RECOLLECTIONS FROM MY LIFE

By CARL CZERNY

This manuscript sketch, entitled Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben,

now in the possession of the Vienna GeseUschaft der Musikfreunde,
whose courtesy is hereby gratefully acknowledged, was written by Czerny
in 1842. Although some excerpts from it were published in the Neues
Beethoven Jahrbuch (Vol. 9, 1939), this is the first time the complete
text has been printed. The extraordinary sobriety of this strange man,
talented yet frustrated, prodigiously industrious (the composer of over
one thousand opera!), whose influence upon succeeding generations of
pianists was considerable, makes an English translation of his simple
and candid recollections a desirable and interesting undertaking. The
annotations are by the Editor.

FIRST PERIOD (FROM M Y BIRTH TO M Y FIFTEENTH YEAR)

My paternal grandfather was a city official in the small Bohemian
town of Nimburg. He was also a good violinist, considering the state of
violin playing at the time, and was a friend of Georg Benda's. My father,
Wenzel Czerny, who was born in Nimburg in 1750, received his educa-
tion in a Benedictine monastery near Prague. At the same time he ac-
quired a rather thorough musical training, since he had a fine voice and
therefore had to sing solo soprano in church; on occasion he probably
played the organ as well. When he was seventeen he lost his soprano
voice and had to leave the monastery. In view of his parents' poverty it
became necessary for him to join the army, and for fifteen years he
served with the artillery. During the last year of his service he became
acquainted with my mother, a Moravian girl, and, after having married
and quit the army, he decided to make his living as a music teacher
in Vienna. He settled there in 1786 and since he had improved his
piano playing considerably, he gradually got enough students to make a
living. I was bom on February 21, 1791, in Vienna (Leopoldstadt) and
was baptized in the parish of St Leopold. I was to remain an only child.
From my earliest days I was surrounded with music, since my father
used to practice a great deal (especially works by Clcmenti, Mozart,
302
 Courtes!. New York Puhlic Lihrary
Carl Czerny
.

t
 Recollections From My Life 303
Kozeluch, etc.) and received the visits of many fellow countrymen whom
he knew professionally, e.g. Wanhall, Gelinek,1 Lipavsky,1 etc. I was
approximately six months old when he took a job as piano teacher at
a Polish estate. We promptly moved to Poland, which is the scene of
my first childhood memories. I am supposed to have been a very lively
child and to have played a few little pieces on the piano when I was
three. Originally, my parents were to have remained in Poland for
twelve years, but since the last Polish partition brought with it unrest
and unsettled conditions, which would have made a continued stay
very disagreeable, my father decided to forgo the advantages of his con-
tract and c. 1795 moved, back to Vienna, where he remained for the
rest of his life. His study of Bach's works and others like them had helped
my father to develop a good technique and a proper approach to the
fortepiano, and this circumstance had a beneficial influence on me. My
father had no intention whatever of making a superficial virtuoso out
of me; rather, he strove to develop my sight-reading ability through
continuous study of new works and thus to develop my musicianship.
When I was barely ten I was already able to play cleanly and fluently
nearly everything by Mozart, Clementi, and the other piano composers
of the time; owing to my excellent musical memory I mostly performed
without the music. Whatever money my father could set aside from the
scant pay for his lessons was spent on music for me, and since I was
carefully isolated from other children and thus was under my parents'
constant supervision, diligence became a habit. Without my father's spe-
cial encouragement I began, when I was only seven, to put down some
ideas of my own; I should add that they were at least written correctly
enough that in later years when I received instruction in thorough-bass
I found little occasion to change anything.

