Improvisation practices in Beethoven’s Kleinere Stücke

In his writing Erinnerungen an Beethoven, Czerny informs us about the different types of improvisation to which Beethoven was accustomed in his performances. This variety of practices is more rigorously codified in his treatise Systematische Anleitung zum Fantasieren auf dem Pianoforte, where each chapter is devoted to a particular genre of improvisation. The richness of the different types of improvisation is reflected in the various genres of free compositions which did not belong to the standard formal types and which represented a large part of the production of piano music in Beethovenian age (fantasies, capricci, impromptus, bagatelle, preludes, pot-pourris etc.). The freedom that characterizes this type of composition does not limit itself to the formal organization, but also extends to the generic definition. For example, the title “impromptu” could be used for designating either a set piece in ternary form or a piece in a free and open form or again a theme with variations, and so forth. Is it possible to define the stylistic peculiarities of these kinds of musical genres, pointing out the principles of their formal structure? What relationship did they have with the contemporary improvisation practice? This paper attempts to answer these questions taking into account a selection of pieces by Beethoven and by different composers which were active in Vienna in the decades between the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries.