Across the Irish Sea in a Gale: Moscheles’ Ordeal on the Road to Dublin, 1826

Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) is a composer I have adopted as being of interest to British Music enthusiasts. Although he was born in Prague and subsequently died in Leipzig he spent much time in the United Kingdom. Many of his works were performed here and he was friends with all the key participants in English music.

The challenges of touring in those days are vividly illustrated by Moscheles’ account of his journey to Ireland in the year 1826. After concluding a lengthy tour of provincial towns, he began his to Dublin.

His wife, Charlotte, in her edition of Ignaz’s diaries [1] states that he began his journey from Liverpool. This seems highly unlikely, as it is on record that gave a concert at the Bath Assembly Rooms, on 3 January 1826. To be sure his diary states that "On the 4th of January, at seven a.m., I started from Liverpool and arrived at Birmingham at eight in the evening.” No concert has been identified from around this time in Liverpool. Charlotte’s assertion reflects either a misunderstanding of the itinerary or a compression of events in her editorial narrative.

On the 1 January 1826, Moscheles entered in his diary: "To-day I can call my happiness my own; by tomorrow I shall have left it. But courage! it must be so! I am in honour bound to fulfil my engagements."  He describes with much minuteness the dangers and difficulties in those days’ inseparable from a long journey, and of which we, in our age of rail and steamer, can scarcely form an idea.

"On the 4th of January, at seven a.m. I started from [Bath] Liverpool and arrived at Birmingham at eight in the evening. On the 5th I travelled without stopping day or night.

At two a.m. I had a grievous contretemps. We were close to Bangor, and I, the only passenger, was turned out of the warm coach into the cold, raw night, and made to cross the rushing river in an open boat. [1] It gave me the shivers, but I stood my ground, muttering my watchword, Courage, and patience!

On the opposite shore a forlorn and solitary passenger got inside the mail-coach, which was standing in readiness. Thus, we jogged on for the rest of the night wind blowing, snow falling - until at last, at five a.m., we arrived at Holyhead.

January 6th. —Eventful day! Severe trial! God's saving hand! In the hotel I found a respectable set of fellow-travellers, consisting of two gentlemen and one lady, ready to embark for Dublin. They were still waiting for the Chester mail, which arrived at seven o'clock. We were told that there was no steamboat to take us across the Channel; that the violent winds of the last few days had kept all the steamers on the Irish side, but that a sailing vessel would start immediately, and carry the mails across in from six to seven hours. Would we passengers cross in that vessel? We agreed and embarked shortly after seven o'clock. It rained in torrents, and the sea was so high that we soon betook ourselves to our berths. I suffered so violently that after a few hours I was completely prostrate.

The gale meanwhile increased. I counted the passing hours. It grew dark, but we did not land. The steward, on being asked when we should be released, whispered, “Who knows? we are doing badly!” - Words too clearly verified by the lurching of the boat. Although I lay smothered in blankets and clothes, my feet perished with cold. It cost me no slight effort to shake off my drowsiness, and groping about, to discover that the seawater had got into my berth; the ship had become leaky.

There was no longer any mystery about that, for the water came hissing into the cabin. The storm howled fiercely; it was pitch-dark. The captain could offer no other comfort than the assurance that we were not far from shore. Of course, not near enough to land. We were surrounded by rocks and sandbanks, and yet not near enough for a distress signal to be perceptible from the coast. At last, after a long battle and the most fearful shocks from the waves, which knocked our vessel about like a plaything, we were able to throw out anchors, and there we poor victims lay till daybreak. In this sad plight, however, I had not lost heart; faith in an Almighty Providence sustained me. I could think with calmness of my wife and child. They sleep peacefully, thank God, without sharing my hard fate.

They will either see me again and rejoice, or bear my loss, with the help of God. I thought with painful composure of my other friends and relations. It seemed but a little step from this world to the next. At last, in the afternoon, the welcome tidings came, “We are all right, a boat has reached our ship and will take us up.” Whereupon, after getting together our goods and chattels, we were thrown, so to speak, with them into the reeling boat, and, after a short fight with the foaming surf, landed in Howth harbour.

There I hired a post chaise, which carried me (a seven-mile journey) to the city. The dreary, sandy plain, the country dotted over with ruins, the sorry aspect of the people, did not, I am bound to confess, impress me very favourably. At last, I arrived in Dublin, drove over the beautiful Carlisle Bridge, [3] and the Liffey, to Westmoreland Street, where I rested for a few hours in a lodging which Pigott, [4] the music seller, had hired for me."

Notes:
[1] Moscheles, Ignaz. Recent Music and Musicians: As Described in the Diaries and Correspondence of Ignaz Moscheles. Edited by Charlotte Moscheles and adapted from the original German by A. D. Coleridge. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1873.
[2] The Menai Bridge did not open until 30 January 1826, some three weeks after Moscheles journey to Holyhead.
[3] Carlisle Bridge is now O’Connell Bridge.
[4] Samuel J. Pigott was a Dublin cellist and music seller who established his firm around the 1820s on Westmoreland Street before moving to Grafton Street. Operating alongside contemporary Dublin dealers like Isaac Willis and Smollett Holden, Pigott built a business that supplied continental and British music scores to the local market and eventually became one of Ireland's major 19th-century music publishers.