At that time during the last years of the past century the fol-
lowing were the most famous pianists in Vienna:
Wolfl,* renowned for his virtuosity;
Joseph Gelinek (Abbe), 1758-1825, of Czech origin, icttled in Vienna in the
early 1790's. He was much appreciated by Mozart, who knew him in Prague.
Gelinek was on good terms with the young Beethoven and it was he who is
supposed to have arranged for Beethoven's studies with Johann Schenk. In later
years the much sought after piano teacher became estranged from Beethoven.
1
Joseph Lipavsky (1772-1810), a Bohemian pianist and composer active in
Vienna.
* Joseph WSlfl, 1773-1812, a student of the two Mozarts and the two Haydns,
had such a reputation for improvisation that his skill was compared to Mozart's
and Beethoven's.
304 The Musical Quarterly
Gelinek, a general favorite because of the dazzling elegance of his
technique as well as for his variations;
Lipavsky, a fine sight-reader and celebrated for his performances
of Bach fugues.
I still remember how one day Gelinek told my father that he was
invited to a party that evening where he was to oppose a foreign virtuoso
in a pianistic duel. "Ill fix him," Gelinek added. Next day my father
asked Gelinek about the outcome of the battle. Gelinek looked quite
crestfallen and said: "Yesterday was a day I'll remember! That young
fellow must be in league with the devil. I've never heard anybody play
like that! I gave him a theme to improvise on, and I assure you I've
never even heard Mozart improvise so admirably. Then he played some
of his own compositions, which are marvelous really wonderful and
he manages difficulties and effects at the keyboard that we never even
dreamed of." "I say, what's his name?" asked my father with some
astonishment. 'He is a small, ugly, swarthy young fellow, and seems to
have a wilful disposition," answered Gelinek; "Prince Iichnowsky
brought him to Vienna from Germany to let him study composition with
Haydn, ATbrechtsberger, and Salieri, and his name is Beethoven."

That was the first time I heard that name, and I immediately be-
sought my father to get Beethoven's compositions. Soon I had every-
thing by him that was then available the first three trios and sonatas,
some variations, his Adelaide, etc.; and since I already knew so many
fine works by other composers, I soon learned, within the limitations
of my age, to appreciate the beauty and originality of Beethoven's com-
positions. I must add that my understanding was furthered by another
circumstance. At that time an older man by the name of Krumpholz,4
who was the brother of the inventor of the pedal harp, came to see us
almost every day. He was a violinist and member of the court opera
orchestra; at the same time he had the greatest enthusiasm for music,
which was so extreme that it knew no bounds. Nature had given him a
high degree of true and subtle perceptivity for the beautiful in music so
that even without great technical knowledge he was able to evaluate
any composition with considerable acumen and thus to anticipate the
judgment of the connoisseurs. As soon as the young Beethoven had ap-
peared on the scene, Krumpholz attached himself to him with such
Wenzel Krumpholz, c 1750-1817, brother of the famous harpist, Johann
Baptist, was one of Beethoven'i oldest friends. Besides teaching him the violin,
he hovered over the composer like an adoring uncle.
 Recollections From My life 305
worshipful tenacity that he quickly became his friend, spending almost
the whole day with him, and that Beethoven, who usually was very
secretive about his musical projects, told him about all his ideas, asked
him to listen to every new composition, and improvised daily for him.
And although Beethoven often made fun of the ingenuous ecstasy that
would seize Krumpholz on such occasions and called him his fool, he
was nonetheless moved by the loyalty with which he defended Beethoven's
cause against his numerous enemies regardless of the many bitter feuds
this involved. (At that time the general public completely condemned
Beethoven's works, and all the followers of the old Mozart-Haydn school
opposed him bitterly.) It was this man, then, for whom I had to play
Beethoven's works every day, and, although he knew absolutely nothing
about piano-playing, he was obviously able to teD me a good bit about
such matters as tempo, manner of performance, intended effect, char-
acter, etc., since he had often heard them performed by Beethoven him-
self and had in most cases witnessed the process of composition. His
enthusiasm soon proved infectious and I soon became a Beethoven wor-
shipper like him, memorized all his works, and, considering my age,
played them with as much proficiency as enthusiasm. Krumpholz also
used to tell me what new compositions Beethoven was working on and
he would sing or play on his violin the themes he bad heard there in the
morning. In this way I always found out much earlier than anyone
else what Beethoven was working on and thus was amazed to learn
later how long Beethoven would labor over his compositions, how it
often took him several years before he would publish them, and how in
composing new works he would utilize motifs that had come to him
many years before. I might add that our friendship with Krumpholz
lasted many years, until his death in 1819.

My father was not wealthy enough to engage teachers for me, but
several of my father's pupils were young students and apprentices who
were too poor to pay for their lessons and instead contributed to my
education as part-time tutors. One of them taught me Italian, which I
spoke fluently when I was only ten. Another gave me lessons in French,
a third in German (my parents had spoken Bohemian with me), a
fourth guided my great penchant for literature, etc. Most of these young
men later achieved good careers as civil servants; some of them are still
living, eg. the mayor of NeustadL Thus it happened that I did not even
think about the kind of things children ordinarily do, never missed the
friendship of other boys, and never went out without my father.
At that age (10-12) I got all the usual children's illnesses (smallpox,
306 The Musical Quarterly
measles, etc.). Each time I was so violently ill that my health, which had
been robust up till then, remained considerably impaired for many years
thereafter, a state that was not improved by my domestic activity.

