Moscheles the pianist inspired passionate responses from audiences across Europe for over fifty years. From his first successes in Prague and Vienna, to rave reviews in Paris and an almost total domination of the London piano scene, critics extolled the virtues of his playing in enthusiastic and even worshipful terms, citing both his superiority to other players and the extent of his influence. While today he is remembered as one of the most admired virtuoso pianists during an era of great virtuosity, less is known about the aspects of his playing that so entranced listeners—his technique, the subtleties of his touch, and his sense of style. Indeed, a retrospective survey of the reviews and eyewitness accounts tells us a great deal about what made Moscheles such a special and beloved pianist. In this chapter, we look more closely at Moscheles the pianist-composer and teacher. We consider the complex and often ambivalent role that he played both as a representative of a classic style of pianism, inherited from Mozart, Beethoven, and Hummel, and as a somewhat reluctant participant in the new school of piano playing. We also examine Moscheles’ successes and influence as a renowned pedagogue, and explore as well his close relationship to the instrument and the people who made them during a dynamic period in the history of piano building.

THE PIANIST

MOSCHELES’ STYLE

Moscheles’ “expressivity” and “precision” were already recognized as notable features of his style from his debut concerts in Prague in 1807 and 1808, when he was still in his teens. In 1818 the Viennese press marveled at Moscheles’ “lightness, sureness, attention to detail, roundness and neatness.” The London Magazine in 1821 was only one of many journals that noted the extent to which Moscheles “combines expression and execution in a very extraordinary degree.” The QMM&R from the same year praised Moscheles’ “rapid and distinct execution of octaves,” his mastery of legato and his ability to play “passages … for both hands, which kept the thumb and forefinger of each employed in the shake, whilst the other fingers are busily occupied in accompaniments [with] striking and unusual effect.” The same reviewer went so far as to attribute his skills to “the physical construction of [Moscheles’] hand,” which he believed was “such as to render ordinary difficulties mere amusements to him.