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.

Introducing Ignaz Moscheles

Since first learning that Ignaz Moscheles spent much of his career in the United Kingdom, I have regarded him as an ‘honorary’ British composer. Other contenders for this title are Felix Mendelssohn, J.C. Bach, Muzio Clementi, Johann Baptist Cramer and George Frideric Handel. This is not to deny their respective nationalities: only to point out the major contribution these men made to the musical life of this nation.

Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) 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 numerous studies 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, working alongside 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.

Brief Biography

• Ignaz Moscheles was born in Prague, on 23 May 1794.
• Studied at the Prague Conservatory between 1804 and 1806 with the composer and musicologist Bedřich Diviš Weber (1766-1842).
• Moved to Vienna in 1808 for study with Albrechtsberger (counterpoint) and Salieri (composition).
• Became acquainted with Beethoven during 1810.
• Extensively performed in Europe between 1815 and 1825
• First appeared in London during 11 June 1821.
• Gave piano lessons to Felix Mendelssohn in 1824
• Married Charlotte Emden at Hamburg on 1 March 1825
• Settled in London between 1825 and 1846.
• Was director of the Philharmonic Society, 1832, then conductor there from 1845.
• Directed the first London performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis on 24 December 1832.
• Professor of Pianoforte at the newly founded Leipzig Conservatory 1846 to 1870
• Pupils included Thalberg, Litolff, Sullivan, and Grieg.
• Died in Leipzig on 10 March 1870.

Twelve Selected Works

Beethoven had a tremendous influence on Moscheles. Mozart was also another key influence. However, Moscheles is on the cusp between classical and romantic aesthetic: Liszt, Chopin and Robert Schumann were still to compose their great masterpieces. So, he is more associated with such half-forgotten masters as Clementi, Kalkbrenner, Field and Hummel.

Moscheles catalogues includes 142 works with opus number and several dozen without. He typically concentrated on writing music for the piano, with or without the orchestra. There are, however, several pieces for chamber ensemble, including a cello sonata, and music for the flute and several songs.

All the pieces listed below are available on CD, download or streaming. 

1. Variations on a Russian Theme, op.23
2. Les Charmes de Paris, op.54
3. Piano Concerto No.4, op.64
4. Recollections of Ireland, op.69
5. Les Charmes de Londres, op.74
6. Anticipations of Scotland, op.75
7. Symphony No.1 in C major, op.81
8. Piano Concerto No.5, op.87
9. Jeanne d'Arc Overture, op. 91
10. 12 Charakteristische Studien, op. 95
11. Cello Sonata in E Major, op. 121
12. Grande Étude de Concert, op. 126

Further Reading

There were three books published in the Victorian period which still provide the ‘primary’ source material for Ignaz Moscheles studies. Charlotte Moscheles’ Recent Music and Musicians as Described in the Diaries and Correspondence of Ignaz Moscheles, edited by his Wife: Adapted from the Original German by A.D. Coleridge (1873) was the first book to examine the composer’s life and times. During 1888 the Letters of Felix Mendelssohn to Ignaz and Charlotte Moscheles were published in London by the composer’s son, Felix Moscheles (1833-1917). Felix also published Fragments of an Autobiography (1899) which provided some material about the composer.

Aside from these early volumes, listeners had to rely on articles in Grove’s Dictionary of Music, the standard histories of the period and contemporary biographies and memoires of some of the key players in his story. To be sure, copious reviews of Moscheles’ concerts are found in contemporary newspapers and journals.

In 1989 Emil F. Smidak issued Isaak-Ignaz Moscheles: The Life of the Composer and His Encounters with Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, and Mendelssohn. This important volume consisted of extracts from the diaries and letters and included a catalogue of works.

Twenty-five years later, the Boydell Press published Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe by Mark Kroll (2014). It was and remains the first full-length examination of the composer. It is essential reading for all enthusiasts of Moscheles music.

There are also a few theses such as John Michael Beck’s Moscheles Re-examined (1986) and Carolyn Denton Gresham’s Ignaz Moscheles: An Illustrious Musician in the Nineteenth Century (1980).

One extremely important website is ‘Ignaz Moscheles Concert Life.’ This is a spin off from Dr Sevastiana Nourou thesis, Ignaz Moscheles’ reception in the nineteenth century and his influence on concert life, published in 2022. She writes: “In each section [of the webpage] you will find the advertisements and reviews of each concert I was able to locate. All of these have been typed down by myself and thus, I am not using any original images from letters, playbills, and newspapers that I do not have the right to.”

If you can only hear one CD…

I would recommend the Hyperion (CDA67430) recording of Moscheles Piano Concerto No.4 in E major, op.64 and the Piano Concerto No.5 in C major, op.87. These are coupled with the delightful Recollections of Ireland, op.69. The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is directed by the piano soloist, Howard Shelley. All three works on this disc are full of melody, piano technique that defies the fingers’ agility, and satisfying formal constructs. With Moscheles there is never a bar too many or a note out of place.