I was about ten when Krumpholz introduced me to Beethoven. With

what a mixture of fear and elation I looked forward to the day on which
I was to see the admired master! Even today that moment stands out
vividly in my memory. It was a wintry day when my father, Krumpholz,
and I walked from Leopoldstadt (where we were still living) into the
city, to the so-called Ticfen Graben (a street), and there climbed stairs
to the dizzy heights of the fifth or sixth floor. A far from clean-looking
servant announced our visit to Beethoven and then admitted us. We
entered a very slovenly-looking room pieces of paper, articles of cloth-
ing, and a few suitcases scattered all over the place, bare walls, hardly a
chair except the rickety one for the Walter piano (the best ones made
then), and in that room a group of six to eight people, including the
two Wranitzky brothers,1 Sussmayr,' Schuppanzigh,1 and one of Beet-
hoven's brothers. Beethoven himself was wearing a jacket and trousers
made of some dark grey material of furry texture and he immediately
reminded me of the picture of Campe's Robinson Crusoe, which I hap-
pened to be reading at that time. His jet-black hair, cut a la Titus, made
him look shaggy the way it stood off from his head. Since his beard
had not been shaved for several days, the lower part of his swarthy face
looked even darker. I also noticed immediately with the power of obser-
vation so typical of children that both his ears were stuffed with cotton
which seemed to have been dipped in a yellow liquid. But at that time
he certainly appeared to be not the least bit hard of hearing. I had to
play something right away, and since I was too bashful to start with one
of his works, I played the great C-major concerto by Mozart (the one
that starts with chords).* Beethoven soon took notice, moved close to
my chair, and played the orchestral melody with his left hand whenever

Anton Wranitzky, 1761-1820, wi a good violinist, but of the two brother*

it was Paul, 1756-1808, who became famous. A member of Haydn's orchestra at
Eszterhiz, where he was much appreciated by his conductor, he was the author of
innumerable symphonies and concertos, though it was his Singspitl* that made
him a well-liked composer.
* Franz Xaver Sfissmayr, 1766-1803, Mozart's pupil, who completed the latter's
Requiem.
'Ignaz Schuppanzigh, 1776-1830, the first violinist to organize a string quartet
for public performances, a devoted admirer of Beethoven and first interpreter of
his chamber music
K. 503.
 Recollections From My Life 307
I had purely accompanying passages. His hands were very hairy, and
his fingers very broad, especially at the tips. When he expressed satis-
faction I felt encouraged enough to play his recently published Sonaie
Pathitiqne and finally the Adelaide, which my father sang with his very
respectable tenor voice. When I had finished, Beethoven turned to my
father and said, "The boy is talented, I myself want to teach him, and
I accept him as my pupil. Let him come several times a week. But most
important, get him Emanuel Bach's book on the true art of clavier-play-
ing, which he must have by the time he comes to see me again." Every-
body present congratulated my father on Beethoven's favorable judg-
ment, and especially Krumpholz was ecstatic. My father left immediately
to get Bach's book.
During the first lessons Beethoven made me work solely on the scales
in all keys and showed me many technical fundamentals, which were as
yet unknown to most pianists, e.g. the only proper position of the hands
and fingers and particularly the use of the thumb; only much later did I
recognize fully the usefulness of these rules. He then went through the
various keyboard studies in Bach's book and especially insisted on legato
technique, which was one of the unforgettable features of his playing;
at that time all other pianists considered that kind of legato unattainable,
since the hammered, detached staccato technique of Mozart's time was
still fashionable. (Some years later Beethoven told me that he had heard
Mozart play on several occasions and that, since at that time the forte-
piano was still in its infancy, Mozart, more accustomed to the then still
prevalent Fliigel, used a technique entirely unsuited for the fortepiano.
I, too, subsequently made the acquaintance of several persons who had
studied with Mozart, and found that Beethoven's observation was con-
firmed by their manner of playing.)

