The concerto is about 25 minutes in length, and is scored for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings.

[2] Its genesis dates to the period shortly after his marriage and is first mentioned in a letter to his friend Karl Klingemann [de] while on honeymoon: "aber ein Konzert machte ich mir so gern für England, und kann immer noch nicht dazu kommen.

"][3] Mendelssohn's difficulties probably stemmed from a desire to excel in the new work, written expressly for the Birmingham Music Festival, and thereby impress English audiences.

The arduousness of the task is attested to by the fact that more autograph sources for the concerto exist than for any other composition he wrote for piano and orchestra.

However, it was not until six weeks after the Birmingham premiere and a second performance at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, in early November, that Mendelssohn began actively to negotiate publication.

The work was published later that summer, although Mendelssohn was unhappy with the result, complaining, among other matters, that the title page was in French rather than German.