The fourteen-year-old Mendelssohn wrote this double concerto in 1823 and it was first played privately on 25 May that year at his family's house in Berlin, with the composer at the piano and his teacher Eduard Rietz on violin. He then revised it, adding wind and timpani — the first time he used them on this scale — and the public premiere followed on 3 July 1823 at the Schauspielhaus. The unusual pairing of soloists may come from Hummel, with whom he had briefly studied in 1821. The work remained unpublished during his lifetime.