Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Maryland, College Park, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references and discography (leaves 85-89).

Carl Czerny (1791-1857) was an Austrian piano teacher, composer, pianist, historian, and theorist, who made many contributions to the musical world. He wrote many pieces of music over the course of his life, the most familiar to us being his exercises. His other types of work are less known and studied nowadays for various reasons. Yet it cannot be denied that Czerny was a very important figure who should not be allowed to fade away. We must delve deeper into his life and uncover more of his pieces, to reveal aspects of his work that are unknown for us. This study concentrates on the forgotten piece Fantaisie sur des mélodies de Beethoven, Op. 752. This is one of the pieces that I included in a World Premiere release recording issued by Toccata Classics. The intent of the program for the recording was to change the traditional concept of Czerny's work and show that his compositions are worth adding to today's recital repertoire. The program included five forgotten pieces by Czerny, of which Op. 752 was the most complicated and virtuosic. The purpose of this study is to analyze the piece and illustrate practicing methods or solutions for the technical challenges of different types that it requires, thus constituting a performance guide. Furthermore, this dissertation also gives suggestions for using the piece in teaching. The aim is to help pianists and teachers to understand and successfully perform the piece on the modern piano. Moreover, I hope that this study will draw more attention to Czerny and inspire others to uncover more of his works.

Beethoven’s tempo indications have been the subject of much scholarly debate, but a coherent understanding of his intended tempos has not yet emerged. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, some of the discussion has been based on unreliable sources, or an unrepresentative sample of sources. Secondly, the substantial differences between tempo preferences in the early nineteenth century and now has made these tempo indications difficult to approach for musicians in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Thirdly, discussions of Beethoven’s tempo have typically focussed on works in one particular genre. This thesis overcomes these limitations by incorporating all of Beethoven’s works, and rooting the whole research in a wide variety of sources from the eighteenth and nineteenth century that have a plausible relationship with Beethoven’s practice. In particular the metronome marks by Beethoven, as well as those from his close contemporaries Carl Czerny, Ignaz Moscheles, and Karl Holz, provide great insight into the composer’s sense of tempo. By using as many sources on Beethoven’s tempo as possible, this approach makes reasonable estimations of the actual speeds that Beethoven had in mind for his works. Furthermore, it also allows an exploration of the musical intuitions that are the root cause of these speeds.

Carl Czernys Anleitung zum Fantasieren (1829) stellt eine nahezu einzigartige Improvisationslehre mit kommentierten Beispielen dar, die eine Systematik für die Gattungen der Salonfantasie einführt sowie ein analytisches Instrumentarium für Repertoire des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts bereitstellt. Das Lehrwerk bedarf allerdings einer sorgfältigen Kontextualisierung, zunächst in Abgrenzung zur grundlegenden Definition der Freien Fantasie durch Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1762). Im sechsten Kapitel beschreibt Czerny die Gattung Potpourri und gibt davon ein Beispiel, das den Titel Fantasie als Potpourri trägt und aufgrund der Themenauswahl mit der zuvor gegebenen Definition teilweise im Widerspruch steht. In diesem Beitrag wird nach einem etymologischen Abriss über die Freie Fantasie zwischen C. Ph. E. Bach und der Zeit Czernys zunächst ein kurzer Vergleich zwischen Czernys Systematik und Ferdinand Gotthelf Hands späteren Angaben über die Fantasie im zweiten Band der Ästhetik der Tonkunst (1841) angestellt. Czernys Angaben zum Potpourri im Fließtext und Beispielkommentar werden schließlich durch einige analytische Beobachtungen ergänzt, anhand verschiedener historischer Quellen diskutiert und im Kontext der modernen Quellenkritik betrachtet. Die Untersuchung lässt eine Kehrtwende im Verständnis von Freier Fantasie in ästhetischer, satztechnischer und formaler Hinsicht erkennen, die bisherige Forschungsergebnisse ergänzt. Czernys Systematik der Fantasie erweist sich generell in inhaltlicher und terminologischer Hinsicht als konsistent. Zugleich bildet das Lehrwerk nur ein Moment der fluktuierenden Begriffsgeschichte ab. Es dokumentiert den Wandel von einer unverwechselbaren zu einer reproduzierbaren Formplanung der Fantasie und zeigt mit der Fantasie als Potpourri die Möglichkeit eines Potpourris für den Bildungsbürger. / Carl Czerny’s Anleitung zum Fantasieren (1829) represents an almost unique treatise on the theory of musical improvisation with annotated examples, introducing a system for the genres of salon fantasy and providing analytical tools for early nineteenth-century repertoire. However, the textbook requires a careful contextualization – first in contrast to the basic definition of free fantasy given by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1762). In Chapter 6, Czerny describes the genre potpourri supported by an example which carries the title Fantasie als Potpourri; due to the selection of thematic material this example is partly inconsistent with the previous definition. After an etymological outline of free fantasy between C. Ph. E. Bach and Czerny’s time, this article offers a short comparison of Czerny’s systematics with Ferdinand Gotthelf Hand’s later concept of fantasy in the second volume of Ästhetik der Tonkunst (1841). Czerny’s general discussion of the potpourri and his commentary on the music example are supplemented by analytical observations, discussed on the basis of various historical sources, and considered in the context of modern source criticism. The study reveals a reversal in the aesthetic, compositional, and formal understanding of the free fantasy, complementing previous research results. Czerny’s system of fantasy genres generally proves to be consistent in terms of content and terminology. At the same time, the textbook describes only a moment in the fluctuating history of the fantasy. It documents the shift from a distinctive to a reproducible planning of musical form with the Fantasie als Potpourri offering the educated middle class a possibility of improvising a potpourri.

abstract: Positioned between Beethoven and Liszt in the golden period, Carl Czerny (1791-1857) played a significant historical role in the area of piano pedagogy. Many pianists are familiar with and have played Czerny’s études, or technical exercises. However, few delve into Czerny’s piano works for performance, including eleven piano sonatas and more than 180 works titled variations. The project at hand examines three of Carl Czerny’s variation works for piano: Opus 33 (on a theme of Rode), Opus 281 (on a theme from Bellini’s Norma, in its solo piano version), and Opus 292 (on an original theme). These works are explored from both compositional and performance perspectives. After a brief biography of Czerny that places his variations into the context of his compositional output, the three variation sets are given analytical description. A chapter on the “Rode Variations” focuses on the technical and musical challenges for the pianist. An important conclusion reached is that these somewhat-neglected works might be attractive to pianists looking to expand their repertoire. / Dissertation/Thesis / Variations brillantes sur un thême original, Opus 292 / Carl Czerny Introduction, variations et presto finale sur un Thème favori de l’Opéra Norma de Bellini, Opus 281 / Rode Variations, Opus 33 / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2020