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Ignaz Moscheles

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Ignaz Moscheles
Moscheles, from a portrait by his sonFelix Moscheles,1860
Born
Isaac Ignaz Moscheles

(1794-05-23)23 May 1794
Prague
Died10 March 1870(1870-03-10)(aged 75)
SpouseCharlotte
Children2 sons and 3 daughters
Parent(s)Klara Popper (Lieben) and Joachim Moises Moscheles

Isaac Ignaz Moscheles(German pronunciation:[ˈɪɡnaːtsˈmɔʃələs];23 May 1794[1]– 10 March 1870) was aBohemianpianovirtuosoand composer. He was based initially inLondonand later atLeipzig,where he joined his friend and sometime pupilFelix Mendelssohnas professor of piano in theConservatory.

Life[edit]

Early life and career[edit]

Moscheles was born 1794 inPrague,Bohemia,the son of Klara Popper (Lieben) and Joachim Moises Moscheles.[2]He was from an affluentGerman-speaking Jewishmerchant family. His first name was originally Isaac. His father played the guitar and was keen for one of his children to become a musician. Initially his hopes fixed on Ignaz's sister, but when she demurred, her piano lessons were transferred to her brother. Ignaz developed an early passion for the (then revolutionary) piano music ofBeethoven,which the MozarteanBedřich Diviš Weber,his teacher at thePrague Conservatory,attempted to curb, urging him to focus on Bach, Mozart andMuzio Clementi.[3]

After his father's early death, Moscheles settled inViennain 1808. His abilities were such that he was able to study in the city underAlbrechtsbergerfor counterpoint and theory andSalierifor composition. At this time he changed his first name from "Isaac" to "Ignaz". He was one of the leading virtuosi resident in Vienna during the 1814–1815Congress of Vienna,and it was at this time that he wrote his enormously popular virtuosicAlexander Variations,Op. 32 for piano and orchestra, which he later played throughout Europe. Here, too, he became a close friend ofGiacomo Meyerbeer,at that time still a piano virtuoso, not yet a composer; their extemporized piano-duets were highly acclaimed.[4]Moscheles was also familiar withHummelandKalkbrenner.Among the virtuosi of the 1820s, Hummel, Kalkbrenner,Cramer,HerzandWeberwere his most famous rivals.[5]

While in Vienna, Moscheles was able to meet his idol Beethoven, who was so impressed with the young man's abilities that he entrusted him with the preparation of the piano score of his operaFidelio,commissioned by his publisherArtaria.At the end of his manuscript, before presenting it to Beethoven, Moscheles wrote the wordsFine mit gottes Hülfe( "Finished with God's help" ). Beethoven approved Moscheles's version, but appended the wordsO Mensch, hilf dir selber( "O Man, help thyself!" ).[6]Moscheles's good relations with Beethoven were to prove important to both at the end of Beethoven's life.[7]

Faith and family[edit]

Moscheles married Charlotte Emden (Henri Lehmann,1837)

Moscheles was still apractising JewinViennain 1814–15. His wife noted that he was a member of the congregation in Vienna, and that he wrote for the Vienna Jewish community an oratorio celebrating the peace. Throughout his life, like many other musicians of Jewish origin, he remained close to other musicians of similar descent such asFelix Mendelssohn,Anton Rubinstein,Joseph JoachimandFerdinand Hiller.He also remained in contact with patrons of Jewish origin such as theEskelesfamily in Vienna, the Leo family in Paris, and theRothschilds in England.He married Charlotte Emden, daughter of a Hamburg Jewish banker and a cousin ofHeinrich Heine,in aHamburgsynagogue in 1825.[8]Nonetheless, after he settled in England, Moscheles became a member of theChurch of England.

