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The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5

Carl Czerny (1791–1857) · sheet music

  • Time 2/2
  • Levels 9
  • Passages 1

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Carl Czerny, Austrian classical (1791–1857). The reading release has 1 passage from this piece at level 9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–4 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–4 at level 9.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5.

  1. Hands together · bars 1–4 level 9

How to play The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5

  1. Tempo:This is a fast study, but begin well below speed. Choose a tempo at which every sixteenth stays perfectly even from the bottom of a run to the top, then raise it in small steps.
  2. Right hand:Keep the hand quiet and close to the keys. Let the fingers do the work, and avoid lifting the wrist on each note.
  3. Left hand:Do not treat the left hand as an afterthought. Practice it alone at the same tempo as the right until it matches in evenness.
  4. Hands together:Practice hands together with a metronome and check that both hands land on the same beat. In a piece about evenness, a small gap between the hands stands out.
  5. Fingering:Choose one fingering for each recurring group and keep it fixed. Study the fingering in the edition you use rather than inventing a new one on each run.
  6. Rhythm:Practice with dotted rhythms and then with reversed dotted rhythms to expose any uneven fingers, then return to straight notes.
  7. Dynamics:Play the study evenly at a moderate dynamic first. Then add small crescendos on rising lines, keeping the notes in the groups equal.
  8. Practice:Play short groups slowly, stopping on the first note of each group, to check that fingers land together. Repeat the whole study with different touches, such as light staccato and full legato.

Common mistakes

  • Rushing the easy groups and dragging the awkward ones. Fix: Use a metronome and practice the awkward group on its own until it matches the rest.
  • Letting the thumb or fifth finger accent the pattern. Fix: Play with a soft, level touch and listen for the accented notes you did not mean to play.
  • Starting at the final tempo. Fix: Play at half speed for several days, then raise the metronome a few clicks at a time.

Structure: etude on a single figure (three sections)

The study never leaves its one idea: both hands run in sixteenth notes in the same direction, a tenth apart, throughout. The sections differ in key and register rather than in figure, before the run gives way to a few closing chords.

A · Statement (E-flat major)
Parallel runs and turning figures in E-flat major, climbing from the bass to the top of the keyboard and back.
B · Excursion
The same runs move toward B-flat major, so A naturals appear; the hands travel high on the keyboard, which means ledger lines.
C · Return and close (E-flat major)
After passing through flat-side keys with D flats, the runs settle back into E-flat major and end in short, detached chords.

About The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5

Carl Czerny's The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740, is a set of fifty studies in six books, first published in 1844 by Mechetti in Vienna and Schlesinger in Paris. The fifth study is usually titled Evenness in double runs or double passages, meaning both hands play running notes together.

Czerny became Beethoven's pupil at about ten and later taught the young Franz Liszt without charging him; Liszt dedicated his Transcendental Etudes to him. Czerny wrote more than a thousand works, reaching Op. 861, and a large share of them are studies built around one technical aim.

Like most Czerny studies, this one is rarely played in concert. It is used in lessons to build speed and evenness, and it is useful for a sight reader because it repeats a small figure many times, so the eye can settle into patterns rather than reading every note.

  • The set also appeared as Die Schule der Fingerfertigkeit and, in French, as L'Art de délier les doigts.
  • The Paris edition gave the set a second opus number, Op. 699.
  • Czerny taught Franz Liszt free of charge, and Liszt dedicated his Transcendental Etudes to him.
  • Czerny's catalog of works runs to Op. 861.

Why the first passage is level 9

That passage is level 9 rather than 8 because a hand covers more than one position, the clef changes partway through.

This study is in 2/2 with three flats. Both hands play the same sixteenth-note line a tenth apart, so read one hand's line and let the other follow the same shape.

Questions about The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5

How hard is The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5 to play?
Its passages grade from level 9 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–4 at level 9.
Is there an easy part of The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 9, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–4 for both hands together, the level-9 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 9 because a hand covers more than one position and the clef changes partway through.
What key and time signature is The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5 in?
The engraving on this page is in 2/2 time.
Who composed The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5?
Carl Czerny, Austrian classical (1791–1857). Carl Czerny's The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op.
Can I practice The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the one graded passage from The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740 No. 5 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What is Czerny Op. 740 used for?
It is a set of fifty studies designed to build finger speed, evenness and control. Teachers often assign single studies from it to students at an intermediate to advanced level.
Do I have to play the whole set?
No. Most pianists choose studies that address a specific technical problem. Many editions divide the fifty studies into six books so a student can work through them gradually.
Is Czerny's music in the public domain?
Yes. Czerny died in 1857, and scans of the first and later editions of Op. 740 are freely available on IMSLP.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades one passage of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 9
bars 1–4 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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