Cowen was a good enough pianist to play the Mendelssohn’s D minor Piano Concerto in public at the age of twelve. Following his studies in Leipzig and Berlin, he began a career as a pianist, touring the UK, Europe, and the USA. But he began to concentrate on conducting, eventually becoming one of the leading British conductors of his day, the regular conductor of the Philharmonic Society from 1888.

Cowen had already written a piano concerto (now lost) which he had performed at the age of 17 in...