Since my father would never let me take the long walk into the city
alone, he always took me to Beethoven himself with the result that he
lost many lessons, especially since it often happened that Beethoven
was in the midst of composing and therefore excused himself. So it came
that after a while the lessons were interrupted for a rather long period
and I was again on my own.
At that time (1802 ff.) I made the very useful acquaintance of Gov-
ernment Councillor Hess (a friend of Mozart's and dementi's), who not
only owned a valuable library of music by the old classical composers,
but allowed me to copy from it anything I wanted. In this way I acquired
Sebastian Bach's fugues, Scarlatti's sonatas, and many another work
308 The Musical Quarterly
that was hard to get at that time. In 1802 Beethoven gave his first public
concert in the theater, where he played his First Concerto in C major,
had his first two symphonies performed, which received tremendous ap-
plause, and finally improvised on the theme Gott erhalte Franz den
Kaiser. I was especially interested in the symphonies and I was so curious
to find out how such orchestral works are written that I conceived the
notion of making my own scores of these works from the parts, so that
pretty carry in my life I got a fairly correct concept of instrumentation.
I enjoyed this type of work so much that I applied the same procedure
to several Haydn and Mozart symphonies (something far more useful
for the student than to study a ready-made score). At the same time
this activity endowed me with great skill in speedy writing of musical
notation, a skill that came in very handy later on.
For several years ( c 1801-04) my father and I visited Mozart's
widow; every Saturday there were musical soirees at her house, where
Mozart's younger son (a pupil of Streichcr's)* gave very skillful per-
formances. On one occasion the party was a good bit larger than usual,
and among the many elegant persons I was especially fascinated by a
very striking young man. His unpleasant, common-looking face, which
twitched constantly, and his utterly tasteless clothing (a light-gray coat,
a long scarlet vest, and blue trousers) seemed to indicate that he was
some village schoolmaster. But the many valuable diamond rings he wore
on almost all fingers provided a most peculiar contrast As usual there
was music, and finally this young man (he might have been somewhat
older than twenty) was asked to play. And what an accomplished pianist
he turned out to be! Even though I had already had so many oppor-
tunities to hear Gelinek, Lipavsky, Wolfl, and even Beethoven, the play-
ing of this homely fellow seemed like a revelation. Never before had I
hard such novel and dazzling difficulties, such cleanness and elegance in
performance, nor such intimate and tender expression, nor even so much
good taste in improvisation; when later he performed a few of Mozart's
sonatas with violin (he was accompanied by Krommcr)" these compo-
sitions, which I had known for a long time, seemed like a completely new

Johann Andreas Streicher, 1761-1833, a friend of Schiller, was a pianist,

composer, and teacher. After marrying Nanette Stein, daughter of the famous
Augsburg piano maker, he established a branch of the Augsburg firm in Vienna
and gradually devoted all his time to the manufacture of pianos.
u
Franz Krommer, 1760-1831, was one of those jack-of-all-trades that charac-
terize Viennese music of the Mozart-Beethoven era. Violinist, organist, composer,
conductor, etc, he could do a little of everything, and well enough to move abcut
in excellent company.
 Recollections From My Life 309
world. The information soon got around that this was the young Hum-
mel, once Mozart's pupil and now returned from London, where for a
long time he had been Clcmenti's student Even at that time Hummel
had reached the pianistic proficiency within the limits of the instru-
ments of that time for which he became so famous later. While
Beethoven's playing was remarkable for his enormous power, character-
istic expression, and his unheard-of virtuosity and passage work, Hum-
mel's performance was a model of cleanness, clarity, and of the most
graceful elegance and tenderness; all difficulties were calculated for the
greatest and most stunning effect, which he achieved by combining
Clementi's manner of playing, so wisely gauged for the instrument, with
that of Mozart. It was quite natural, therefore, that the general public
preferred him as pianist, and soon the two masters formed parties, which
opposed one another with bitter enmity. Hummel's partisans accused
Beethoven of mistreating the piano, of lacking all cleanness and clarity,
of creating nothing but confused noise the way he used the pedal, and
finally of writing wilful, unnatural, unmelodic compositions, which were
irregular besides. On the other hand, the Beethovenites maintained that
Hummel lacked all genuine imagination, that his playing was as monoto-
nous as a hurdy-gurdy, that the position of his fingers reminded them
of spiders, and that his compositions were nothing more than arrange-
ments of motifs by Mozart and Haydn. I myself was influenced by Hum-
mel's manner of playing to the extent that it kindled in me a desire for
greater cleanness and clarity.