Finally, if you can only listen to one work…

Ignaz Moscheles’ Recollections of Ireland, op. 69 is a grand fantasia for piano and orchestra, completed in 1826. This piece reflects Moscheles’ experiences and impressions during his travels in Ireland. It includes popular Irish melodies such as The Groves of Blarney (now, The Last Rose of Summer), Garry Owen, and St. Patrick’s Day, combining them with his virtuosic piano style.

This composition is notable for its stunning orchestration and the seamless integration of traditional Irish tunes with classical forms. Moscheles’ ability to evoke the spirit and atmosphere of Ireland through music is evident in the lively and expressive passages that characterize the work. Recollections of Ireland not only highlights Moscheles’ technical prowess but also his sensitivity to cultural influences and his talent for creating evocative musical narratives.

Ignaz Moscheles: A Composer's Chagrin.

I have adopted Ignaz Moscheles as an ‘honorary Englishman’ so I found this short anecdote rather amusing. Of course, it is not side-splittingly funny in today’s terms but is a little bit of gentle humour. It is worth recording.

Ignaz Moscheles, the virtuoso, composer, and teacher, had one fault that we must say was not confined to him alone. In teaching he used frequently to forget the purpose for which the pupil was present, and instead of using every minute for the pupil's advancement, he would take up much time in relating his experiences and reminiscences, and telling about the different composers and notable people he had met in his long and busy life. And his pupils were oftentimes not averse to this, for besides being very entertaining, it occasionally concealed the fact that the lessons were not as well prepared as they might have been.

In one of his classes were Sir Arthur Sullivan, and the violinist, Karl Feininger [1]. As they came to recitation one morning all the class was struck with the downcast expression on the face of the usually smiling Moscheles, and as the pupils came in each one would exclaim: ‘Goodness gracious, Herr Professor, what is the matter; are you ill?’ But never a word did they get in reply, only a wave of the hand toward the piano, as much as to say, ‘You are here to study music and not to pry into my feelings. Do not chatter to me; sit down and attend to the lesson.’

The last pupil to enter was Feininger, and he being Moscheles' pet pupil, felt brave enough to insist that the dear Herr Professor tell his anxious pupils what had occurred to so cast a cloud over his genial spirits.

"Well," said Moscheles, ‘I will tell you.’ So, with laboured breath he began: "I got up this morning I dressed myself I went to eat my breakfast there was no butter I sent my Dienstmadchen [maidservant] for some butter’ and then his voice burst forth in agony, almost in sobs, ‘and what do you think she brought it in? That butter was wrapped in a page of my G minor Concerto’. [2]

W Francis Gates, Anecdotes of Great Musicians (Weekes & Co., London,1896) (with minor edits)

Notes:
[1] Karl Feininger (1844-1922), a German American pianist. Was also a performer and teacher.

[2] Ignaz Moscheles’ Piano Concerto No.3 in g minor (1820) is fortunately still extant. It can be heard on YouTube in its entirety, including the page noted above”  

Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe: Mark Kroll Part II

The ‘second-half’ of the book is really a set of five standalone essays that relate to the main biographical narrative. 

The first looks at Moscheles’ vocation as a concert pianist. It examines the methods he used to develop his undoubted mastery of his instrument. This explores his style of ‘a ‘round full tone…perfectly equal touch, abundance of execution, wonderful readiness, and a style which, adapting itself to every exigency, is always classical and pure.’ A ‘student evaluation’ of Moscheles by a certain William Frederick Pecher gives a ‘glowing’ first-hand account of his technique of piano playing.  The chapter considers Moscheles’ pupils in Leipzig, London and Paris. Specifics of his teaching methods are given as well as an examination of the pedagogical Studies, op.70 and op.95. This important chapter concludes with a section on the pianos the composer played, including those manufactured by Clementi, Broadwoood, Érard and Pleyel.

An important chapter on Ignaz Moscheles’ relationship with Beethoven begins with a review of the young man’s work on the piano score of Fidelio as requested and supervised by Beethoven.  The facts of his final meeting with Beethoven in Vienna in 1823 is extracted from his diaries. This chapter discusses his performance of Beethoven as a conductor and as a pianist. There is considerable research into his critical role in the establishment of the Ninth Symphony in England. Finally, notice is made of Moscheles’ edition of selected Beethoven Piano Sonatas and his translation of Schindler’s biography of the composer.

Kroll points out that it would be ‘difficult if not impossible to find another friendship throughout musical history that was so close, both personally and professionally’ as that between Moscheles and Felix Mendelssohn. Chapter 6 explores this relationship in detail. 

It came as something of a revelation to me to discover that Ignaz Moscheles was a promoter of the music of Bach and Handel before it became a popular and fashionable thing to do.  When the composer’s library was auctioned it was found to contain a huge amount of ‘early music’. A list of this music is printed at the end of the chapter. This included William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices, madrigals by Weelkes, Wilbye, Gibbons and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and King Arthur. Moscheles played Bach and Handel and was the first person to perform on the harpsichord in England since the eighteenth century.  Interestingly, he was opposed to the then popular practice of performing selections of ‘purple passages’ from Handel’s oratorios and insisted on the complete work.  This chapter concludes with a survey of Moscheles’ contribution to the development of the piano recital.

