Carl Czerny

Carl Czerny, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber, 1833

Carl Czerny (German: [kaɹl ˈtʃɛrni]) (21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian pianist, composer and teacher. He is best remembered today for his books of études for the piano. Czerny's music was profoundly influenced by his teachers, Muzio Clementi, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Early life

Carl Czerny was born in Vienna to a musical family of Czech origin. His grandfather was a violinist and his father was an oboist, organist, and pianist. His family came to Vienna from Nymburk, Bohemia and Carl himself did not speak German until the age of ten. A child prodigy, Czerny began playing piano at age three and composing at age seven. His first piano teacher was his father, Wenzel Czerny, who taught him mainly Bach, Mozart, and Clementi. Czerny began performing piano recitals in his parents' home. Beethoven, attending one such recital, was so impressed with Czerny's performance of his Pathétique Sonata that he took on the 10 year old as a student.^[1] Czerny remained under Beethoven's tutelage for the next three years. Czerny went on to take lessons from Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Antonio Salieri. Czerny also attended courses which Muzio Clementi held in Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Prague, Rome and Milan.

Czerny made his first public performance in 1800 playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor. However, he was never confident in his abilities as a performer and resolved to withdraw permanently from the stage.^[2] At age 21, in February 1812, he returned to the public to give the Vienna premiere of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor".

Teaching

At age fifteen, Czerny began a very successful teaching career. Basing his method on the teaching of Beethoven and Clementi, Czerny taught up to twelve lessons a day in the homes of Viennese nobility.^[1] His notable students included Sigismond Thalberg, Stephen Heller, Alfred Jaëll, Theodor Leschetizky, Theodor Kullak, Theodor Döhler, and Anna Caroline Oury. Czerny's fees were so steep that some students, such as Stephen Heller, were unable to afford it and had to switch teachers.

His most famous student was Franz Liszt, who began studying with Czerny at age nine. Czerny was Liszt's only teacher. Upon taking him on as a student, Czerny forced Liszt to abandon all repertoire for the first few months, insisting he play only scales and exercises to strengthen his technique.

As a concert pianist, Liszt went on to include several Czerny compositions in his repertoire. Liszt also dedicated his twelve Transcendental Etudes to Czerny, who was among the first composers to pioneer the "etude" form. Liszt also collaborated with Czerny on the Hexaméron; a joint work along with fellow composers Frédéric Chopin, Sigismond Thalberg, Henri Herz, and Johann Peter Pixis.

Composition

Czerny composed a very large number of pieces (up to Op. 861), including a number of masses and requiems, and a large number of symphonies, concertos, sonatas and string quartets. Few of these pieces are played today. The enduring part of Czerny's repertoire is the large number of didactic piano pieces he wrote, such as The School of Velocity and The Art of Finger Dexterity. He was one of the first composers to use étude ("study") for a title.

Czerny's body of works also include arrangements for eight pianos, four hands each, of two overtures of Gioachino Rossini. He also left an essay on performing the piano sonatas of Beethoven. He published an autobiographical sketch, "Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben" (1842; "Memories from My Life").

On a minor note, Czerny was one of 50 composers who wrote a Variation on a theme of Anton Diabelli for Part II of the Vaterländischer Künstlerverein (published 1824). He also wrote a coda to round out the collection. Part I was devoted to the 33 variations supplied by Beethoven, which have gained an independent identity as his Diabelli Variations, Op. 120. Czerny maintained a relationship with Beethoven throughout his life, giving piano lessons to Beethoven's beloved nephew Carl, and proofreading many of Beethoven's works before they were published.^[1]

Death

Czerny remained in Vienna for most of his life, only leaving three times (he visited Leipzig in 1836, Paris and London in 1837, and Lombardy in 1846).^[2] He died in Vienna at the age of 66. He never married and he had no near relatives. Shortly before his death, he disposed of his considerable fortune with the help of his friend and lawyer Leopold von Sonnleithner.^[2]

Recordings

Signum Records recently issued at least three CD recordings of Czerny's symphonies and concerti, including a concerto for piano four hands in C major. In fact, the view of Czerny as primarily a composer of didactic works is being challenged, as can be seen in the review cited below of a Sony Classical CD of some of Czerny's four-hand works. Nimbus Records is in course of issuing recordings of all 11 of Czerny's solo piano sonatas, played by Martin Jones. His Symphony No. 1 ('Grand Symphony') was even issued on a CD supplement to an issue of BBC Music Magazine.

Media

See also

• List of compositions by Carl Czerny

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Ingrid Jacobson Clarfield, Carl Czerny, Charles-Louis Hanon, 2001. Burgmuller, Czerny & Hanon – Piano Studies Selected for Technique and Musicality, Alfred Music Publishing, USA. ISBN 0-7390-2030-7, 9780739020302
2. ^ ^{a b c} Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. 1954, Eric Blom ed.

External links

• Archive copy at the Wayback Machine Carl Czerny: Piano Music for four hands. One of the Italian-language reviews on the page refers to "this most beautiful selection of works", quite a departure from the School of Velocity studies that have tormented piano students for almost 200 years.
• Carl Czerny Music Festival and International Symposium 13–26 June 2002, Edmonton, Alberta The lower portion of this page contains an article from the Edmonton Journal (principal daily newspaper in Edmonton) declaring that Czerny is unfairly judged by history.
• A Lesson For Carl Short story by Andrew Crumey depicting Czerny's first meeting with Beethoven.

Books and sheet music

• "Carl Czerny" Titles from the Munich Digitisation Centre (MDZ)
• "Carl Czerny" Titles from archive.org
• "Carl Czerny" Titles from books.google.com

Sheet music

• Free scores by Carl Czerny at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Carl Czerny in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Carl Czerny's scores – The School of Velocity and other etudes for piano.
• Grande Fantaisie en forme de Sonate, opus 144 (ca 1827)
• Rondo espressivo, opus 93 (ca 1825)
• Caprice, opus 108 (ca 1827)
• Second grand trio pour le piano-forte, violon et violoncelle, opus 166 (1830) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• Deux rondeaux, opus 168 (ca 1829)
• Quatuor concertant für vier Pianoforte über mehrere beliebte Melodien (Quartet for 4 Pianos on Well-Known Melodies), opus 230 (1800) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• Nocturne, opus 647 (ca 1841)
• Aufmunterung zum Fleiss: 24 unterhaltende Uebungstücke für das Pianoforte, opus 684 (publ. 1890) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection

Persondata
Name	Czerny, Carl
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 February 1791
Place of birth
Date of death	15 July 1857
Place of death