In 1804 Krumpholz introduced me to Prince Lichnowsky, Beet-

hoven's friend and one of his most zealous supporters. The prince and his
brother Count Moritz had been pupils of Mozart and later of Beethoven;
both were gracious and humanitarian men as well as true connoisseurs of
art It was Prince Lichnowsky who brought the young Beethoven to
Vienna, had him study with Haydn, Salieri, and Albrechtsberger, treated
him as a friend and brother, and induced the entire nobility to support
him. I was fortunate enough to possess so good a musical memory that
I played all of Beethoven's piano compositions (quite apart from other
composers' works) completely and precisely from memory a natural
talent that I have preserved to this day. After he had listened to my
playing for the first time, the prince was so favorably impressed that
almost every morning I had to spend a few hours with him during
which I had to play from memory anything he happened to want to
hear. Every month he made me a present, which was a welcome bene-
faction for my good but poor parents. On one such morning Beethoven,
310 The Musical Quarterly
too, was at the prince's house and seemed quite satisfied with my pro-
gress. (Beethoven had not seen me during the past two years and was
angry with my father for having interrupted the lessons.) "I said right
away," he said, "that the boy was talented, but," he added with a smile,
"his father was not strict enough with him." "Ach, Herr von Beethoven,"
replied my father good-naturedly, "it's just that he is our only child."
He was pleased with my sight-reading too, after he had asked me to
play the C-major Sonata Op. 53 from manuscript. From that time on
Beethoven was well disposed towards me and until his last days he treated
me like a friend. I had to proofread all his newly published works, and
when in 1805 his opera Leonore was produced he let me make the piano
reduction of the score. It is owing to the suggestions he made while I
was working on this project that I acquired my skill as an arranger,
which became very useful to me in later years. At that time his relative,
Ferdinand Ries, stayed with him as his pupiL11 Ries played with great
dexterity and had acquired a good deal of his master's off-hand, humor-
istic style; yet, on the whole, his playing was unexciting, and Beethoven,
too, was not altogether satisfied with him.

Especially noteworthy among Beethoven's friends was Schuppanzigh.

One would never have expected that this small, stout man, so full of love
of life that Beethoven always called him his Falstaff, actually was a very
subtle and inspired artist One of the best violinists of the time, he was
an unexcelled quartetist, a very respectable soloist, and the best con-
ductor of his time. Since he himself did not compose, no egotistic motives
ever interfered with his unshakable fidelity to Beethoven, and thus in his
performances he employed all his artistry to show the public the greatness
and beauty of Beethoven's works. And indeed there was no one better
qualified than Schuppanzigh to penetrate to the core and spirit of these
compositions, and his friendship was very useful for Beethoven.

What might be called the golden age of music in Vienna was due
primarily to the weekly morning concerts in the Augarten Hall during
the summer and to the quartet performances in the winter. In the
former the symphonies of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven and in the
latter their quartets and quintets were performed to perfection, and I
shall never forget the impression that the premiere of any of the great
Beethoven works made on me and on everybody in general. The general
11
Ferdinand Ries, 1784-1838, pianist, author, and a prolific if quite undis-
tinguished composer, was not a relative of Beethoven, only a pupil and fellow-
citizen from Bonn.
 Recollections From My life 311
reaction to the Eroica Symphony, however, which, written in 1803, re-
ceived its first performance in 1804, was at first not at all favorable. It
constitutes the transition from the Haydn-Mozart manner to the style
that later became specifically Beethoven's. It was considered too long,
elaborate, incomprehensible, and much too noisy.

