The goal of my dissertation "The Beethoven Tradition" is to examine the technical advancement in the keyboard literature beginning with Beethoven and moving to Czerny and Liszt. The obvious connection here with the lineage of the three is interesting with respect to their technical accomplishments. A very common occurrence during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was for pianists to compose books of etudes and studies. Though Beethoven was both a great pianist and composer, he didn't use these methods to advance technique. The sheer volume of his works for the piano, which involve incredible technical demands, are in themselves enough to increase one's technique. I believe Beethoven's intentions were not to think of technique as a separate entity but rather as a means to accomplish his incredibly challenging music. The cases are different however with his pupil Czerny and in turn his pupil Liszt. Czerny spent three intense years with Beethoven, and having been immersed in this difficult music, must have developed formidable technical facilities. (He did play almost the complete works of his master). I believe these had much to do with Czerny's reasons for compiling so many technical books. The same can be said of Liszt as he in turn studied with Czerny in Vienna. I believe Czerny mainly codified Beethoven's technical achievements through pedagogy and etude writing while Liszt being the creative genius advanced technical playing to the furthest limits. The CD's contents are as follows: CD I 1) Bagatelles Op 126 no. 1 Beethoven 2) no. 2 Beethoven 3) no. 3 Beethoven 4) Sonata in F Major, Op 10 no.2 Beethoven Allegro 5) Andante grazioso 6) Presto 7) Concert Etude no. 2 in F minor, "La Leggierezza" Liszt 8) Paganini Etude no.2, in E flat Major Liszt 9) Le Cloches de Geneve, from "Annees de Pellinerage" Liszt 10) Orage, from "Annees de Pellinerage" Liszt 11) Resignazione Liszt 12) Schlaflos, Frage und Antwort Liszt 13) Andante favori WoO 57 Beethoven CD II 1) Sonata in F Minor, Op 57 Beethoven Allegro assai 2) Andante con moto 3) Allegro ma non troppo 4) Variations on a theme by Rode, Op 33. "La Ricordanza" Czerny Theme 5) Variation 1 6) Variation 2 7) Variation 3 8) Variation 4 9) Variation 5 10) Nuage Gris Liszt 11) Wiegenlied Liszt 12) Fruehlingsnacht Schumann-Liszt 13) Widmung Schumann-Liszt 14) Consolation no.1 Liszt 15) Consolation no.2 Liszt 16) Reminiscences de Don Giovanni Mozart-Liszt THE BEETHOVEN TRADITION By Stephen Kent Wilber Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts 2004 Advisory Committee: Professor Dr. Larissa Dedova, Chair Professor Santiago Rodriguez Professor Dr. Mikhail Volchok Professor Dr. Cleveland Page Professor Dr. William Hodos