The final essay, Chapter 8 scrutinises the ‘challenges of anti-Semitism and assimilation’ that was the lot of many Jewish artists of this period such as Stephen Heller, Jacques Offenbach and Ferdinand Hiller. What they had in common was that they were born Jews but were baptised as Christians. In spite of this ‘baptism’ Moscheles never eschewed his Jewish background. The author concludes that it may never be possible to ‘explain fully… [his] attitude to his Jewish religion.’ Neither Ignaz nor Charlotte discussed this in their extant diaries.

The all-important list of works has been generated from the Thematisches Verzeichniss im Druck erschienener Compositionen von Ignaz Moscheles published in Leipzig in 1858 and reprinted in London in 1966. The author has provided a number of helpful annotations and has translated most of the titles and subtitles into English. There are essential cross-references to the relevant pages in the present book. Works discovered since the original list was published have been included.  However, Kroll has not indicated publishers, nor specified dates of composition/publication where known. Helpfully, he has rearranged the catalogue by genre rather than opus number as presented in the original. Details of key, tempo and title (where appropriate) of individual pieces within an opus number have typically not been shown, for example in the Studies. Titles of songs are given, but often with no reference to the author of the text.

The book presents an exceptionally useful index. Bearing in mind that Moscheles seemed to know all the important musical personalities of the first 70 years of the nineteenth century in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe and that he played and conducted a huge range of contemporary and historical music during his career, this is an essential reference tool. It allows us to get our bearings in the composer’s long and busy life. The entry for Beethoven, for example, cites references to the composer, his playing technique, his improvisation skills and some two dozen of his works. This is then cross-referenced to a section under the entry for Moscheles – ‘And Beethoven’ which lists many of the work played, conducted or edited. Naturally there are copious references to Moscheles’ own music.

The extensive bibliography include primary sources located in many archives around the world. A helpful list of contemporary periodicals is given. There is an exhaustive listing of ‘secondary literature’ from Moscheles’ time to the present.

There are many excellent illustrations throughout this volume: examples of the composer’s music, tables of concerts given in London, Vienna and Leipzig and other ‘German speaking’ lands.  The plates are grouped together and feature drawings, paintings, and early photographs of the musician and his family.  The front cover of the book is illustrated with Felix Moscheles’ wonderful oil painting of his father.

USA-based Mark Kroll is a musical polymath. His webpage show that he is a performer, teacher, concert administrator, conductor and artistic director of Opera New England, and last, but certainly not least, a scholar. In this last field Kroll is a ‘noted authority on performance practice and period instruments and has written on a wide range of subjects, including French harpsichord music, 17th-century keyboards, historical performance practice, contemporary music, the art of transcription, the music of Avison, Couperin, Geminiani, Beethoven, Hummel, [the present subject] Moscheles and Liszt, and music for film.’

Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe will be of hugely significant interest to a wide range of musical historians and listeners. Primarily, as noted above, this is the first major study of the composer to be published in the 20^th/21^st Century, so there is the general interest of discovering Moscheles’ life, work and achievement in composition and performance. Historians majoring on Beethoven, Bach and Handel will discover detailed information about their subjects. The examination of Moscheles’ friendship with Mendelssohn is inspiring and is the underpinning of much further investigation.

To the growing interest in British music during the nineteenth century, when we were deemed a land without music, this book provides foundational material for a deeper understanding of the framework that was being erected during the early Victorian years which would lead to the so-called English Musical Renaissance. This was led by men who were born during Moscheles’ lifetime and would have been aware of his reputation as a composer, pianist and teacher.  A direct line of succession came through Sir Arthur Sullivan who was one of his prize students at Leipzig.  Moscheles wrote in his diary that Sullivan ‘was a lad of great promise.’ It was a judicious assessment. 

Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe: Mark Kroll

The Boydell Press, 2014 hardback, 410 pages

ISBN: 978 1 84383 935 4

£40.00

With thanks to MusicWeb international where this review was first published. 

Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe: Mark Kroll Part I

Since first understanding that Ignaz Moscheles spent much of his career in the United Kingdom, I have regarded him as an honorary British composer. Other contenders for this title are Felix Mendelssohn, J.C. Bach, Muzio Clementi, Johann Baptist Cramer and George Frideric Handel. This is not to deny their respective nationalities: only to point out the major contribution these men made to the musical life of this nation.

In recent years Moscheles has had something of a mini-revival. The first intimation was back in 1970 when Vox records released Michel Ponti’s performance of the Piano Concerto on G minor, op.58 coupled with a selection of Studies.  Over the following years there has been a steady trickle of CDs featuring mainly piano but also some chamber music. In 2000 the Zephyr label announced the first volume of the complete piano concertos, played and conducted by Ian Hobson.  Three years later Howard Shelley began another cycle for the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto project. This featured all seven extant concertos as well as the two fantasias Anticipations of Scotland and the Recollections of Ireland. In 2003 Piers Lane recorded the Complete Concert Studies on the Hyperion label.