His children, two sons and three daughters,[8]were all baptised at birth and he and his wife were baptised in 1832. They were parents to the paintersFelix(1833–1917), their second son, and Serena Anna Moscheles (1830–1902), their second daughter and wife ofGeorg Rosen.[9]Rosen was an orientalist like his brother ofFriedrich August Rosen,another friend of Mendelssohn, like Moscheles. His granddaughterJelka Rosen,also a painter, married the composerFrederick Delius.Another granddaughter, Marie-Thérèse, marriedHenry Fielding Dickens,the son of authorCharles Dickens.[10][11]Moscheles travelled extensively in Europe as a pianist and conductor, eventually settling in London (1825–1846) where he became co-director of theRoyal Philharmonic Societyin 1832. He never disavowed his Jewish origins and frequently took his family to visit his relatives in Prague, all of whom had retained their Jewish allegiances.[12]

Through his Dickens descendants, he is a great-grandfather of AdmiralGerald Charles Dickensand a great-great-great-great-grandfather of actorHarry Lloyd.Through his Roche descendants, he is great-great-grandfather to the musicologistJerome Roche,and great-great-great-grandfather to historian Helen Roche and electronic musicianMike Paradinas.[13]

Mendelssohn and the London period[edit]

After his Viennese period there followed for Moscheles a sensational series of European concert tours – it was after hearing Moscheles play at Carlsbad that the boyRobert Schumannwas fired to become a piano virtuoso himself. But Moscheles found an especially warm welcome in London, where in 1822 he was awarded an honorary membership of the London Academy of Music (later to become theRoyal Academy of Music). At the end of the year he wrote in his diary, "I feel more and more at home in England", and he had no hesitation in settling there after his marriage. Moscheles visited most of the great capitals of Europe, making his first appearance in London in 1822, and there securing the friendship ofMuzio ClementiandJohann Baptist Cramer.Moscheles was also a student of Muzio Clementi.

In March 1823, Moscheles paid a long visit toBathinSomersetand started work on his Piano Concerto No. 4 (Op. 64). On an excursion toBristol,Coleridge says that, "Moscheles delights in the view of the Bristol Channel and adds," What can be finer than the first view of the Welsh mountains from Clifton? an enchanting panorama? The very place to write an adagio; the blue mountains form such a grand background to this bright channel. "The piano concerto had its first performance, in London, shortly afterwards, on 16 June.[14]

Before that, however, in 1824, he had accepted an invitation to visitAbraham Mendelssohn Bartholdyin Berlin to give some lessons to his childrenFelixandFanny.His comments on meeting them were: "This is a family the like of which I have never known. Felix, a boy of fifteen is a phenomenon. What are all prodigies compared with him?... He is already a mature artist. His elder sister Fanny is also extraordinarily gifted." Shortly afterwards he wrote: "This afternoon... I gave Felix Mendelssohn his first lesson, without losing sight for a moment of the fact that I was sitting next to a master, not a pupil."[15]

Thus began a relationship of extraordinary intensity which lasted throughout and beyond Mendelssohn's life (he died in 1847). Moscheles was instrumental in bringing Felix to London for the first time in 1829 – Abraham entrusted Felix to his care for this visit. Moscheles had carefully prepared for it. In London, apart from becoming a regular and successful performer as well as a musical adviser for the soirées of the Rothschilds, he had become an invaluable aid forSir George Smartand the Philharmonic Society, advising them of the talents of European musicians he encountered on his own concert-tours. When Smart himself toured Europe in 1825 looking for new music and musicians for the Society, Moscheles furnished Smart with a list of contacts and letters of introduction, including both Beethoven and Mendelssohn. In Prague, Moscheles's brother acted as Smart's guide. Smart visited the Mendelssohns in Berlin and was impressed with both Felix and Fanny. This eventually led to Mendelssohn's invitation to conduct at the Society on his 1829 visit.[16]

In 1827, Moscheles acted as intermediary between the Philharmonic Society and the dying Beethoven.[17]He helped persuade the Society to send Beethoven desperately needed funds during the composer's illness. In return, Beethoven offered to write for the Society his (uncompleted)Tenth Symphony.[18]

Mendelssohn's great success in England from 1829 until the end of his life also reflected well on his friend. Although Moscheles's music was now being looked on as a little old-fashioned, he was heavily in demand as a music teacher and included amongst his pupils many children of the rich and aristocratic classes. He was also appointed "Pianist toPrince Albert",a sinecure, which nevertheless confirmed his status.[12]Child prodigy pianistElizabeth Jonas,a student of Moscheles, played several command performances atWindsor Castle.

