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Topic: Czerny Op. 500 - Complete theoretical and practical piano forte school  (Read 9874 times)

Offline ajspiano

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As part of my mental meanderings today I have had cause to locate read up on czerny's op 500. Took me quite a while to find the whole thing in english (and i'm a pretty hot shot googler  ;D)..  there are german versions all over the place..

So anyway since I did manage to find it I thought I'd post a copy here for anyone interested in having a look, but without the time to invest in locating it.

Offline j_menz

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cznery's op 500.

Who in God's name is Cznery?
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant

Offline ajspiano

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Who in God's name is Cznery?

lol oops, I'll fix that..

I also seem to have only uploaded vol 1 of 3.

Offline ajspiano

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Fixed.

Vol 3 posted here because together its too big for 1 post.

Offline dima_76557

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So anyway since I did manage to find it I thought I'd post a copy here for anyone interested in having a look, but without the time to invest in locating it.

Very interesting historical documents, thank you! Very amusing wording sometimes, too.

P.S.: I'd like to point out that some translations do not express what Czerny had in mind. In German, "die Taste anschlagen" should be translated as "to play the key", "to touch the key", not "to strike the key" (if in doubt, check Google Translator). It's never meant as "hit" or "beat". It's more the "controlled swing" thing I mentioned in the other thread. People who have ever played on instruments of that time will know what I mean. If you hit or beat, you immediately kill the tone, which is not what Czerny could have had in mind. :)
No amount of how-to information is going to work if you have the wrong mindset, the wrong guiding philosophies. Avoid losers like the plague, and gather with and learn from winners only.

Offline ted

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Thanks so much for posting this. What a revelation ! Those poor students back then ! Is that how they really taught people do you think ? All but a few rebels would have had the joy of music systematically squashed out of them. If the chapter on improvisation weren't so stupid it would be a horror story. Good grief, I'm glad I was born in the twentieth century.  I need a good dose of real improvisation to get it out of my mind.
"Mistakes are the portals of discovery." - James Joyce

Offline awesom_o

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I play Czerny every day. What he says about improvisation should be taken seriously.

Remember, this is the man who studied with THE greatest piano improviser, Beethoven, and the man who taught the OTHER greatest piano improviser, LISZT.

If Beethoven, Czerny, and Liszt don't offer you 'real' enough improvisation, maybe you had better listen to jazz instead!


Ajspiano, make sure you follow Czerny correctly-he intended his studies to be played at sight, WITHOUT looking down at the hands.

One of my goals for this year, among others, is to work on each and every single study by Czerny. Granted, not all of them are of equal value, but plenty of them are wonderful little works in their own right that would make for exciting concert pieces given sufficient preparation.

Offline ajspiano

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I play Czerny every day. What he says about improvisation should be taken seriously.

Remember, this is the man who studied with THE greatest piano improviser, Beethoven, and the man who taught the OTHER greatest piano improviser, LISZT.

If Beethoven, Czerny, and Liszt don't offer you 'real' enough improvisation, maybe you had better listen to jazz instead!


Ajspiano, make sure you follow Czerny correctly-he intended his studies to be played at sight, WITHOUT looking down at the hands.

One of my goals for this year, among others, is to work on each and every single study by Czerny. Granted, not all of them are of equal value, but plenty of them are wonderful little works in their own right that would make for exciting concert pieces given sufficient preparation.

Every single one hey?  that's a large under taking (a quick add up suggests over 1000 works). Though I suppose you probably blitz though them a bit quicker than me. I would probably limit myself to ~100 works of that nature for a year to actually deliberately work on (as opposed to just sight read once)

...not that I'm sure I quite have the discipline to tackle that much czerny all at once..(if ever) though I quite like some of them..

I rather enjoy op 740 no 12 for example, I could handle putting more time into that to be able to really play it.

jmenz, that one starts at 17:54 in the libetta recording, go on, tell me there isnt atleast a little bit of feeling in it..

Offline j_menz

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jmenz, that one starts at 17:54 in the libetta recording, go on, tell me there isnt atleast a little bit of feeling in it..

How on earth am I expected to listen through those nearly 18 minutes to get to it, though?

I should note, though, that I have said elsewhere that Czerny's actual compositions are often quite good. It would appear some of that may have leaked. Either that, or after 700 opuses even he felt the need to inject some music.
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant

Offline ajspiano

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How on earth am I expected to listen through those nearly 18 minutes to get to it, though?


You click on the scroll bar at the bottom of the youtube video and it scans through to the spot you click on. If you mouse over it it even tells you what time you are about to click on before you click.

Offline awesom_o

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Offline kj77

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Who knew Czerny's music so so charming? Check out the Chanson sans Parole (Track 14) and the fun Track 12. Great mix of solo piano and chamber music
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Czerny-Chamber-Music/dp/B001HDJNZC/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk
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