Clementi for kids: his life, his music, and what to play first

Muzio Clementi was a composer and pianist who lived from 1752 to 1832. He was born in Italy and spent most of his life in England. He was one of the first great players of the piano when it was a new instrument. He also taught, published music, and built pianos. The best first piece for a child is the first movement of his Sonatina in C major, Op. 36, No. 1.

Quick facts

• Born: 1752, in Rome, Italy
• Died: 1832, in Evesham, England
• Era: Classical
• Played: harpsichord and piano
• Known for: six sonatinas, Op. 36, and a set of 100 studies called Gradus ad Parnassum

The life in short

Clementi’s father was a silversmith in Rome. The boy was so good at the keyboard that he had a job as a church organist at 13.

A wealthy Englishman heard him play and made an offer to his father. He would take the boy to England and pay for his training. Clementi spent the next seven years at a country house in the south of England. He practiced the harpsichord for hours each day.

At 22, he moved to London. He played concerts, taught the children of rich families, and toured Europe.

Then he went into business. He became a partner in a firm that printed music and built pianos. He traveled across Europe to sell his pianos and to sign up composers. Beethoven was one of them.

He lived to be 80. He is buried at Westminster Abbey in London, where his stone calls him the father of the pianoforte.

The duel with Mozart

On Christmas Eve in 1781, the emperor in Vienna set up a contest between two pianists. One was Clementi, who was 29. The other was Mozart, who was 25.

Each man played his own pieces, read new music at sight, and made up music on the spot. The emperor called it a draw.

Clementi praised Mozart’s playing for the rest of his life. Mozart was less kind. He wrote to his father that Clementi played like a machine. Years later, Mozart used a tune much like one of Clementi’s in the overture to The Magic Flute.

What the music sounds like

Clementi wrote for the piano when it was new. He used what the piano could do and the harpsichord could not: loud and soft, long singing notes, and fast runs in both hands.

His sonatinas are small sonatas. They are bright and tidy, with clear tunes and short movements. Beethoven admired Clementi’s sonatas and had his nephew study them.

Read what is a sonata?

Pieces to play first

Sonatina in C major, Op. 36, No. 1, first movement. The tune bounces on the notes of a chord and then runs down the scale. It lasts a minute or two.

Sonatina in C major, Op. 36, No. 1, last movement. A fast, spinning finish.

Sonatina in C major, Op. 36, No. 3, first movement. Longer and showier, with runs up and down the keys.

Sonatina in G major, Op. 36, No. 5, last movement. A quick rondo with a tune that keeps coming back.

Two jokes about Clementi

Later composers knew his music so well that they could tease it.

• Debussy wrote a piano piece called “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum” for his young daughter. It pokes fun at a child who is bored by Clementi’s studies.
• Satie wrote a “Bureaucratic Sonatina” that follows Clementi’s Sonatina in C, with silly notes about a man in an office.

Read Debussy for kids and Satie for kids.

Things to do together

Stage the duel. Two people take turns at a piano or a table. Each one plays or taps something. A third person is the emperor and names the winner, or calls a draw.

Three movements. Play all of the Sonatina in C. It has three movements: fast, slow, and fast. Hold up one, two, or three fingers.

Harpsichord or piano. Play one piece on each. Ask which can play loud and soft. Read the harpsichord for kids.

Hear the joke. Play Clementi’s Sonatina in C, and then Satie’s “Bureaucratic Sonatina.” Ask what Satie changed.

For piano families

• Where they fit. The first movement of the Sonatina in C, Op. 36, No. 1, is on the repertoire list for RCM Level 3 piano. The third sonatina is on the list for Level 5.
• A first real sonata. For many students, the Sonatina in C is the first piece with the shape of a sonata.
• What comes next. A child who plays Clementi is getting ready for the sonatas of Mozart and Beethoven.

Print and play

Find middle C on the piano keyboard chart. Read composers in piano lesson books, the piano for kids, and Mozart for kids.

For two more teachers who wrote for students, read Czerny for kids and Burgmüller for kids. For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.