Do You Like Clementi?

What is the difference between Clementi and Mozart? I am asking as a layman.

...and this one?

Maria Tipo - CLEMENTI Piano Sonata in F# minor, op.25 no.5 - I. Allegro con espressione

GlANFRANCO wrote:

I discovered it recently, excuse my ignorance, and it seems exceptional to me. Is it the same for you?

Wonderful 😉

...or these studies that a friend suggested to me

Clementi - Gradus ad Parnassum (51-55)

GlANFRANCO wrote:

What is the difference between Clementi and Mozart?

...Clementi was also a teacher who tested the piano (a bit like Beethoven did too) and I often find him more advanced than Mozart 😉...without taking anything away from the value of his music (I mean M.'s)

Stellina wrote:

...and this one?

Maria Tipo - CLEMENTI Piano Sonata in F# minor, op.25 no.5 - I. Allegro con espressione

It's fantastic!!!

Stellina wrote:

...Clementi was also a teacher who tested the piano (a bit like Beethoven did too) and I often find him more advanced than Mozart 😉...

Blessed are those piano students who had extraordinary Masters as teachers like Clementi and Beethoven, right Stellina? People like Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano, people like Clementi invented the way to play it. That's how it is, isn't it?

P.S. I didn't know Clementi; my teacher is introducing me to him. He adores him. I started studying the piano last October, obviously I am not yet able to play Clementi (I am still at Beyer), but I can't wait to start studying him. The studies your friend suggested to you are beautiful.

Clementi's easiest pieces are the six sonatas, take a look on IMSLP 😉

GlANFRANCO wrote:

people like Clementi invented the way to play it. That's how it is, right?

Rather than "inventing the way"... keyboard instruments already existed, they wrote music to enhance their peculiarities.

More Beethoven than Clementi and indeed, having the instrument at home helped a lot. For example, apart from a few sonatas, Beethoven's are already conceived for the pf... let's say from a certain point onwards.

I see Mozart even more anchored to the "outgoing" instruments... even if everyone at home had the harpsichord.

Pablo wrote:

Clementi's easiest pieces are the six sonatas, take a look on IMSLP 😉

Thanks for the site, truly interesting, especially useful. I didn't know about it.

I don't know from where I read that Mozart despised Clementi, calling him "mechanicus". As soon as I have a bit of peace, I will look for the reference (and in the meantime, I'll ask other forum members for help, to see if they recall it or if I've said something stupid).

As for the matter itself, I find Clementi significantly overrated in teaching.

In the old curricula for complementary piano exams, Clementi's sonatinas and Duvernoy's studies were required, and in my opinion, this made no sense because it came at the expense of the opportunity to choose works by other authors (from other eras, and possibly of greater artistic value) of similar difficulty. For my own musical education, I have also studied other sonatas by Clementi... a good technical exercise and good form, but nothing more. I find him arid and "mannerist" (I know the term is not the most pleasant, but I hope it's understood).

Melita wrote:

In the old regulations, for complementary piano exams, Clementi's sonatinas and Duvernoy's studies were required, and in my opinion, this made no sense because it came at the expense of the opportunity to choose works by other authors (from other eras, and possibly of greater artistic value) of similar difficulty.

Curiosity... like which works... and by whom?

Melita wrote:

I don't know where I read that Mozart despised Clementi, calling him "mechanicus". As soon as I have a moment of calm, I will look for the reference (and in the meantime, I'll ask other forum members for help, to see if they find it too or if I've said something stupid).

Regarding the matter, I find Clementi significantly overrated in teaching.

In the old curricula, for complementary piano exams, Clementi's sonatinas and Duvernoy's studies were required, and in my opinion, this made no sense because it came at the expense of the opportunity to choose works by other authors (from other eras, and possibly of greater artistic value) of similar difficulty. For my own culture, I have also studied other sonatas by Clementi... a good technical exercise and good form, but nothing more. I find him arid and "mannerist" (I know the term is not the most pleasant, but I hope it's understood).

A famous quote from Mozart: "Clementi plays like all Italians: without feeling"—that is where the word mechanicus attributed to Clementi by Wolfgang comes from.

As for the sonatinas, no problem; instead, do we want to talk about the studies from "Gradus ad parnassum" that must be performed for the intermediate completion exam?

Curiosity... like which works... and by whom?

Just think that one could graduate in piano without ever having played a piece by Chopin...

Marta23 wrote:

Curiosity... like which works... and by whom?

I fully quote The Simon.

As a non-pianist, I would have liked to be able to explore a bit of repertoire when I had to take the complementary exam. I would have liked to be able to bring, say, harpsichord repertoire (so Bach, but also Michelangelo Rossi, Scarlatti...), or a Mozart or Beethoven sonata, Schumann's Album for the Young, lieder-style music, or Ligeti's Musica Ricercata to have something contemporary but with technical difficulties that are not insurmountable. I don't want to start a crusade against Clementi even if I don't like him as an author... but precisely in teaching, he is definitely overrated.

I was asking specifically, Clementi's sonatinas have a certain technical demand... Mozart's and Beethoven's sonatas are another matter. You should compare homogeneous things.

In fact, at the fifth [level/stage] you could play the sonatas of Clementi or Mozart or Beethoven....but to get there, which sonatinas would you play?