I should mention that in 1803 I made the acquaintance of Count

Czemin, which circumstance proved to be of considerable influence not
on my musical, but on my general intellectual education. The young
Count Eugen a few years younger than I became so attached to
me that he and his tutor frequently came to visit us and, moreover, I
spent almost every evening with him. Thus I had the privilege of par-
ticipating in his scholarly education, especially in regard to history, as
well as in the conversations to which the younger gentlemen from other
noble families (Schwarzenberg, Lobkowitz, Stadion, etc.) were often in-
vited. This friendship, which, incidentally, owed nothing to music, since
I never played the piano at the Czernin residence, lasted more than ten
years and confirmed for all later years my predilection for historic and
generally scientific literature.11 By the way, none of this had any influence
on our domestic life, since our existence depended rather precariously
on my father's income as piano teacher and piano repair man. It was
my father's conviction that there was no better way for him to prepare
me for the future than to train me as a capable piano teacher; since I
evinced the necessary talents at an early age I occasionally took over my
father's place as teacher even before I was fourteen. The pupils expressed
satisfaction. To take advantage of my playing, my parents would have
had to take me on tours, and for that they were already too old, quite
apart from the fact that the warlike conditions of the time made it im-
possible to plan such undertakings anyway. And although I was, con-
sidering my age, quite proficient as a pianist, as a sight-reader, and in
the art of improvisation, my playing lacked that type of brilliant, cal-
culated charlatanry that is usually part of a traveling virtuoso's es-
sential equipment. Beethoven's compositions displeased the public, and
brilliant virtuosity on the piano was at that time still an imperfect novelty.

u
Cxerny'i literary and scholarly activity was no lesi amazing than his musical
productivity. He was a good linguist, though largely self-taught, passionately in-
terested in the literature of classical antiquity, in the natural sciences, and notably
in the history of all periods. A large history of music, entitled Umriss dtr ganztn
Musikgtschichtt, was published in 1851 by Schott in Mainz, also in Italian by
Ricordi, but numerous other studies, essays, and plays ( ! ) , translations from the
classic authors, etc., remain in manuscript.
312 The Musical Quarterly
SECOND PERIOD (1806-1818; I.E. AGE 15 TO 27)
I was fifteen when in 1806 my own teaching began in earnest, and
it so happened that I got several talented students, whose private recitals
made an uncommonly fine impression. In this way, I immediately got a
considerable reputation as a teacher, and since all the hours of the day
were soon taken up with teaching, I was able to raise my fee. As I
naturally turned over all my earnings to my parents (my upbringing
having accustomed me to receive all of life's necessities from my parents),
our domestic situation soon began to improve; this circumstance in turn
spurred me on together with my father gradually to secure for us a more
comfortable future. In 1806 Krumpholz, who remained our constant
friend, gave me a theme he had composed himself. To surprise him I
composed of my own accord and without any outside help 20 Variations
concertantes for piano and violin on this theme. Although I did not play
the violin myself, constant listening to quartets had given me a fairly
good knowledge of how to write for the instrument. I tried out the
variations with Mayseder,u who even then was already friendly towards
me; and repeated performances caused such unusual approbation that
there was a general clamor for their publication, which was undertaken
by the new art and music firm of Signi:Steiner; I received 60 fl. from
them, and for a long time my composition sold welL Although I knew
very little theory then, the variations were written so correctly that no-
body would believe that I had composed them without assistance. They
appeared in 1806 as my Op. 1. At the same time, however, I began to
study Albrechtsberger's book on thorough-bass, and old WanhaD, too,
occasionally gave me some useful hints in this matter. But since soon
thereafter I found myself overloaded with an increasing number of stu-
dents, I had no time to devote myself to composing with the necessary
concentration and seriousness.

In 1807 I befriended Andreas Streicher, formerly a piano teacher,

who at that time had turned to the manufacture of pianos and had suc-
ceeded, through independent research as well as imitation of the English,
in giving his instruments a fuller tone and sturdier construction than had
been customary until then. Since I had frequent opportunities to recom-
mend his pianos, I, in turn, received many good students through him
and his views became useful to me in various ways. In 1810 Clementi
was in Vienna, and I was fortunate enough to become a frequent visitor
u
Joseph Mayieder, 1789-1863, violinist, pupil of Wranitzky, wai the iccond
violinist of the original Schuppanzigh Quartet. Even Paganini paid tribute to hu
excellent playing.
 Recollections From My Life
in a household where he spent most of his time as friend of the family
and teacher of the daughter of the house. Since I was very often present
at these lessons, I became familiar with the teaching method of this cele-
brated master and foremost pianist of his time, and I primarily owe it
to this circumstance that later I was fortunate enough to train many
important students to a degree of perfection for which they became
world-famous. Meanwhile, my friendship with Beethoven continued
without interruption, and when in 1815 he asked me to teach his nephew,
whom he had adopted, I saw him almost daily at my place and often,
when he was in a good mood, heard him improvise in a manner I shall
never forget.
In 1816 my parents took in the ten-year-old Ninetta Belleville as a
boarder, and I was responsible for her musical training. Hers was a rare
musical talent, and since it was her father's wish that she devote her-
self to a musical career, I now had a student whose numerous public
performances augmented my reputation, which by that time was al-
ready considerable. She remained with us for over three years until
she went on tour. At that time I gave as a rule eleven to twelve lessons
a day (from 8 ajn. to 8 p.m.) and taught at the houses of the highest
nobility and the leading families of Vienna. This lucrative, but extremely
strenuous activity, which taxed my health, lasted more than twenty
years, until I gave up teaching entirely in 1836.