During this period, there has been little literature produced concerning Moscheles. Listeners and historians have had to rely on articles in Grove’s Dictionary of Music, the standard histories of the period and contemporary biographies and memoires of some of the key players in his story.  There were a number of books published in the Victorian period which provided ‘primary’ source material. Charlotte Moscheles’ Recent Music and Musicians As Described in the Diaries and Correspondence of Ignaz Moscheles, Edited by his Wife. Adapted from the Original German by A.D. Coleridge. (1873) was the first book to examine the composer’s life and times. During 1888 the Letters of Felix Mendelssohn to Ignaz and Charlotte Moscheles were published in London by the composer’s son, Felix Moscheles (1833-1917). Felix also published Fragments of an Autobiography (1899) and In Bohemia with Du Maurier (1897) which provided material about the composer.

In 1989 Emil F. Smidak issued Isaak-Ignaz Moscheles: The Life of the Composer and His Encounters with Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin and Mendelssohn. This consisted of extracts from the diaries and letters and a catalogue of works.

There are also a few theses such as John Michael Beck’s Moscheles Re-examined (1986) and Carolyn Denton Gresham’s Ignaz Moscheles: An Illustrious Musician in the Nineteenth Century (1980). Copious reviews of Moscheles’ concerts are found in contemporary newspapers and journals.

Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe by Mark Kroll is the first full-length examination of the composer to be published.
A short sketch of the composer’s life will be helpful. Ignaz Moscheles was born on 23 May 1794 in Prague to a family of Jewish merchants. He attended the Prague Conservatory between 1804 and 1806 with the composer and musicologist Bedřich Diviš Weber (1766-1842). Further studies were made with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736-1809) and Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) in Vienna. One of his earliest achievements was creating the piano score of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, under supervision from the senior composer. There followed a ten year period of European tours which included London in 1822 and 1823. In 1824 he gave piano lessons to Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn.

In 1826 Moscheles made the United Kingdom his home until his appointment as professor of piano at the newly-founded Leipzig Conservatory in 1846. He remained in this post until his death, aged 75, on 10 March 1870.

In London, he led a busy life composing, conducting, playing and teaching. He gave the London premiere of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in 1832 and the first ‘successful’ British performance of Symphony No.9 at a Philharmonic concert in 1837.

His catalogue is extensive: there are eight piano concertos (No.8 piano part only), a symphony and much chamber music. Works for the piano feature a number of sonatas, many pedagogical studies and a wide range of variations, fantasies and pot-pourris of national airs. In 1841 Moscheles published an English translation of Schindler’s biography of Beethoven.
The present volume is not just a biography. It is also an investigation into certain critical historical events and periods relative to the composer. The book opens with three major chapters describing Moscheles’ life and times. It is a ‘story of a life well-lived’ which traces the journey from middle class Jewish family to ‘one of the most beloved, revered and influential pianists of the nineteenth century.’  Of especial interest is Chapter 2 which explores the 21 years that he spent in London. Mark Kroll examines all the facets of Moscheles’ career: conductor, pedagogue, composer and pianist. 

Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe: Mark Kroll

The Boydell Press, 2014 hardback, 410 pages

ISBN: 978 1 84383 935 4

£40.00 
With thanks to MusicWeb international where this review was first published. 

To be continued...

Ignaz Moscheles: New Year in Edinburgh 1828

I do not apologies for my continued interest in Ignaz Moschles (1794-1870): he is one of the most significant characters in European musical history. The fact that he spent a considerable amount of time in the United Kingdom makes him of importance to all historians of Victorian musical endeavour.  

In 1828, while people were still wishing each other ‘a happy new year,’ Ignaz Moscheles arrived in Edinburgh. Someone had found him lodgings in Frederick Street, and curiously, he was ‘much struck by the ‘curious specimens’ of architecture’ that he saw there. I guess that it is strange to find such discussions in a musician’s diary.

EDINBURGH, 3^rd January—Yesterday's walk through the streets was a series of surprises. As I looked at the old houses, consisting in some instances of sixteen stories, inhabited by the poorest families, renting single rooms, each with its dimly lighted window, I seemed to look at a feeble attempt at illumination. Standing on the viaduct [1] which connects the Old and New Town, I had these old houses to my left, on the right, the handsome Princes Street, and the whole of the new quarter, now in the process of building, which is to consist of a number of crescents, squares, and streets, filled with palatial houses, built of freestone. Such buildings are to be seen elsewhere, but Princes Street is certainly unique in its way; there is a long row of houses on one side, intersected by sloping streets, from which you get a view of the Frith of Forth, while the opposite side opens to your view Edinburgh Castle on its rock, to which you ascend by a terrace garden. As I was taking my evening stroll, I saw a party of Highlanders, kilt and all, coming off guard. They marched down from the Castle and passed close by me, regaling my ears with genuine Scottish music of drum and fife’. [2]

‘Our lodgings in Frederick Street, which were taken for us beforehand, were curious specimens of architecture. One peculiarity consisted in a raised ground-floor, that ran under the neighbouring house, but disconnected with any staircase leading to the upper stories. The next house that, on the contrary, had no rooms on the ground-floor, and the visitor, after mounting a staircase, found a bell, which secured his admission to the first story. House doors and steps were quite open; many other houses were constructed on this curious principle."

