For some years now, the figure of Carl Czerny is finally freeing itself from the role of a pedantic and arid teacher – a role in which the preceding generations of musicians used to portray him. CD recordings and the reappearance in print of several scores contributed to give back to this musician his rightful dignity. He is a composer worth of being performed in the concert halls, even though his educational output remains, until today, the reference work for piano students all around the world. In fact, and in spite of the enormous importance of his pedagogical heritage, the educational aspect is just a partial facet of this composer’s output. Indeed, during his lifetime Czerny issued 861 opus numbers, and left 150 more posthumously published works: among these are Symphonies, Piano concertos, Piano sonatas, an enormous quantity of chamber music works, and even sacred and vocal works. To these works, other unpublished ones must be added, along with almost 250 arrangements and transcriptions worth noticing (such as the reductions for solo piano, and for four-hand piano duets, of the symphonic works by Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, and many other coeval composers). There are also his instructive editions of monumental works by Beethoven, of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as the authorship of several theoretical works, such as the famous Method op. 500, the Treatise on Improvisation op. 200, or the Treatise on Composition op. 600. In sum, Czerny left us a mine of material: better than any other example, it bears witness to the great creativity of his time. The quality of Czerny’s music is indisputably high. Listening to most of his works, one wonders why a composer of this level could have fallen into oblivion for such a long time.
Czerny had the good fortune of being Beethoven’s best pupil, and later of becoming Franz Liszt’s teacher. Indeed, he remained – so to speak – imprisoned in between, and inhibited by these two immense figures. More generally, we can say that Czerny found himself framed between two musical epochs: on the one hand, Classicism, which was evolving toward new styles; on the other, Romanticism, which would powerfully explode more or less at the time of his entering his mature age. This transition, called by many by the conventional name of “Biedermeier”, was Czerny’s golden age. In the two decades between 1815 and 1835, Czerny was a composer of his time. He issued prevailingly pieces in the brilliant style. They were formally irreproachable, and were in vogue for their captivating writing, for their virtuosity and for the pianistic challenges joined to the easy listening they provided to their hearers. In the later years, however, he was able no more to keep pace with the times, which were radically changing. In fact, Czerny’s earliest works are, on average, his most sincere and convincing ones. In those years, Czerny believed in himself, and that was his moment. He composed with such an enthusiasm that it is appealing even in his less developed musical ideas. As his youth passed, and the Romantics arrived, he sought refuge in an attitude of preservation and dissemination of the past. He remained anchored to his own style, writing always carefully, always unexceptionably, but in an idiom which had already faded. Czerny inherited from his famous teacher, Beethoven, many excellent qualities, but not one of the most important ones, i.e. the capability to renovate himself. The first and the last Beethoven are two persons and two composers completely different from each other. Czerny, instead, remains substantially the same composer throughout the four decades of his compositional activity. Still, the fact remains that his music is magnificently written, with great mastery, with a first-order pianism and coloristic skill: these qualities, indeed, were recognised in his works by the likes of Chopin and Stravinsky. Czerny’s output outnumbers Beethoven’s by approximately six times. With numbers in the range of more than 800 published works, it is obvious that one cannot always chisel everything. Still, this is precisely where Czerny’s oeuvre shows its exceptionality, due to the very high average quality he always manages to maintain, and which until now works perfectly in public performances. After more than 170 years of forgetfulness, Czerny is coming back in the concert hall with great success. His music is pleasant, easy to listen to and to understand. It seeks communicativeness and pleasantness, thus becoming extremely modern precisely in our epoch: after our daily stress, we tend to appreciate a healthy distraction more than an intellectual effort. In Czerny’s output, the repertoire for four-hands piano duet occupies a place of the first order. Indeed, he can be classified as the most prolific composer for this ensemble, and this output spans the entire temporal arch of his activity. Among these works, we can find everything: there are pedagogical pieces, works for amateurs, brilliant and light salon pieces, up to concert works which are very difficult on the performative plane and have denser and more significant contents. This is the case with his six Sonatas for four-hand piano duet, which can be divided into three Great Sonatas (op. 10, 178, and 331), and three Character Sonatas with ad libitum accompaniment of violin and cello (op. 119, 120, and 121).