THIRD PERIOD (1818 TO THE PRESENT [1842])

Notwithstanding this strenuous daily activity I nonetheless composed
every free moment I had, especially in the evening, and experimented
with most types of compositions. But on the one hand I had no time to
complete anything and on the other hand I had the bad habit so
common with young people of starting something new every day only
to lose patience with the job of working out and shaping my material.
Only once, when a lady student of mine asked me to write a four-hand
composition for a name-day celebration, I completed a rondo for piano
duet. Purely by accident its performance never came to pass and I gave
no further thought to the piece. A few months later I happened to
meet Mr. Diabelli on the street, who told me that he had given up his
previous occupation (guitar instruction) and that, in conjunction with
Mr. Cappi, he had founded a music store and publishing house. He
added that, since I was already so well known as a teacher, he would
be happy to try publishing a work by me, if I would compose some-
thing for him. That reminded me of that four-hand rondo, and, with-
314 The Musical Quarterly
out ever having tried it out, I had it published. It appeared as Opus 2
(my Opus 1 had been those old variations that had appeared in
1805 but were completely forgotten and out of print), and I received
a fee of 50 fl. The rondo sold very well, and quite unexpectedly
and surprisingly became a great favorite; I myself was astonished when
some time later I performed it at a musicale with my pupil Szalay and
noticed that I had succeeded in discovering a number of entirely new
devices for the piano-duet medium. From that moment on I saw that
composition provided a new wide field for me, and I lost no time in
taking advantage of the opportunity. Without missing even one of my
numerous lessons I used all my evenings for composing, and my Opp.
3, 4, and 5 appeared in that very same year. The publishers had such
confidence in me that they accepted all manuscripts without hearing
them and paid for them generously. More than ten works (the grand
piano sonata, Op. 7, and the four-hand sonata, Op. 10, among them)
appeared the following year (1819), and soon my name began to be-
come known abroad as well. Since I composed extremely rapidly and
put out serious works and trifles with equal ease, I was always able to
fulfill the numerous commissions which streamed from everywhere (in-
cluding foreign countries), and many a work by me had the good fortune
to become the public's and hence the publishers' favorite. My earlier
studies in scoring, arranging, etc. as well as the habit of writing down
every theme that occurred to me, and thus accumulating a very large
number of original motifs all this now turned out to be extremely use-
ful; and it explains easily how my opus numbers soon rose to 100, 200,
300, etc., without counting my equally numerous arrangements, which
always remained unnumbered.1*

