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Carl Czerny by
Shannon Cullen
Born in Vienna on Sunday, February 20th, 1791, ten months before Mozart's death;
at the age of three he could fluently play the piano and by seven he could
notate his own musical ideas. So
impressed was his father that at the age of 10, he was taken to see Beethoven.
Too nervous to play the Master's work, he chose instead a Mozart concerto.
According to Czerny's autobiography notes, Beethoven listened intently
and agreed to teach him three times a week without charge.
Having accepted Czerny as a pupil, Beethoven concentrated on material in C.P.E.
Bach's Versuch and on legato playing, which was particularly
appropriate for the fortepiano as opposed to the Mozartian non-legato style of
playing. Czerny was nevertheless
deeply impressed by the clarity and precision of this latter style.
In 1800 Czerny made his public debut as a pianist in Vienna and quickly gained a
reputation as the leading interpreter of Beethoven's keyboard music and in 1812
he premiered Beethoven's 'Emperor' Concerto. But in 1805, a planned concert tour
of Europe had to be cancelled due to the Napoleonic Wars and his parents’
frail health. Such a tour would have meant recognition and fame such as
that experienced by Mozart and Liszt but Czerny was later to write that his
'playing lacked that type of brilliant, calculated charlatanry that is usually
part of a traveling virtuoso's equipment'.
However, it would be as a teacher that his reputation would lie.
By the age of 15 he was commanding a good price for piano lessons and had
many pupils. In Vienna, there were
now 64 piano manufacturers supplying a population of 200,000 and piano lessons
were an essential part of the Biedermeier period.
All daughters were expected to learn the piano - one of the few
disciplines, along with sewing that society permitted them to pursue.
His famous exercises and studies range from the easy and progressive to
the virtuoso and specialised. Others
exploit the prevailing salon, bravura and characteristic styles of the time.
Later volumes detail improvisation, transposition, score reading, concert
decorum and piano maintenance.
In 1821, a nine-year-old Franz Liszt began a two-year tuition with Czerny.
The teacher noted that 'never before have I had so eager, talented or
industrious a student'. Czerny
noted that Liszt had began his performing career too early without proper or
sufficient training in composition. The
critics were lukewarm at his first performance but Beethoven is reputed to have
walked up on stage and kissed Liszt on the forehead as a mark of respect. Later, Czerny's Sonata No.1 was added to Liszt's concert performances
and his Transcendental Studies is
dedicated to Czerny. Another
less talented pupil was Beethoven's nephew Karl.
Lengthy correspondence exists between teacher and Master detailing the
teenager's lessons with the end result being that Czerny informs Beethoven that
his nephew has no musical ear at all. Beethoven
was surprised to say the least.
Arriving in Vienna in 1829, Chopin's first destination was Czerny's. Their
letters show a deep admiration for each others work and teaching methods.
However, Czerny also had critics. John
Field, the inventor of the Nocturne, while also staying there in 1835 described
Czerny as a 'Tintenfass', a bottomless inkpot. And Robert Schumann, in reviewing
a newly composed piece, described it thus 'It would be hard to discover a
greater bankruptcy in imagination than Czerny has proved.'
This thinking has prevailed to the present day due to the vast amount of
compositions (over 1000 works) he produced.
Critics believe quality was sacrificed for quantity.
However, the vast majority have yet to see the light of day and a recent
music symposium in Albertina, Canada highlighted just how adventurous Czerny's
compositions are. Symphonies,
operas, requiems and concertos show a composer secretly working at his art while
unable to emerge from the shadow of his master, Beethoven. Czerny died in 1857, leaving his entire fortune of over 100,000 florins to charitable institutions.
Czerny was born in Vienna (Austria) on February 20th, 1971. As a child genius, he could play the piano very well by the time he was 3, and began writing for the piano when he was 7. When he was 10, his father took him to the famous teacher / composer Beethoven, who took him on as a student for two years. Many years later, Czerny also became a teacher – training Liszt, among other excellent students. Czerny eventually became most recognised for the technical studies that he wrote and his ideas about the best ways to play the piano. He composed well over 1000 pieces for performance as well as pieces for practicing piano skills. |
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Last modified: April 13, 2009 |
Carl Czerny was a curious paradox of the age.