The three Character Sonatas distinguish themselves from the three Great Sonatas for several features. First of all, they have a lesser size (three movements instead of four) and pose less pronounced instrumental requirements. Still, these requirements are absolutely non negligible, though certainly on average inferior to those needed by the other three Sonatas. The composer himself, in the Diabelli edition, indicated these three Sonatas as conceived “à l’usage des élèves avancés”. The Sonatas bear three different characteristic titles: Military, Sentimental, and Pastoral. They precede the usual adjective “et Brillante”, on whose expressive base they develop with a powerful personality. Their composition period is also homogeneous: this cycle was realized around 1826. On the other hand, the Three Great Sonatas saw the light within a twelve-year timeframe (1822-1834 ca.). Last but not least, we observe the presence of an ad libitum accompaniment of violin and cello: this practice was widespread at the time and had been common for a long time. These three Sonatas were published also in editions for four-hand piano only: not only had the individual string parts been removed, but the titlepage also omitted to cite them altogether. It should be said, about this, that these three compositions possess a sense of fulfilment also without the strings; the added parts, for long stretches, are a mere sound carpet or a melodic or rhythmic reinforcement. Still, the complete version of these Sonatas gives back a fascination and a flavour which justify the recovery of these ad libitum parts. The Sonata op. 119, “Military”, opens immediately with a first movement characterized by a march rhythm, with a lively and pompous character. Even the softer and more lyrical second theme is reminiscent of the drum’s rhythm, with its rapid quintuplets. After a calmer and more singing second movement, interrupted only by a robust (“con fuoco”) central section, the Sonata closes with a long and characteristic folklike Rondò, “Allegretto à l’Hongroise”. Here we can clearly notice the imitation of the cymbalom and of the turqueries, amid virtuoso passages, cadenzas, and even a fugato. Sonata op. 120, “Sentimental”, has a diametrically opposed character with respect to the preceding one. It is expressive, elegant, rich in rubatos and cadenzas. It is in a perfect Biedermeier style, with a truly remarkable thematic richness. After a pleasing and extremely captivating first movement (where it is impossible not to notice its kinship with Beethoven’s Rondo op. 51 no. 2), we find in the following Adagio one of Czerny’s most beautiful pages, full of tenderness and sudden outbursts of passion. The final Rondo, noble and flowing, at times with a Schubert-like flavour, closes the Sonata allowing for some moments in the brilliant virtuosity cherished by the composer.
Having cited Beethoven with regard to the Sentimental Sonata, we cannot omit to link the Pastoral Sonata op. 121 to the experience lived by Czerny as a boy who was close to Beethoven when he was writing his Sixth Symphony.
The choice of the same key (F major) and the numerous, easily recognisable homages throughout the work bear witness to it. Still, we must acknowledge that Czerny took inspiration from his famous predecessor, but finally chose a completely different path. The aspiration and destination of this Sonata are in fact very different from those of Beethoven’s Symphony. However, the care deployed by the composer in this work and the elegance with which he treats his instrument and the musical material are immediately evident. The pastoral character emerges in every element; here virtuosity has a principally ornamental function. Czerny makes the storm arrive already in the development of the first movement; the hunting horns are announced at the end of the Adagio, and he caps it all with a Rondo (“La Chasse”) where the hunting horns have a protagonist’s role, up to the stretto of the final Presto. We cannot and should not compare Czerny’s “Pastoral” and the ones by Beethoven (including op. 28). However, it is certainly interesting to enjoy the listening of this rarity, and to observe commonplaces and differences in the aural fresco of nature painted at that time. Already in 1852 Robert Cocks, one of the most important music publishers of the time, wrote in his London paper “Musical Miscellany” that “Carl Czerny, [Beethoven’s] friend and pupil, is almost the only surviving link to connect the memory of Beethoven with the existing world”
Today Czerny speaks of himself again; he speaks of his time and of Beethoven’s great teaching. He does this through his works, which fell for too long a time into oblivion. But, finally, they come back and resound, with increasing frequency and deservedly, in the concert hall.
Rodolfo Alessandrini, Sara Bartolucci © 2022
Czerny: Three Characteristic Sonatas for piano 4-hands with violin and cello ad libitum (Op. 119, Op. 120, Op. 121)