One morning in 1819 (shortly after the Belleville girl had left us) a
man brought a small boy about eight years of age to me and asked me
to let that little fellow play for me. He was a pale, delicate-looking child
and while playing swayed on the chair as if drunk so that I often thought
he would fall to the floor. Moreover, his playing was completely ir-
14
Thii prodigious output wai bound to evoke sarcastic comments from other
musicians. John Field was convinced that Czerny manufactured models of passages,
turns, and cadenzas which were carefully filed in the pigeonholes of a cupboard for
further use whenever the need arose for a suitable chunk of music. But such
derisive judgments, which strangely resemble the bitter diatribes directed against
Eugene Scribe, 01011/1 contemporary, and famed for his libretto and play factory,
fail to take account of the sincerity and genuine devotion of this composer. Czerny
was a gifted musician and had obvious talent as a composer, but he was the victim
of bourgeois frugality, sobriety, orderliness, and industry carried to the most
fantastic
 Recollections From My Life 315
regular, careless, and confused, and he had so little knowledge of correct
fingering that he threw his fingers over the keyboard in an altogether
arbitrary fashion. Nevertheless, I was amazed by the talent with which
Nature had equipped him. I gave him a few things to sight-read, which
he did, purely by instinct, but for that very reason in a manner that
revealed that Nature herself had here created a pianist. He made the
same impression when I acceded to his father's wish and gave him a
theme on which to improvise. Without the least bit of acquired knowl-
edge of harmony he yet managed to convey a feeling of inspiration in
his performance. The father told me that his name was Liszt, that he
was a minor official at the court of Prince Esterhazy, and that up to
that time he himself had taught his son; he was now asking me whether
I would take charge of his little boy beginning the following year when
he would come to Vienna. Of course I gladly assented and, by showing
him scale exercises, etc., also instructed him how to continue the little
boy's training in the interim. About a year later Liszt and his son came
to Vienna and moved to the same street where we lived; since I had
little time during the day, I devoted almost every evening to the young
boy. Never before had I had so eager, talented, or industrious a student.
Since I knew from numerous experiences that geniuses whose mental
gifts are ahead of their physical strength tend to slight solid technique,
it seemed necessary above all to use the first months to regulate and
strengthen his mechanical dexterity in such a way that he could not pos-
sibly slide into any bad habits in later years. Within a short time he
played the scales in all keys with a masterful fluency made possible by
a natural digital equipment especially well suited for piano-playing.
Through intensive study of Clementi's sonatas (which will always re-
main the best school for the pianist, if one knows how to study them in
his spirit) I instilled in him for the first time a firm feeling for rhythm
and taught him beautiful touch and tone, correct fingering, and proper
musical phrasing, even though these compositions at first struck the
lively and always extremely alert boy as rather dry.

Because of this method it was unnecessary for me to pay much at-

tention to technical rules when a few months later we took up the works
of Hummel, Ries, Moscheles, and then Beethoven and Sebastian Bach;
instead I was able to acquaint him immediately with the spirit and
character of the various composers. Since I made him learn each piece
very rapidly, he finally became such an expert sight-reader that he was
capable of publicly sight-reading even compositions of considerable diffi-
culty and so perfectly as though he had been studying them for a long
316 The Musical Quarterly
time. Likewise I endeavored to equip him with skill in improvising by
frequently giving him themes to improvise on. The young Liszt's un-
varying liveliness and good humor, together with the extraordinary
development of his talent, made us love him as if he were a member
of our family, and I not only taught him completely free of charge,
but also gave him all the necessary music, which included pretty nearly
everything good and useful that had been written up to that time. After
only one year I could let him perform publicly, and he aroused a degree
of enthusiasm in Vienna that few artists have equaled. In the following
year his father, mindful of the advantages, arranged to have him give
public concerts, in which the boy played Hummel's new Concertos in
A minor and B minor, Moscheles's Variations, Hummel's Septet, Ries's
concertos, and a number of my compositions; in addition he would
always improvise on motifs the public gave him, and people had indeed
every right to see a new Mozart in him. Unfortunately his father
wished for great pecuniary gain from the son's talent, and just when the
latter had reached a most fruitful stage in his studies and had barely
begun to receive from me some rudimentary instruction in composition,
he went on tour, at first to Hungary and ultimately to Paris and London,
etc. Everywhere he caused a sensation, as is confirmed by all the papers
of that time. It is true that he made a great deal of money in Paris,
where he and his parents settled, but he lost many years during which
his life and his art became misdirected. When sixteen years later (1837)
I went to Paris I found his playing rather wild and confused in every
respect, the enormous bravura notwithstanding. The best advice I felt
I could give him was to travel all over Europe, and when the following
year he came to Vienna his genius received a new impetus. Showered
with the boundless applause of our sensitive public, he developed that
brilliant and yet more limpid style of playing for which he has now
become so famous throughout the world. However, I am convinced that,
had he continued his youthful studies in Vienna for a few more years,
he would now likewise fulfill in the field of composition all the high ex-
pectations that were then rightly cherished by everyone.

In 1829 I took on Thcodor Dohler from Naples as a pupiL He was

then about fourteen years old, but prior to that time had made only
moderate progress in Naples. Not possessing an equally dazzling talent,
he substituted for it an iron self-discipline and strict, obedient attentive-
ness, with the result that after a few years his appearance in Vienna
already evoked from the public the kind of ovation usually bestowed
on budding artists of high promise. I taught him for about six years,
 Recollections From My Life 317
and his first 15 or 20 published compositions were also written under
my supervision.

In 1827 I lost my mother and five years later (1832) my father, and
was thus left all alone, since I have no relatives whatever.

(Translated by Ernest Sanders)