Page:Letters to a Young Lady (Czerny).djvu/53

 acquaintance, to play over some trifle to them.

It is very necessary, therefore, Miss, that you should study and commit to memory a good number of little, easy, but tasteful pieces; so that, on such occasions, you may be able to play them by heart: for it appears rather childish to be obliged, for every trifle, to turn over one’s collection of music; or, when in a strange place, to be always obliged to draw back, with the excuse “that you cannot play any thing by heart.”

I would lay a wager, Miss Cecilia, that you have been so situated; is it not so?

For this purpose, short rondos, pretty airs with variations, melodies from operas, nay, even dance-tunes, waltzes, quadrilles, marches, &c. &c. are perfectly suitable; for every thing does credit to the player which is well played.

As it is very proper to let a little prelude precede any musical composition, you must have by heart a number of this sort of pieces, in all the keys. You will find the means necessary for so doing in my Pianoforte School, as well as in many collections of such preludes.

The playing before others has also the great advantage, that it compels one to study with unusual zeal. For the idea that we must play before an audience, spurs us on to a much