Czerny, Carl : Le progres: 25 etudes pour le piano ou introduction a celle de J. B. Cramer Op.749
Work Overview
First Publisher：Schlesinger
Instrumentation：Piano Solo
Genre：etude
Copyright：Public Domain
Commentary (1)
Author : Ueda, Yasushi
Last Updated: November 18, 2014
[Open]
Author : Ueda, Yasushi
This etude collection forms a pair with the identically named Op. 753, which comprises 30 pieces. “Progress” was a key term representing social development in the latter half of the 19th century, a period from the 1850s to the 1870s when societal improvement and advancement, driven by industrial promotion, were widely believed. While progress in etudes naturally refers to the enhancement of an individual's performance technique, the title can be interpreted as reflecting the mid-19th-century aspiration for social progress, where diligence was believed to foster the development of a better self, thereby promoting societal advancement. This title would subsequently be adopted for etudes by composers such as Burgmüller and Le Couppey.
Compared to Op. 753, the difficulty level of this collection is lower, with a primary focus on mechanical training. Nevertheless, it includes pieces that prioritize the expression of lyrical melodies, such as Nos. 3 and 5, and those that incorporate movements characteristic of specific genres, such as Nos. 12 and 14. Thus, it is an etude collection that addresses both expressive qualities and technical mechanisms.
