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 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. He eventually instructed
Franz Liszt, among many others. Liszt later dedicated his twelve
Transcendental Etudes to Czerny, who was one of the first composers to use
étude ("study") for a title. Liszt also implicated him in the collaborative work
Hexaméron (the fifth variation on the Bellini's theme is his).
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 are 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.
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.
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