Carl Czerny
February 21, 1791 - July 15, 1857 (age 66)
Biography
In the history of music this, Austrian pianist, teacher, composer, and musicographer holds an enigmatic place as the student of Beethoven and the teacher of Liszt. He had an excellent musical memory and once played all of the piano works of Beethoven from memory. Czerny liked playing the works of Beethoven but was also drawn early to Bach, Mozart and Clementi and later to Hummel and Clementi. (The latter he met and it was to Clementi that Czerny dedicated his own treatise on methods and composition.) Upon Chopin's arrival in Vienna Czerny was the person he wanted to meet -- and did. They would play piano duets together on a number of occasions. The plethora of compositions from Czerny number over one thousand and they include many genres -- operas, oratorios, requiems, symphonies, offertories, concertos, chamber music for piano(s), et cetera. He was an incomparable arranger of music by Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Cherubini, Mendelssohn, Handel, Haydn and others. The majority of his compositions were bountiful yet uninspired. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi
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