Johann Baptist Cramer (1771–1858)
A virtuoso pianist based in London and a pupil of Clementi, Cramer is remembered above all for his studies, which Beethoven valued highly and pianists still practise today.
Born in Mannheim in 1771, Johann Baptist Cramer was taken to London as a small child by his father, a violinist. He studied the piano there with Muzio Clementi and spent his whole career in England, becoming one of the most admired pianists of his day, famous for his smooth, singing legato.
He wrote sonatas, concertos and many piano pieces, but it is his collection of Studies (published in two parts of 42 pieces each) that has survived. Beethoven thought highly of their teaching value, and Hans von Bülow later published an annotated selection that became the standard edition.
A businessman as well as a musician, Cramer founded a music publishing house in London in 1824 that bore his name. He died in London in 1858.
For pianists, Cramer is the bridge between Clementi and Czerny: his studies are not dry drills but real little pieces in which technique (running passages, held notes, finger independence) always serves a musical line.