Muzio Clementi (1752–1832)

Pianist, teacher, publisher and piano maker in London: often called the “father of the pianoforte”, he wrote the sonatinas every student knows.

Born in Rome, Muzio Clementi was noticed as a teenager by a wealthy Englishman, Peter Beckford, who took him to England. There he spent several years studying the keyboard on his own, then became one of the most prominent virtuosos in London.

In 1781, on tour, he faced Mozart in a piano contest arranged by Emperor Joseph II in Vienna. Mozart spoke of him dismissively in his letters, yet borrowed a theme by Clementi for the overture to The Magic Flute.

Back in London, Clementi also became a businessman: he ran a music-publishing house (publishing works by Beethoven, among others) and a piano factory. He trained famous pupils such as John Field and Johann Baptist Cramer.

His teaching output is vast: the Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Piano Forte Op. 42 (graded lessons mixing his own preludes with arrangements of Corelli, Handel, Mozart, Haydn and others), the Sonatinas Op. 36, and the monumental Gradus ad Parnassum. His sonatas, admired by Beethoven, deserve to be rediscovered.

Piano sheet music (55)