“I have often found it hard to read a preface; much harder do I find it today to write one.” I couldn’t have said this better myself. In fact, I didn’t. These words were written in 1899 by Ignaz Moscheles’ only son, Felix, as the opening lines of the preface to his book Fragments of an Autobiography. Although I agree with Felix Moscheles, at least to a certain extent, I write this preface to my book to give readers a foretaste of what they will discover in its pages.

This book is, above all else, a story of a life well lived, of the personal and artistic journey of the son of a middle-class Jewish merchant in Prague who became one of the most beloved, revered, and influential pianists of the nineteenth century. I examine every aspect of Moscheles’ rich life and career: as a renowned virtuoso, pedagogue and conductor; a highly respected composer; a friend and mentor to many of his contemporaries; and a pioneer in the historical performance of early music. The first three chapters cover that life in detail, from his birth in 1794 until the death of this “Nestor of pianists,” as one obituary dubbed Moscheles, in Leipzig in 1870. We begin with Moscheles’ early years (1794–1825), when he was building his reputation as a performer and composer in Prague and Vienna, and enjoyed an unbroken succession of triumphs in the major musical capitals of Europe that culminated in a spectacular London debut as concerto soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Society. Chapter 2 traces the upward trajectory of Moscheles’ career during the twenty-one years he lived in London (1825–1846), when he became firmly established as one of the leading musicians not only in England, but throughout the European continent. Chapter 3 is devoted to Moscheles’ final years as the first professor of piano at the Leipzig Conservatory (1846–1870), a time of gradual retreat from the concert stage and an increasing focus on teaching and family.

We then examine aspects of Moscheles’ life and career in detail. Chapter 4 tells us about the techniques Moscheles used to attain the virtuosity for which he was so renowned, and the pedagogical methods he used to teach these techniques to literally hundreds of piano students. For this we turn to numerous eyewitness accounts by journalists, contemporaries, and students, and Moscheles’ own words.