John Baptist Cramer Works

Johann Baptist Cramer’s 60 Selected Studies is a renowned pedagogical collection of piano etudes compiled from his larger set of 84 Etudes (also known as Studio per il pianoforte). These studies are celebrated for their exceptional combination of technical utility and musical expressiveness, and they have been widely used in piano education since the 19th century. Studio per il pianoforte, it is still considered a cornerstone of pianistic technique today. 

Johann Baptist Cramer (1771 - 1858) was an English pianist, composer, and music publisher. He was the son of Wilhelm Cramer a famous London violinist and conductor. Johann Baptist Cramer was one of the most renowned piano performers, and it was said that even “Beethoven considered him the finest pianist of the day.” He wrote some 200 solo piano sonatas, about 50 sonatas for other instruments with piano accompaniment, nine piano concertos, and chamber music. His Etudes are his best known works, and have appeared in numerous editions. His music is generally less dramatic and elegant than Clementi's, much less adventurous than Dussek’s, and far less Romantic in sentiment than the Chopin forerunner John Field. It is stylistically conservative but replete with the most advanced, idiomatically pianistic passage-work.