Carl Czerny (1791–1857) lived at the turn of the nineteenth century, when the piano underwent significant development as an instrument, and subsequently generated a huge repertoire. While Czerny is mostly remembered for his piano exercises and etudes, his writings about music as well as his works in serious style reveal a man with a sophisticated awareness of the importance of piano technique, entwined with profound musical ideas and an understanding of music that make him a forerunner of the romantic style. This study focuses on Czerny’s Opus 500 Complete Theoretical and Practical Piano Forte School (1839), and its Supplement (1845). Through analysis of the tutorial’s content it attempts to prove the deep connection between piano technique and expressive playing in Czerny’s teaching. The first five chapters of this work compare elements of expressive playing, such as articulation, dynamics and tempo, as presented in different tutorials written before Czerny’s opus 500, clearly relevant to Czerny. The remaining chapters of this study discuss the pedagogical path that Czerny suggests to master those same aspects, especially through scales and scale-based exercises, and through constant attention to improving the listening skills of the student. The purpose of this work is to reassess Czerny as a key figure of modern piano technique, as a teacher and pedagogue able to introduce pianists to mechanical training while honing the essential skills to perform any piece of music in any style expressively.

Denna studie uppkom ur mitt intresse för hur man skrev variationer under 1800-talets första hälft, hur de är uppbyggda och hur jag själv kan börja skriva mina egna. Jag gick till väga genom att först välja ett tema att göra variationer på. Det landade på Den blomstertid nu kommer och då 1819 års version av den. Sedan läste jag olika källor, bland annat Czernys kompositionsbok och analyserade även flertalet kompositioner för flöjt. Jag lärde mig att enklaste sättet att skriva variationer är att gå till väga precis som i denna uppsats och personligen kommer jag inte stanna här utan ta mina nyförvärvade kunskaper och skriva fler variationer. Mitt slutmål är att själv kunna hitta på egna variationer i stunden likt mästarna från förr. / <p>Tema och variationer på<em> Den Blomstertid nu kommer</em> i arr för soloflöjt skrivna av Sofia Dahlén år 2022.</p>

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