Musical form in improvisation treatises in the age of Beethoven

This chapter deals with the history of music theory or, more specifically, with the written history of improvisation pedagogy. It discusses a notated Fantasia from Czerny&s;s Systematische Anleitung zum Fantasieren. In most improvisation treatises, the student encounters two types of exercises. First, one has to practice certain bass models and other harmonic progressions in different keys. It is the whole Tempest Sonata by Beethoven-Haus, all movements, which is obviously used as an example for an improvised fantasia. Czerny&s;s model compositions in particular show an implicit knowledge of compositional techniques, especially on formal and syntactical levels. The almost combinatorial approach to the composition of different bass lines in Vierling&s;s Anleitung could also warrant the term systematic. The chapter concludes with some general observations and thoughts on the relation of composition and improvisation from a teaching perspective.