The Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in A major was written by Felix Mendelssohn when he was 15 years old. and is dated 12 November 1824. Written for two pianos and a full orchestra, the work received its first public performance in Berlin, in 1825. The composer and his mentor

Ignaz Moscheles Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano at the Co ...

, who inspired its composition, were the soloists. He performed it again on 20 February 1827 at Stettin, where the cathedral organist, composer, baritone singer and conductor

Carl Loewe Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe (; 30 November 1796 – 20 April 1869), usually called Carl Loewe (sometimes seen as Karl Loewe), was a German composer, tenor singer and conductor. In his lifetime, his songs ("Balladen") were well enough known for s ...

organised concerts. Loewe and Mendelssohn were the two piano soloists on that occasion.In 1829, the composer made his London debut with it, again with Moscheles as the second pianist
Portland Chamber Orchestra
This concerto and its predecessor, the E major concerto, may have been the first works composed for full orchestra by Mendelssohn. It may have been inspired by the occasion when Mendelssohn met

in Berlin in 1824, when Moscheles accepted an invitation to visit

Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy Abraham Ernst Mendelssohn Bartholdy (born Abraham Mendelssohn; 10 December 1776 – 19 November 1835) was a German banker and philanthropist. He was the father of Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn, Rebecka Mendelssohn, and Paul Mendelssohn ...

to give some music lessons to his children Felix and Fanny. The concerto was not played for many years until the

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

was found in the archive of the

Berlin State Library The Berlin State Library (german: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the ...

in 1950.The Romantic Piano Concerto
Vol. 03 – Mendelssohn Double Concertos on the Hyperion Records website

Structure

There are three

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

References

External links

* Pianos two 1824 compositions

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

Compositions in A-flat major {{Concerto-stub