Mozart vs. Clementi: A Pianistic Duel - Part 1

The latest stories from www.wqxr.org · Oct 4, 2026 · 58m

For the next two installments of Reflections from the Keyboard, David Dubal surveys piano music by Muzio Clementi and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, history’s greatest dueling concert pianists. In part one, the stage is set for the two illustrious pianists to meet.

Clementi, often called the father of the pianoforte, was born in Rome in 1752. Like Mozart, he was a prodigy. When he was 14, an extremely wealthy Englishman, Peter Beckford, struck a deal to buy him from his father. He brought Muzio back to his country estate in England and gave him fine tutors as well as a new English Broadwood piano…