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Czerny Op 740 #47, 2 Versions

The two textures of #47--the RH’s skittery-spidery 32nds, and the LH’s stolid stride--can each be projected with different characters making interesting support for a wide range of ballet combinations. I get a lot of use from this study at much slower tempos than Czerny calls for, but his tempo (the quarter @92) isn’t totally unrealistic (for once). The fact is, Gb is the perfect key for Czerny’s broken triad note pattern; the triads lie a tiny bit more compactly, and the RH plays a little higher and more forward on the keyboard than in “white” keys. This allows for more than usual control and speed.


You can easily create a one-pager from mm 1-23, but if you open the enjambment of mm 23-24 the structure of mm 1-39 neatly resolves into a ternary form with a repeat of mm17-23, a turnaround at m 39, and a repeat of mm 1-16 with a final cadence--a substantial piece.


Op 740 #47 1st Version: simple 2-count tendus, 16 sets of 8

Op 740 #47 1st Version Audio

This is my performance of the first two pages (mm 1-39) of #47 squared off and reshaped into a quasi-ternary structure (actually ABCA). I’m taking the 8th @120, very deliberate, even pensive, quite different from what Czerny has in mind. In places I’ve simplified Czerny’s LH to a spare tick-tock, and I’ve introduced regular long-note closings to Czerny’s phrases. As I say, there are many different tempos that work for #47; I offer this version as an example of one of the slowest that can work quite well in ballet class.

An obvious way to turn #47 into triple-time is to add a 32nd to each of Czerny’s RH groupings and rebeam the nine notes as three triplets. Then rebeam those 32nd triplets as 16th triplets, add an 8th to the LH under each grouping, and re-bar the piece in 3/8, 6/8, etc.


Op 740 #47 2nd Version: light delicate 3/8 with the RH in shimmery 16th-note figure, 16 sets of 8

Op 740 #47 2nd Version Audio

This is my performance of my 1st Version of #47 recast in 3/8 following the recipe above, for which I provide a score. My new tempo puts the RH note pattern back in line with Czerny’s original idea. There are a number of ways to adjust the triplets to Czerny’s melody line starting at m 23. I like the sound of the RH hemiola singing out within the LH 3/8 guard rail. Incidentally, in the score I didn’t write out the da capo: mm 5-36 are repeated with a final cadence.

Op 740 #47 2nd Version Score


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