Carl Czerny, lithograph by Joseph Kriehuber, 1833

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.

Biography

Czerny was born in Vienna to a family of Bohemian origins. He was taught piano by his father before taking lessons from Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri, and Ludwig van Beethoven. He 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.

He 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 the 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 also 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 is often played 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.

Czerny died in Vienna at the age of 66.

Signum Records has 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.

Media

See also

• List of compositions by Carl Czerny

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

External links

• www.kreusch-sheet-music.net - Free Scores by Czerny
• Carl Czerny: Teacher & Composer (1791-1857)
• 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.

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