Carl Czerny
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Carl Czerny (sometimes Karl; February 21, 1791 – July 15, 1857) was an Austrian pianist, composer and teacher. He is best remembered today for his books of etudes for the piano. Czerny knew and was influenced by the well-known pianists Muzio Clementi and Johann Nepomuk Hummel.
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[edit] Biography
Carl Czerny was born in Vienna to a family of Czech origin. His father Václav Černý came to Vienna from Nymburk, Bohemia and Carl himself didn't speak German until the age of 10. He was taught piano by his father before taking lessons from Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Carl Czerny also attended courses which Muzio Clementi held in Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Prague, Rome and Milan.
Carl Czerny was a child prodigy, making his first appearance in public in 1800 playing a Mozart piano concerto. Later, he gave the Vienna premiere of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" in 1812.
Czerny quickly took to teaching and by the age of fifteen, he was already a sought after instructor. His most famous student was Franz Liszt, who dedicated his twelve Transcendental Etudes to Czerny and also involved him in the collaborative work Hexaméron (the fifth variation on Bellini's theme is his).
His other notable students included Sigismond Thalberg, Stephen Heller, Alfred Jaëll, Teodor Leszetycki, Theodor Kullak, Theodor Döhler, and Anne Caroline de Belleville
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. None of these pieces are played often today, however, and he is known as a composer almost exclusively because of the large number of didactic piano pieces he wrote, many of which are still used today, 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.
On a minor note, he was one of 50 composers who each 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's published compositions number nearly 1,000 and 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”).
Czerny died in Vienna at the age of 66.
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.
[edit] Media
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[edit] See also
[edit] Samples of scores
- 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
[edit] External links
- Archive copy at the Internet Archive 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 June 13-26, 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.
[edit] Sheet music
- Free scores by Carl Czerny in 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.
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