Czerny made his public debut in 1800 performing Mozart's
Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor. However, he felt ill at ease with the stage,
lacking confidence in his own abilities, and gave up the life of a performer
and instead turned primarily to teaching and composition. Nevertheless, twelve
years later he returned to the stage to give the Vienna premiere of Beethoven's
"Emperor" Concerto.
Czerny established a successful career as a teacher and
based his methods on the teachings of Beethoven and Clementi. He kept a full
schedule, often teaching ten or more hours a day, and his reputation allowed
him to charge high fees. Among his most notable students were Sigismond
Thalberg and Franz Liszt. Czerny, in fact, was Liszt's only teacher and later
the recipient of Liszt's Transcendental
Etudes.
Despite his busy schedule as a piano teacher, Czerny
composed a staggering amount of works. While he is almost exclusively known
today for his etudes, his oeuvre
contains a large number of symphonies, concertos, sonatas and string quartets,
as well as religious works such as masses and requiems. In addition to his
contributions to piano instruction, he also penned an authoritative essay on
the performance of Beethoven's sonatas. In recent years, Czerny's non-didactic
compositions have received more favorable attention.
Czerny spent most of life in Vienna and only on a few
occasions ventured outside Austria's musical capital. He died on July 15, 1857
at the age of sixty-six. Having no immediately family, he left the considerable
fortune he amassed during his successful career to a handful of charities,
including an institute for the deaf.
Carl Czerny
Biography
A prolific composer, Carl Czerny today is largely known for his pedagogical contributions to the piano repertoire and for establishing the musical form of the etude. Born on February 21, 1792 in Vienna, Czerny's family was of Czech origin. His father was an oboist, organist and pianist, and Czerny's first piano teacher; his grandfather was a violinist. He showed a natural aptitude for music, taking up the piano at the age of three and composing at seven. He performed recitals in his parent's home of works mainly by Bach, Mozart, Clementi and Beethoven. On one such occasion, Beethoven himself was in attendance and was so impressed with Czerny's performance of his own Pathétique Sonata that he took the young boy as his student. Czerny studied with Beethoven for the next three years, establishing a friendship that lasted until the elder composer's death in 1827. He also took lessons from Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Antonio Salieri.
Czerny made his public debut in 1800 performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor. However, he felt ill at ease with the stage, lacking confidence in his own abilities, and gave up the life of a performer and instead turned primarily to teaching and composition. Nevertheless, twelve years later he returned to the stage to give the Vienna premiere of Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto.
Czerny established a successful career as a teacher and based his methods on the teachings of Beethoven and Clementi. He kept a full schedule, often teaching ten or more hours a day, and his reputation allowed him to charge high fees. Among his most notable students were Sigismond Thalberg and Franz Liszt. Czerny, in fact, was Liszt's only teacher and later the recipient of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes.
Despite his busy schedule as a piano teacher, Czerny composed a staggering amount of works. While he is almost exclusively known today for his etudes, his oeuvre contains a large number of symphonies, concertos, sonatas and string quartets, as well as religious works such as masses and requiems. In addition to his contributions to piano instruction, he also penned an authoritative essay on the performance of Beethoven's sonatas. In recent years, Czerny's non-didactic compositions have received more favorable attention.
Czerny spent most of life in Vienna and only on a few occasions ventured outside Austria's musical capital. He died on July 15, 1857 at the age of sixty-six. Having no immediately family, he left the considerable fortune he amassed during his successful career to a handful of charities, including an institute for the deaf.