Editing Carl Czerny (section)

==Early life==
===Infancy===
[[File:Carl-Czerny-young.png|thumb|upright|The young Czerny. Picture based on the original by [[Joseph Lanzedelly the Elder]]]]
Carl Czerny was born in [[Vienna]] ([[Leopoldstadt]]) and was baptized in St. Leopold parish.<ref>Czerny (1956), p. 302.</ref> His father was of [[Czechs|Czech]] origin; his mother was [[Moravia]]n. Czerny came from a musical family: his grandfather was a violinist at [[Nymburk|Nimburg]], near [[Prague]], and his father, Wenzel, was an oboist, organist and pianist.<ref>Czerny (1956), pp. 302–305.</ref> When Czerny was six months old, his father took a job as a piano teacher at a Polish manor and the family moved to Poland, where they lived until the [[third partition of Poland]] prompted the family to return to Vienna in 1795.<ref>Czerny (1956). p. 303</ref>

As a child prodigy, Czerny began playing piano at age three and composing at age seven. His first piano teacher was his father, who taught him mainly [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]], [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]. He began performing piano recitals in his parents' home. Czerny made his first public performance in 1800 playing Mozart's [[Piano Concerto No. 24 (Mozart)|Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor]].<ref name="grove">Mitchell (1980)</ref>

===Studies with Beethoven===
In 1801, [[Wenzel Krumpholz]], a Czech composer and violinist, scheduled a presentation for Czerny at the home of Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven asked Czerny to play his ''[[Piano Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)|''Pathétique'' Sonata]]'' and ''Adelaide''. Beethoven was impressed with the 10-year-old and accepted him as a pupil.<ref>Thayer (1991), pp. 226–228.</ref> Czerny remained under Beethoven's tutelage until 1804 and sporadically thereafter. He particularly admired Beethoven's facility at improvisation, his expertise at fingering, the rapidity of his scales and trills, and his restrained demeanour while performing.<ref>Thayer (1991), p. 368.</ref>

Czerny's autobiography and letters give many important references and details of Beethoven during this period. Czerny was the first to report symptoms of Beethoven's deafness, several years before the matter became public. Of his first meeting with Beethoven, he wrote: "I also noticed with that visual quickness peculiar to children that he had cotton which seemed to have been steeped in a yellowish ointment, in his ears."<ref>cited in Thayer (1991), p. 227.</ref>

Beethoven selected Czerny as pianist for the premiere of the former's [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Beethoven)|Piano Concerto No. 1]] in 1806 and, at the age of 21, in February 1812, Czerny gave the Vienna premiere of Beethoven's [[Piano Concerto No. 5 (Beethoven)|"Emperor" Piano Concerto]]. Czerny wrote that his musical memory enabled him to play virtually all of Beethoven's piano works by heart without exception and, during the years 1804–1805, he used to play these works in this manner at [[Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky|Prince Lichnowsky's]] palace once or twice a week, with the Prince calling out only the desired opus numbers.<ref>Mitchell (1990), p. 139</ref> Czerny maintained a friendship with Beethoven throughout his life, and also gave piano lessons to Beethoven's nephew Carl.<ref>Thayer (1991), p. 679.</ref>