Muzio Clementi (1752-1832)
Clementi was a direct musical descendant of Domenico
Scarlatti and one of the great innovators in
writing for the piano. He was the first
important composer who really thought in terms of the modern piano,
and his conception of the instrument is evident as early as the sonatas
of Op. 2, written around 1770. Such characteristic forward-looking
devices as
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powerful octaves,
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fast repeated notes,
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rapid chains of parallel thirds and sixths,
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fast scales and arpeggios,
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and thick, full, quasi-orchestral chords
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are often blended with legacies of the past like
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murky (broken octave) basses,
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two-voice textures,
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or Scarlattian turns and ornaments.
The sonatas of 1782 and 1783 had a particularly strong
impact on Beethoven. The singing,
ornamental melodies over a slow harmonic rhythm or the sonority
and spacing of the slow movement of Op.9, No. 3 could easily be mistaken
for a first-period Beethoven work, as can the Trio of the second movement
of Op. 10, No. 1.
Many reasons have been advanced for the gross neglect of Clementi's
compositions, among them Mozart's sarcastic personal comments ("a charlatan
like all Italians") and incompetent editions of his music designed for
pedagogical use rather than for musical merit; perhaps the chief reason
is that aspiring pianists learn Clementi's sonatinas as youngsters and
later regard them as representative of his oeuvre.