Moscheles, Ignaz

Moscheles, Ignaz (ĭg`näts mōsh`əlĕs), 1794–1870, Bohemian-German musician. Born in Prague, Moscheles was a child prodigy. He studied in Vienna with Johann Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri and prepared a piano score of Beethoven's Fidelio under the composer's direction. Moscheles toured Europe as a pianist and in 1832 conducted the British premier of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. One of his pupils was Mendelssohn, at whose invitation he joined the Leipzig Conservatory faculty in 1846. There he became renowned for his teaching and his piano improvisation. In composition and performance he was unsympathetic to the romanticism of Chopin and Liszt. His works (142 opus numbers) include eight piano concertos. Moscheles translated A. F. Schindler's biography of Beethoven into English.