Moscheles and Mendelssohn

The relationship between Moscheles and Felix Mendelssohn is one of the most artistically productive teacher-pupil connections in music history. Moscheles began teaching the twelve-year-old Mendelssohn in 1824 in Berlin and immediately recognised his exceptional gifts, later acknowledging that in teaching Mendelssohn he was 'learning rather than teaching'. The two became lifelong friends, and Mendelssohn later persuaded Moscheles to leave London and join the faculty of the newly founded Leipzig Conservatory in 1846. Moscheles taught there until his death in 1870 and trained a generation of German pianists. The mutual admiration shaped both composers' work: Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words owe something to Moscheles's lyrical piano pieces, and Moscheles's later concertos show the influence of Mendelssohn's own piano writing.

Understanding Moscheles's importance as Mendelssohn's teacher helps place his music in its historical context: the elegance, clarity, and melodic gift that Moscheles cultivated in Op. 70 and the later concertos are the same qualities that define Mendelssohn's piano style. Playing Moscheles with an awareness of his connection to the Mendelssohn tradition — the singing right hand, the clean passagework, the structural transparency — will produce the most historically appropriate interpretation.