The success of this winter expedition, undertaken by Moscheles for professional purposes, was seriously imperilled by an Italian Opera Company [3] which had forestalled him, and he was obliged to put up with a third-rate orchestra, got together any how from regimental bandsmen ; the Highlanders, with their bare legs and kilts, being the poor substitutes for a well-trained orchestra. The concert room was only two-thirds full, but Moscheles, in his fantasia, the ‘Anticipations of Scotland,’ created great enthusiasm; and the newspapers, one and all, condemned the apathy shown by this poor attendance at his concert. This appeal to the good sense of the Edinburgh folk had its effect, for the two next concerts were filled to overflowing.

Notes

[1] Old North Bridge built in 1763 and demolished in 1894 when the current North Bridge was constructed by Sir William Arrol.  The new Bridge opened in 1897.

[2] No mention of the bagpipe; that was to come later.

[3] However, the Italian Opera were not performing on the first night of Moscheles recital. Caledonian Mercury, Thursday, January 10, 1828

Ignaz Moscheles: Blunder in Polite Society

I have adopted Ignaz Moscheles as an ‘honorary Englishman’ so I found this short anecdote rather amusing. Of course it is not side-splittingly funny in today’s terms but is a little bit of gentle humour. It is worth recording.

One of the most popular of the classical virtuosi was Ignaz Moscheles, whose seventy-six years of life was ended in 1870. A friend of Beethoven, a teacher of Mendelssohn, a great player, teacher, and composer, he exercised a most beneficial influence in the musical world with his strong personality. For twenty years or more, Moscheles made his home in England. A remark of his made at a dinner table soon after his arrival there illustrates the difficulty which foreigners have in conquering the English language.

One evening, when the cloth had been removed and the hostess had asked him what fruit he preferred, he hastily referred to the knowledge of English he had secured by a study of the dictionary, and politely answered that he wished to be helped to ‘some sneers.’

This answer produced a burst of laughter on the part of the guests, who could not contain their merriment at the dilemma in which the musician's ignorance of the language had placed him. Moscheles hastened to explain. It seemed that on searching for English sentences he had learned that the idiom ‘not to care a fig’ was synonymous with the verb ‘to sneer,’ and so supposed that in asking for a ‘sneer’ he had the right word for fig...

IGNAZ MOSCHELES: A Brief Biography & Eulogy

I found this short note in a book written by Samuel Henry Morais in 1880,  Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century: A Series of Biographical Sketches.  This was written a mere ten years after the composer’s death. It is not the most important contemporary notice, yet it succeeds in presenting a charming portrait of a once highly regarded composer who has largely fallen into neglect.  I have adopted him as an honorary Englishman for the purposes of this blog. Certainly the 26 years he spent in London and touring the country giving innumerable recitals and concerts deserves our attention. His name should be of vital importance to all British music lovers for his determined work to introduce the music of Beethoven to these shores.  

I append a few footnotes to this extract for interest.

"The art of Music and that of writing are not necessarily twin-born. But it occasionally happens that the hand whose delicate touch evokes sweet strains can wield a graceful pen. This double acquirement adds lustre to the possessor, and éclat to his performances.

But in Ignaz Moscheles [1794-1870] three qualifications combined to render his name famous. He was admired as a player, a composer, and a scholar. True, many years were given him to reach the height he attained, but when very young he had already moved upward so rapidly, that all could predict his future greatness.

Ignaz Moscheles was born at Prague, in Bohemia, Austria, on the 30th May, 1794. As early as his eighth year he received instruction in music from F. D. Weber, [1] director of the conservatory. The boy's innate talents developed fast, and when eleven he performed on the piano with the ease and skill of a finished artist. His introduction to men of note naturally followed, and each hailed the rising genius.

While still a lad, Moscheles went to Vienna, and there formed the acquaintance of Haydn and Beethoven, who advised him to continue studying. He became the pupil of Albrechtsberger, [2] under whom he made such progress as to create amazement. He competed with Hummel [3], then reputed the first pianist in Germany.

Moscheles now undertook an extensive continental tour, his playing creating everywhere rapturous delight. In 1820 he removed to England, where he resided for twenty-six years. Here his abilities met with full recognition, his popularity' increasing to so wide an extent, that, in 1825, he was appointed Professor in the Academy of London; also Conductor of the Philharmonic Concerts, holding both stations more than two decades. It must be borne in mind that few could obtain the latter position, it being granted only to a musician of the very highest order.

Moscheles rendered incalculable service to the musical world, by inducing the English to cultivate the compositions of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and other acknowledged masters. In fact, he brought more influence to bear upon this than any who preceded or succeeded him. His thorough knowledge of the pianoforte, and capacity to show forth its wonderful applications, mainly tended to the glory he achieved. Then his rendition of Beethoven's sonatas and concertos left him without a superior, and. probably, an equal. 

