 In 1890 Busoni published his first edition of works of JS Bach (the two- and three-part Inventions). In the same year he won the prize for composition, with his Konzertstück ("Concert Piece") for piano and orchestra Op. 31a (BV 236), at the first Anton Rubinstein Competition, initiated by Anton Rubinstein himself at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. As a consequence he was invited to visit and teach at the Moscow Conservatoire. Gerda joined him in Moscow where they promptly married. His first concert in Moscow, when he performed Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, was warmly received. But living in Moscow did not suit the Busonis for both financial and professional reasons; he felt excluded by his nationalistically-inclined Russian colleagues. So when he received an approach from William Steinway to teach at the Boston New England Conservatory of Music he was happy to take the opportunity, particularly as the conductor at that time of the Boston Symphony Orchestra was Arthur Nikisch, whom he had known since 1876, when they performed together at a concert in Vienna.
