Muzio Clementi
1752 - 1832
The composer of the definitive Classical piano sonata, Clementi was the first to create works expressly for
the new capabilities presented by the fortepiano. He is now acclaimed as the father of piano technique, and is
also considered the first piano virtuoso of his time. Besides composing, he was piano manufacturer and music publisher,
publishing many of Beethoven's piano sonatas.
Beethoven held Clementi's work in the highest regard and considered it the basis of study for Pianoforte music.
Beethoven's assistant Schindler wrote that:
sonatas, considering them the most beautiful, the most pianistic of works, both for their lovely, pleasing, original melodies and for the consistent, easily followed form of each movement. Beethoven had but little liking for Mozart's piano music, and the musical education of his beloved nephew was confined for many years almost exclusively to the playing of Clementi sonatas."
(Beethoven as I Knew Him, ed. Donald M. McArdle, trans. Constance Jolly, Chapel Hill and London, 1966)