In 1846 Moscheles was chosen Director of the Conservatory of Leipzig, spending there the remainder of his life. As a composer, he wrote, for the piano, violin, and other instruments, pieces which are splendid specimens of classical music, and marvels of perfection and beauty.

Moscheles' cultured mind enabled him to search into matters other than those to which he specially devoted himself. His literary work, an English translation of Schindler's Life of Beethoven to which he added valuable notes, does him honour.

The career of Ignaz Moscheles ended at Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany, on the 10th of March, 1870, Productions of sterling merit will always declare their own praise, and he must be deaf to the voice of truth who does not hear the deserved eulogy.

Morais, Samuel Henry Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century: A Series of Biographical Sketches (1880) E. Stern & Co. Philadelphia USA [with minor edits]

[1] Frederick Dionys(us) Weber (1766-142) was both a respected teacher and composer. He was a founder and the first director of the Prague Conservatoire.  He wrote a number of operas and music for wind band.

[2] Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736-1809) was a Viennese composer, teacher and church organist. Amongst his many pupils was Ludwig Van Beethoven.

[3] Johan Nepomuka Hummel (1778-1837) was a Hungarian pianist and composer. He studied with Mozart. Between 1787 and 1792 he was resident in London.  His music lies at the crossroads between the Classical and the Romantic traditions. 

Ignaz Moscheles’ Train Trip to Liverpool

Moscheles (1794-1870) is a composer I have adopted as being of interest to British Music enthusiasts. Although he was born in Prague and subsequently died in Leipzig he spent much time in the United Kingdom. Many of his works were performed here and he was friends with all the key players in English music. His description of a train journey is of great interest. 

In February 1831 Ignaz Moscheles, on a professional tour in the north of England, speaks of his first railway journey.

"On the 18th I went by rail from Manchester to Liverpool; [1] the fare was five shillings. At 1.30 I mounted one of the omnibuses, which carried all passengers gratis to the great building called the 'station’. [2] Eight to ten carriages, each about as long as an omnibus, are joined closely to one another ; each carriage contains twelve places with seats like comfortable arm-chairs ; at a given signal every traveller takes his place, which is marked with the number of his ticket, and the railway guards lock the carriages. Then, and not before, the engine is attached to the foremost carriage; the motion, although one seems to fly, is hardly perceptible, and the traveller is amazed when he looks out of the window and observes at what incredible speed the train approaches the distant object and suddenly whirls by it. Words cannot describe the impression made on me by this steam excursion on the first railway made in England, and the transports I felt with an invention that seemed to me little short of magic. The famous engineer, Sir John Stephenson [3], has realized his project amid untold struggles and difficulties."

[1] The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened on 15 September 1830.

[2] The Manchester station was situated at London Road. It is now a part of the Manchester Science Museum.  The terminal at Liverpool was located at Crown Street.
[3] It was George Stephenson assisted by his son, Robert Stephenson who engineered the Manchester to Liverpool Railway.

Ignaz Moscheles: The Recollections of Ireland for Piano

A few days ago I published a post about Ignaz Moscheles: The Recollections of Ireland for Piano. I held my hand up and admitted that the composer was not British. However he did spend a considerable part of his composing and playing career on these shores. The subjoined review is from The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review from Oct 1826. I make no apologies for including this discussion of the Recollections. For one thin it shows how different is the approach to musical criticism between our own day and that of 185 years ago. Nowadays the work would either be described in two dozen words or subjected to a Schenkerian analysis that would mystify most readers and bore the remainder. I am not suggesting that we return to prosy description of our music like our Georgian forbears. However there must surely be some lessons to be learnt.

Certainly the work has borne up to the passing of the years. It is still an impressive pieces that commands our interest and attention.

The Recollections of Ireland, a Grand Fantasia on ‘The Groves of Blarney’, ‘Garry Owen’, and St Patrick’s Day for pianoforte, with orchestral accompaniments by I Moscheles. Cramer, Addison and Beale and S. Chappell

This lesson was composed by Mr. Moscheles for his own performance, at his own concert, last season, where we had the pleasure of hearing it, at a time when the composer was stimulated alike by the occasion, and the natural ardour of genius in the prosecution of its own creations, to give it the greatest possible effect, and when it flowed from under his hand with a smoothness, brilliancy, and mastery of art that called forth the undivided and enthusiastic applause of a crowded audience.

To us, memory still throws her charms around ‘Recollections of Ireland’, but to most of our readers this satisfaction is denied, and we must therefore, however reluctantly, yield to her power only so much as to bear in mind the effect of which the lesson is capable, while we turn to its closer perusal. Although written for a similar occasion to that which called forth ‘The Fall of Paris’, the two lessons are so essentially different in almost every point, that they do not come within the limits of comparison. The latter was written at a time when Mr. M.’s talents as a performer were but new to an English public, and when as a composer he was totally unknown, and his object was to show his power in both ways. When the Recollections are composed, he writes in the full confidence of an established reputation, for numerous pupils whom he has himself qualified to appreciate his style, and for a public, who by frequent opportunities of hearing his performance, are prepared to receive his productions with the approbation they deserve.

