The Romantic Generation
by Charles Rosen
Period: Romantic
Born: 1794 in Prague
Died: 1870 in Leipzig, Germany
Nation of Origin: Bohemia
Major Works:
Other Information:
Bohemian Ignaz Moscheles was born in Prague, he gave a public performance of his own works when he was only 14. He studied first with Dionys Weber at the conservatory in his home city and later with Albrechtsberger and Salieri in Vienna. Like his own pupil Mendelssohn, he was triply gifted: as a pianist, a composer and a conductor. He travelled widely and met the geniuses of the century at an early age, performing with musicians such as Liszt and Chopin. Moscheles enjoyed a reputation as one of Europe's most outstanding piano virtuosos almost all his life. In 1846, at Mendelssohn's invitation, he was appointed principal Professor of Piano, Performance and Composition at the Leipzig Conservatory, which had been founded in 1843. He was an excellent and exceedingly conscientious teacher, contributing decisively to the first-rate name which the conservatory soon acquired. His piano tutor was published in 1837 (Méthode des méthodes de piano par François Joseph Fétis et Ignaz Moscheles), with the English edition appearing in 1841, and it was for the piano that the greater part of his works was composed 142 opus numbers. They are characterized by a fusion of romantic expressiveness, salon style sophistication and playful brilliance. Moscheles died in Leipzig in 1870.
Essay contributed by:
Michael Krücker with translation by Eileen Opiolka
General Bibliography:
Blume, Friedrich, with M. D. Norton (Translator) and Herter Norton (Translator), Classic and Romantic Music; A Comprehensive Survey, W. W. Norton & Company, November 1970, ISBN: 0393098680
Kennedy, Michael, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 1997, ISBN: 0198691629
Einstein, Alfred. Music in the Romantic Era, W. W. Norton & Company, December 1947, ISBN: 0393097331
Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John; Editors, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Groves Dictionaries, Inc., January 2001, ISBN: 1561592390
Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura; Editors, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Gale Group, December 2000, ISBN: 0028655257
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