Karl Czerny page with free midi's to download

KARL CZERNY

21stFebuary 1791 --- 15thJuly 1857

KARL CZERNY was born in Vienna, February 21, 1791 FromWenzel Czerny, his father, a Bohemian by birth, he inherited the Bohemianaccent
that marked  his speech for life,  and from his father he received pianoforte lessons almost as  soon he could move his fingers.  He play little
pieces when he was four years old, and at the age of fourteen he gave lessons. In 1800, according to Eiserle he played in public the C minor
concerto of Mozart.  His father and Wenzel Krumpholz  took him to see Beethoven,  one winter day of that same year. T here was a group of
men in  an untidy room  of a house in the  "Tiefen Graben".  One of  the group had shaggy,  pitch black hair,  which stood on end,  he wore a
beard of a week's growth,  his rough clothes,  of a hairy stuff,  made the boy think of Robinson Crusoe.  This man was Beethoven,  who then
heard Karl play  Mozart's C major  concerto and the  "sonate pathetique."  He said to  Wenzel  Czerny,  the  modest musician,  "your son  has
great talent. I will be his teacher. Send him here twice a week, and let him bring Philipp Emanuel Bachs 'True Method of playing the Clavier.

Thus began  the instruction  which  lasted until  Karl was  fourteen yeats old.  In a written certificate Beethoven  spoke of his extraordinary
progress and remarkable memory.  He sent his nephew Karl to him for the study of the pianoforte,  he entrusted him with the arrangement
of "Leonore" for the pianoforte, and with other important work.  In 1806 Czerny played Beethoven's C major concerto in public,  in 1812 he
was the pianist when the noble concerto in E flat was heard for the first time and Theodor Korner recorded the fact that it was a failure and
during the  years 1818 , 1819 and  1820 he  gave recitals  at his  lodgings  every Sunday from  11 till  1 o'clock, which were  devoted  to the
pianoforte compositions of his master, and to which all lovers of music were welcome.

But teaching and  composition soon  absorbed his time.  It is said  that his playing in  his youth was  characterized by brilliancy,  to concert
work he  would have been one of the  first of the virtuosos,  and others,  among them Hanslick,  say that his performance was  without any
display of artistic fire.  With the exception of short trips to Leipzig, Paris.  London and other towns,  he passed his life in Vienna.  He taught
for up to twelve hours a day until about twelve years before his death, and these last years were spent in composition and in the arranging
of the works of others.

His health failed him in 1854, and he was loath to leave his rooms.  A gouty swelling first attacked his arm,  which was encased  in plaster.
He composed although the disease spread

His last works, an offertorium and a sonata, was written fourteen days before his death, which took place July 15th 1857.

Czerny was small and frail.  He was unassuming and  amiable in company. He preferred to seclude himself,  for he was a man of incredible
industry. Music was to him I "his only joy,  his only occupation, his daily duty and his highest ideal. " Until his  sickness mastered him,  the
little man with golden spectacles and a large,  round snuff-box was to he seen at noon in Diabelli's music-shop,  where he would converse
affably.

His habits were simple, his life and speech were of uncommon purity.   He was not without literary tastes, and a comedy,  two dramas and
verses by him are in the  archives of the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna.  He was  accused, but undoubtedly with gross injustice
of avarice. His kindly deeds were remembered by many. He left a fortune of 100,00 florins.  As he was never married and was  without kin
he willed the money, with the exception of trifling legacies, to charitable institutions.

He was fortunate in his pupils as they were in their master. Among the most celebrated were Emilie Belleville-Oury ( 1808- 1880) Theodor
Dohler  (1814-1856),   Theodor  Kullak (1818- 1882)  and Franz Liszt  (1811-1886).  Although  the  instruction  that  Czerny received  from
Beethoven was  invaluable,  it was  the foundation of  his own teaching.  " In  the first  lessons," said  Czerny,  "Beethoven  busied  himself
exclusively with the scales in all the keys.  He showed me  things that were then unknown to most players,  the true position of  the hands
and the fingers and the use of the thumb. I learned the full value of these rules only in later years. He was very particular about the legato

We are told of Czerny's course with Liszt,  who in 1821,  as an infant prodigy, so won the sympathy of the teacher that he taught him for a
year and  a half without  reward of money,  and  loved him  as a brother.  He insisted on  a well-exercised touch  and correct   execution in
moderate time.  He taught his usual systematic manner,  artistic technique and correctness of rendering. Yet it would be wrong to assume
that he was merely a master of technique, when such an authority as Brahms declares, in referring to his editions of certain works of Bach
and Scarlatti, that "we cannot to-day estimate Czerny's value too highly.

As a composer, he was first of all a marvel of fertility.  Not without reason has  he been called the  Lope de la  Vega of the pianoforte.  His
works are over  1,000 in  number,  and many of them embrace  50 or more pieces.  The masses,  oratorios,  overtures,  motets,  concertos
symphonies,  etc,  have  not  withstood  the  ravages  of Time.  Czerny studied c omposition  by reading  the treatises  of Turk,  Kirnberger
Albrechtsberger,  and Marpurg,  and putting  together the  voice-parts of the quartets  and the symphonies  of Haydn and Mozart.  He was
skilled in composition, but he had little imagination, and hardly any originality.

His enduring monument is the  series of  studies for the "education of youth",  and for the varied technical purposes.  So ready was  he in
composition that he  invented at once  exercises for  the needs of his pupils,  suiting the peculiar  want of each.  About 1810  he began to
publish studies for the use of students, of surpassing merit of which has been gratefully acknowledged by the virtuosos, the pedagogues
and the critics of all countries. For Czerny knew best of all (to borrow an idea from Hugo Riemann) how to expose I clearly the necessary
and natural form-foundations on which the structure of pianoforte-music rests. He also had the gift of leading the pupil step by step, and
no detail in the art of pianoforte-playing escaped his observation.

The Above was written by Mr Philip Hale in 1893.

Last Updated on 2017
By Steven Ritchie

And now for the Music

(1216)"Etude Opus.740, No.19". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(1215)"Etude Opus.740, No.18". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(1162)"Etude Opus.740, No.17". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(1095)".Etude Opus.740, No.16 Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(1096)"Etude Opus.740, No.15". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(1009)"Etude Opus.740, No.14". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(1008)"Etude Opus.740, No.13". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(983)"Etude Opus.740, No.12". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(982)"Etude Opus.740, No.11". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(953)"Etude Opsu.740, No.10". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(952)"Etude Opus.740, No.9". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(889)"Etude Opus.740, No.8". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(870)"Etude Opus.740, No.7". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(863)"Etude Opus.740, No.6". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(855)"Etude Opus.740, No.5". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(846)"Etude Opus.740, No.3". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(831)"Etude Opus.740, No.2". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

(813)"Etude Opus.740 No.1". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

Thanks to Emily Gray for the music below. Email (HappyMusician@opendiary.com)

(2583)"Dancing the Jig". Sequenced by Emily Gray

Thanks to John Scarborough for the music below Email (johnwes@southernx.com.au)

(1052)"Etude Opus.299, No.34". Sequenced by John Scarborough

(35a)"Etude Opus.740, No.11". Sequenced by V Phillips

(36a)"Etude Opus.740, No.44". Sequenced by V Phillips

(37a)"Etude Opus.704, No.50". Sequenced by V Phillips

(38a)"Etude Opus.740, No.4". Sequenced by V Phillips

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