These are the principal points of difference, yet when all is considered we should be inclined to rank The Recollections of Ireland’ higher as a composition, and in its own particular style, than ‘The Fall of Paris’ on the ground that is draws its effects from more natural sources, and is written more with a view of pleasing than astonishing – in fact, that Mr. Moscheles is here seen more in the light of a composer, whereas in the former instance he was to be regarded rather in character of an artist.

The introduction can only be considered as a field for the powers of execution, but this execution perhaps, generally below the present standard of difficulty, is more chastened, and freer from that straining after effect than is usual, even with Mr. M. 

The choice of airs is very happy- they are popular, good in themselves, and afford great room for contrast. The first, now best known under the name of ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ is arranged with the delicacy of taste and truth of feeling that bespeaks the refined artist.

The key of F major, at the conclusion of this air, changes to a movement, sombre in its modulation, in the key of D flat major. There s a degree of sameness pervading the next four pages, which consist principally of difficult arpeggios, dependent on harmony for effect. The composer however soon shows both the power of contrast and his knowledge of effects. The lively air of ‘Garry Owen’ steals upon us by degrees, till at length, after a gradual change through B sharp, to the brilliant key of B flat major, this exhilarating melody bursts forth, aided in its sudden appearance by the truly characteristic style of its arrangement. Here we conceive Mr. Moscheles to be more in his element than when treating the first air; his genius is of that buoyant sparking, and energetic kind, the selects either the most gay and joyous themes to work upon, or seizes on the strongest and most vehement expression of passion, but which rests not with the same felicity on subjects of a middle class, the simply pathetic, or moderately brilliant. The present air is carried through six pages of shewy, but light and close execution – that is to say, there are none of those immoderate and unmeaning skips which do little beyond astonishing at the instant. ‘St Patrick’s Day’ is treated in the same manner without monotony for two pages, when for the next two it is combined with ‘Garry Owen,’ and then follows a short andante in ¾ time, of a most singular and ingenious construction. The object here aimed at is the combination of the three airs, so that each may be distinctly recognized, and yet all so blended together as to form an agreeable and not incongruous whole.

The difficulty of the task will be readily acknowledged, but Mr. Moscheles has succeeded admirably. The combination of airs in this manner is not new, but it is by no means a common practice, and the means by which it is so well accomplished in the present instance are so simple, that although it generally requires a practiced ear to trace such combinations, almost the most uncultivated, may follow this.

The airs being transferred alternately to the two hands. The greatest difficulty of this portion of the lesson, however, lies in its performance, in the skill with which each air is made to blend with the others, and yet to bear its proper character, without obtruding too much on the notice of the  hearer, and bearing down its companions. The concluding tow pages are in 6/8 time, spirited and brilliant.

We have no other comments to offer on ‘Recollections of Ireland.’ To those who have seen it, or who had the good fortune to hear it performed by the author, no recommendation will be needed, and to those who have not, we trust we have already said to raise their curiosity. One more remark we must make, which is, that Mr. Moscheles’ style appears by this specimen to have lost none of its original brilliancy, but to have gained in solidity and strength of construction by the curtailment of the superfluity of ornament which has marked many of his pieces, and which may be compared to a plant overloaded with flowers, whose strength is permanently wasted, though its temporary beauty is increased.

Ignaz Moscheles:Fantasia Recollections of Ireland, Op.69

Ignaz Moscheles is not British, but he did compose a delicious piece entitled Fantasia Recollections of Ireland, Op.69. I just love every note of this short four movement ‘concerto-ette.’ It is full of fun and poignancy, excitement and reflection. Never for a moment does the technical prowess of the soloist have cause to relax.
The work was allegedly written shortly after the composer's visit to Dublin in January 1826. His diary has preserved his description of the hair-raising crossing from Holyhead to Kingstown. He wrote that ‘in the howling storm, and as sea-water hissed into his cabin, he put his faith in an Almighty Providence and thought calmly of his sleeping wife and baby.’ But all was to be well: Moscheles was to see his family again. Henry Roche, the writer of the Hyperion CD liner notes suggests that this work was written out of gratitude for his survival. However another slightly more prosaic suggestion is that he was in the habit of concluding his Irish recitals with a ‘Fantasy of Irish Airs.’ So perhaps these Recollections were just an extension of this conceit. But I will stick with the former explanation.
These potboilers were written to a definite formula. For example the opening movement had to have a long orchestral introduction before the soloist enters in the 'grand manner.' It is all about virtuosity - usually through more and more complex development of material. The succeeding movements explore differing aspects of the Irish folk tradition. For example the slow movement is based on the well known tune 'The Groves of Blarney'. However we know this melody as 'The Last Rose of Summer' nowadays. This is a beautiful rendition of this tune, complete with subtle ornamentation. Soon we are into the allegro based on a Redcoat tune called 'Garry Owen'.
The last movement is interestingly described by Roche as belonging to an Ivesian soundscape- insofar as Moscheles combines most of the tunes he has used in the 'traditionally ebullient conclusion.'
The Recollections of Ireland is available on The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 36 – Moscheles 4 & 5 Hyperion CDA67430
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.