Moscheles never ceased to promote the music of Beethoven and gave many recitals of his music: in 1832 he conducted the London premiere of Beethoven'sMissa Solemnis,and he translatedA.F. Schindler's biography of Beethoven into English. He was an early exponent of the piano recital – the concert of music for piano alone, the innovation of which is disputed betweenLisztand Moscheles. Moscheles gave the first fully public performance of Beethoven'sHammerklavier Sonatain London on 14 March 1839, three years after Liszt had performed it for an invited audience in Paris.[19]

Moscheles notably reintroduced the harpsichord as a solo recital instrument. He also often performed in concert with Mendelssohn in London (and elsewhere) – one great favourite of both musicians wereBach's concerti for multiple keyboard instruments. On these occasions Mendelssohn and Moscheles were renowned for vying with each other in impromptucadenzas.Performances of the three-harpsichord concerto were given, on one occasion withThalbergat the third keyboard, on another withClara Schumann.Moscheles often appeared as a conductor, especially of Beethoven.[20]

The Leipzig years[edit]

Moscheles in Leipzig

Although throughout this period Moscheles continued to write music and travel on concert tours, he depended heavily on teaching for income, and this placed him under considerable stress. When therefore Mendelssohn established aConservatoryatLeipzigin 1843 he was keen to attract his friend Moscheles there as a colleague, promising him ample time in his schedules for concertising and music-making. After several years, Moscheles gladly accepted the position in 1846. He became a longstanding and prominent member of the Conservatory faculty, teaching piano there for several decades.

The Conservatory became in effect a shrine to Mendelssohn's musical legacy. The critic and pianistEdward Dannreuther,who studied under Moscheles at Leipzig between 1859 and 1863, later wrote:

[...] it was whispered that the two old Grands in the pianoforte-room of the Conservatorium were wont to rehearse Mendelssohn's D minor Concerto all alone by themselves, from 12.30 on Sunday night until cock-crow! Force of habit, probably.[21]

It thus fell to Moscheles to lead the counter-attack onWagnerafter the latter's snide attack on Mendelssohn (and Meyerbeer) in his notorious articleDas Judenthum in der Musik( "Jewry in Music" ), which he did by requesting the resignation from the Conservatory's board of Wagner's editor, Brendel.[22]Like Mendelssohn, Moscheles believed that music had reached its Golden Age during the period Bach to Beethoven, and was suspicious of (although not necessarily antagonistic towards) new directions such as those shown by Wagner, Liszt and Berlioz. Nevertheless, his personal relations with all of these (except perhaps Wagner) remained cordial. The Mendelssohn legacy in Britain meant that the Leipzig Conservatory had a high reputation amongst English musicians and amongst those who studied there during Moscheles's time wereArthur SullivanandCharles Villiers Stanford.[23]

Moscheles died in Leipzig on 10 March 1870, nine days after attending his last rehearsal with theLeipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Music[edit]

See also:List of compositions by Ignaz Moscheles

Among his 142 opus numbers, Moscheles wrote a number of symphonic works. Apart from anoverture,aballetand asymphony,all are scored for piano and orchestra: eightpiano concertos(of which the last is in fragmentary form only, no orchestral parts having survived) and sets ofvariationsandfantasiason folk songs. The main theme of the finale of his fourth piano concerto is based on the tune "The British Grenadiers".Moscheles also left several chamber works (including apiano triothat has been recorded), and a large number of works for piano solo, includingsonatasand theétudesthat continued to be studied by advanced students even as Moscheles's music fell into eclipse. There are also some song settings.[24]

More recently, with the modest but noticeable revival of interest in compositions by this composer and those of his colleagues, more of Moscheles's works are being made accessible on compact disc, especially by small and independent record labels. All the completed piano concerti and fantasias for piano and orchestra are available on theHyperion Recordslabel, played byHoward Shelley,who also conducted theTasmanian Symphony Orchestra;they have also issued the complete piano studies, played byPiers Lane.Ian Hobsonhas also recorded the first six and included a pair of variations not recorded by Shelley.

