I loved this study from the first time I played through it. The simple scalar material is very easy to read (and I’m not a sight reader) and quickly learned and memorized, and with the quarter @75 (instead of Czerny’s @116) it can be projected as a coda or a rollicking can-can. It trains both hands in octave playing, but as I got it into my active rep and started playing it for class I realized that it could be molded and amplified in other useful ways.
Op 740 #49, 1st Version: Can-Can, 28 sets of 8
This is my performance of #49 amplified to give equal work to both hands and projected as a can-can (a bit faster than a typical coda). I provide a score from which it will be seen that my compositional process is having the RH state the melody first and the LH repeat it, doubling the length of the piece. I also introduced linking episodes, lengthening the piece more. I didn’t automatically transpose Czerny’s RH support material down to the LH but simplified it in ways that are easier for me technically. It will also be seen in the score that I mark cadences in a way that tends to halt the energy of the music. I do this for the sake of clear structure and for micro-respites for the hands. This may or may not be necessary for other accompanists. Finally, I transposed the whole thing up to Ab, a key in which it’s easier for me to handle octaves. It’s a lot of music and intended for a centre allegro, but the octaves don’t all have to be octaves at every iteration of the melody lines.
There are many ways to fit #49’s continuous 16ths melodic material to different dance rhythms. I propose two arrangements as examples.
Op 740 #49, 2nd Version: Rhumba-Tango-Cha Cha, 8 sets of 8
This is my performance of the first page of #49 re-packaged as a kind of mongrel Latin dance. I’ve kept to my division of labor between the hands. When the LH has the accompaniment you can more easily project the kind of dance you want it to be, and then when the hands switch it’s like an interlude. I fragmented Czerny’s melodic material and aimed for a pointillistic style with color from the extreme registers of the piano. I provide a score.
Op 740 #49, 3rd Version: 6/8 Petit Allegro, 28 sets of 8
This is my performance of #49 recast in 6/8 for a centre allegro. I’ve used the material of my 1st Version, but not the linking passages. I created a simple ternary form in which, for contrast (and for length) I doubled the note values of the B section. As you can hear, the entire A section is repeated with a reharmonizing of the final phrases and a cadence in the tonic. In the score I don’t show the repeat of the A section, but only the reharmonized final phrases and cadence.