Classical Composer Muzio Clementi

A graduate of Houston Baptist University, Paul Katsus has significant experience in the energy field as a service consultant for a major energy distribution company. In his leisure time, Paul Katsus enjoys listening to classical music.

Although Muzio Clementi’s name fails to achieve the same recognition as famous classical composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and Franz Schubert, he made a substantial contribution to the classical period of music. Born in Italy in 1752, he became known as the first virtuoso on the pianoforte. Today his best known works include sonatas and sonatinas written for that instrument. His influence can be discerned in such later composers as Beethoven.

Despite his eventual skill on the pianoforte, Clementi originally learned to play the harpsichord and only played the pianoforte for the first time in a competition with Mozart. The two met at the court of Emperor Joseph II in Austria in 1781. There they faced each other in an impressive duel as each composer took a theme to develop, improvising upon it in order to prove his greater skill. In the end, Mozart won, but Clementi demonstrated such talent that Mozart was dismayed.