Sources[edit]

Much of what is known about Moscheles's life is derived from the biography, with selections from his diaries and correspondence, written after his death by his wife, Charlotte, and published in Germany in 1872; an English edition appeared the following year. The book also gives lively portraits of his era and of his musical contemporaries.[25]The diaries themselves are lost. Another important source is the correspondence between Moscheles andMendelssohn,preserved at the Brotherton Collection at theUniversity of Leeds,and published in 1888 by Ignaz's son (and Felix Mendelssohn'sgod-son),Felix Moscheles.

  • Anon. (1898). "Edward Dannreuther" inMusical Times39/688 (1 October 1898).
  • Conway, David (2011).Jewry in Music: Entry to the Profession from the Enlightenment to Richard Wagner.Cambridge.ISBN978-1-107-01538-8.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Kroll, Mark (2014).Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe.Woodbridge.ISBN978-1-843-83935-4.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Moscheles, Charlotte, tr. A. D. Coleridge,Life of Moscheles,2 vols. London 1873
  • Moscheles, Felix (ed.) (1888).Letters of Felix Mendelssohn to Ignaz and Charlotte Moscheles,London.
  • Moscheles, Felix (1899).Fragments of an Autobiography.London.

References[edit]

  1. ^Kroll (2014), p. 4.
  2. ^Kroll, Mark (2014).Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe.Boydell & Brewer.ISBN9781843839354.
  3. ^Kroll (2014), 1–3
  4. ^Conway (2011), pp. 127–30.
  5. ^Kroll (2014), pp. 6–20.
  6. ^Conway (2011), p. 129.
  7. ^Kroll (2014), pp. 8–9; Conway (2011), p. 129.
  8. ^abCf.Robert Eitner (1885), "Moscheles, Ignaz",Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie(in German), vol. 22, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 345–351.
  9. ^Cf.Gregor Pelger (2005),"Rosen, Georg Friedrich Wilhelm",Neue Deutsche Biographie(in German), vol. 22, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 51–52;(full text online).
  10. ^Bledsoe, Robert Terrell (9 February 2012).Dickens, Journalism, Music: 'Household Words' and 'All the Year Round'.A&C Black.ISBN9781441150875.
  11. ^Nayder, Lillian (15 February 2012).The Other Dickens: A Life of Catherine Hogarth.Cornell University Press.ISBN978-0801465062.
  12. ^abConway (2011), p. 106.
  13. ^"The Wire – April 2021 (Issue 446)".
  14. ^Moscheles, C. (tr. A. D. Coleridge), vol. 1, pp. 71–2.
  15. ^C. Moscheles (1874), I, p. 98.
  16. ^Conway (2011), pp. 106–7.
  17. ^Noorduin, Marten (17 May 2021)."The metronome marks for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in context".Early Music.49(caab005): 129–145.doi:10.1093/em/caab005.ISSN0306-1078.
  18. ^Conway (2011), p. 108.
  19. ^Crumey, Andrew."Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata – Part Two".Retrieved12 September2023.
  20. ^Conway (2011), pp. 106–9.
  21. ^Anon. (1898), p. 647.
  22. ^Conway (2011), p. 194.
  23. ^Kroll (2014), pp. 174–5.
  24. ^Kroll (2014), pp. 340–60.
  25. ^C. Moscheles (1873), 2 vols.

External links[edit]

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