Mozart and the Keyboard Culture of His Time

Friedrich Willhelm Kalkbrenner

The German-born piano virtuoso Frederic Kalkbrenner (1785-1849) studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where he earned prizes in piano and in harmony. He gained his greatest renown in England after 1814, where he, along with Cramer, Dussek, and Clementi, belonged to the front rank of English concert artists. When he arrived in Paris in 1831, Frederic Chopin would seek out Kalkbrenner as a teacher. Kalkbrenner’s Methode, like the piano tutors of Clementi and Montgeroult, includes various études for building stamina and strength. This is a major difference between English and German tutors: the former place greater emphasis on brilliant technique, the latter on subtle nuance. A practicing device called the modèle de guide mains is shown here. The pianist is advised to rest his arms on the bar while practicing the études.