grandes Études de Concert' Op 111 Ignaz Moscheles

Étude 1: ‘Rêverie et Allegresse’ in allegro moderato

Étude 2: ‘Le Carillon’ in allegro giocoso

Étude 3: ‘Tendresse et Exaltation’ in andantino quasi allegretto

Étude 4: ‘La Fougue’ in allegro non troppo

Comp 1845

Piano: Piers Lane

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'Grande Sonate Symphonique No.2' Op 112 for piano 4 hands Ignaz Moscheles

Pub 1846 in Berlin

Dedicated to Roi Louis Philippe I des Français

Piano: Maria Bondarenko / Zoriana Mykhalchuk

Ternopil Regional Philharmonic Ukraine 8 May 2023

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When Mendelssohn died in 1847 Moscheles assumed leadership of the conservatory Mendelssohn had founded in Leipzig in 1843. That position brought him to maintain the rivalry between the Mendelssohn and Wagner camps concerning which Wagner felt that Jews had no place in classical music. His final published opus was Op 142 for quatre mains (four hands) which saw print in 1869.