Ignaz Moscheles: Les Charmes de Londres

I regard Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) as an ‘honorary’ British musician. He was a Bohemian pianist and composer, renowned as one of the leading virtuosos of his time. Moscheles was a close associate of Beethoven, who entrusted him with the piano arrangement of his opera Fidelio. He gained international acclaim for his virtuosic performances and compositions, including eight piano concertos and countless preludes and studies for piano and chamber works. In 1821, Moscheles settled in London, where he later became a prominent figure in the musical scene. He later joined the Leipzig Conservatory as a professor of piano, collaborating with his friend and former pupil, Felix Mendelssohn. Moscheles’ influence extended to composers like Chopin and Schumann, and his innovative approach to piano technique and pedagogy left a lasting impact on the music world.

Following concert appearances in Aachen and Brussels, Moscheles made his way back to London in late January 1827. The months that followed proved remarkably productive: he completed his Fifty Preludes for Piano, op. 73, and penned a Rondo that would later find its place in the Album des Pianistes. Around the same time, he wrote Les Charmes de Londres (The Charms of London), op.74, is a brilliant example of the early Romantic salon style, blending virtuosic flair with cosmopolitan elegance. Published in the mid-1830s, the work reflects both the composer’s affection for his adopted city and his reputation as one of Europe’s leading pianists.

The piece, which is written in A major, opens with a stately Introduction written in 9/8 time:

This sets a scene of refined grandeur before launching into the main Rondo brillant now appearing with a 6/8-time signature:

Here, Moscheles’ gift for melodic invention and pianistic brilliance comes to the fore. The rondo theme is buoyant and urbane, punctuated by dazzling passagework and playful modulations. It is music designed to charm, entertain, and impress - much like the fashionable soirées of Regency London where such works would have been performed.

Though not programmatic in the strict sense, the title invites us to imagine the city’s allure: its glittering concert halls, genteel drawing rooms, and vibrant cultural life. Moscheles, a close associate of Mendelssohn and a key figure in the transition from Classical to Romantic idioms, imbues the work with both technical polish and expressive warmth.

One contemporary commentator (The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, July 1827, p.403) writes:

Les charmes de Londres! Why it is so called we cannot at all guess, n’importe; it a least possesses all the charme of its author’s genius,  and  if it had any illusion to London, it is to the unalloyed pleasure a young heart feels when first introduced to all the splendours and all the seduction of the metropolis. The subject is one of the most bewitching we ever heard, and the whole lesson is as buoyant and sparkling, so full of life and variety, as all the charms of London combined, and more so, for it is without any defects or disagreeables, of which there are but too many in the great city.”

In a slightly patronising review in The Athenaeum: London Literary and Critical Journal (28 March 1828, p.296) the critic writes:

“The simple announcement of this publication will be recommendation sufficient, without our offering any praise: we, therefore, briefly assert that is a worthy a place in every lady’s musical portfolio…It may be unnecessary to add that it requires a good performer upon the pianoforte to do it justice; but it will repay the amateur who is willing to bestow justice upon it.”

Les Charmes de Londres, then stands as a musical postcard from a pianist-composer at the height of his powers - an affectionate tribute to a city that embraced him, and a showcase of the charm he returned in kind.

No recording of Ignaz Moscheles’s Les Charmes de Londres appears to have been commercially released on record or CD, however it can be heard on YouTube, here. The unnamed pianist is playing at the Iowa School of Music.