Celebratory Dinner for Muzio Clementi
London: Albion Hotel—Time: Evening, Half Past Eight o’Clock
Tickets: 10s. 6d.
✗Programme
| Glee for Four Voices, ‘Crown with Joys’ | Messrs. Goulden, J. B. Sale, Leete, Terrail | Horsley |
| Piano Sonata in A major, Op.2 | Mr. J. B. Cramer | Clementi |
| Glee for Four Voices: ‘O! for the harp whose strings of gold’, (words by Mr. W. Collard) (composed expressly for the occasion) | [?], [?], [?], [?]Piano: Mr. Bishop | Bishop |
| Piano Sonata in B flat major, Op.46 | Mr. Moscheles | Clementi |
| Flute Fantasia | Mr. Nicholson; Piano Accomp.: Mr. J. B. Cramer | |
| Song, ‘The Year that’s awa’ | Mr. Braham; Piano: Mr. Bishop | |
| Piano Capriccio | Mr. C. Potter | Clementi |
| Piano Sonata in E flat major, Op.14, No.3 | Messrs. J. B. Cramer, Moscheles | Clementi |
| Glee for Five Voices | Attwood | |
| [Improvisation] incl. a subject from the air ‘His eye in a fine frenzy rolling’ by Handel | Mr. Clementi | |
| Air, ‘Fly not yet’ (composed expressly for the occasion) | Mr. Parry | Parry |
| * ‘Carmen Panegyricum’ (translated) | Mr. Braham | Webbe, jun. |
| *Song, ‘And has she then fail’d in her truth’ | Mr. Terrail | |
| *Song | Mr. Clifton | |
| *Song | Mr. Blewitt |
| Principal Vocalists: Messrs. Blewitt, Braham, Clifton, Goulden, J. B. Sale, Leete, Parry, Terrail |
| Principal Instrumentalists: Messrs. Clementi, Cramer, Moscheles, Nicholson, Potter |
———————————
Encore: Song, ‘The Year that’s awa’—Mr. Braham; Piano: Mr. Bishop
Moscheles: ‘We artists gave a dinner and musical entertainment to old Clementi. Cramer and I received him; he was greeted with rounds of applause, and ninety of us sat down with him to dinner. He was placed between Sir G. Smart and myself, and when the cloth was removed we had speeches, toasts, and music. Of course a wish was expressed and rapturously applauded, that Clementi, the father of pianoforte playing, should be heard on this occasion, and thus prove his right to the title. Clementi rose from his chair; Smart, Cramer, and I led him to the instrument. The excitement was great, the whole party eagerly listening. Clementi had not been heard for years. He extemporized on a theme from Handel, and completely carried us away by his fine playing. His eyes gleamed with youthful fire; those of many of his hearers were dimmed with tears of emotion. Amid shouts of applause, and the heartiest congratulations, he resumed his seat. Clementi’s pianoforte playing, when he was young, was famed for the exquisite legato, pearliness of touch in rapid passages, and unerring certainty of execution. Even now the remains of these qualities were recognized and admired, but what chiefly delighted his audience was the charm and freshness of his modulations in improvisation…I can only jot down a few words in addition to my wife’s letter, before our great dinner comes off, as ten stiff fingers are waiting in the next room for me to make them flexible; they are like thirsty mill-wheels waiting for a fresh flow of water’.
RMM, 127-128.
Reviews
The Morning Post (December 18, 1827): 3.
CLEMENTI.—A dinner was given to this celebrated Professor yesterday, at the Albion Tavern, by his musical brethren. We shall give a full account of it to-morrow.
The Morning Post (December 19, 1827): 3.
On Monday last a Dinner was given to CLEMENTI, at the Albion Hotel, by the Musical Profession, Sir GEORGE SMART, President; Mr. HORSLEY and Mr. COLLARD, Vice-Presidents.—The Chairman was supported by—
Clementi, J.B. Cramer, Braham, and Moscheles: and surrounded by Messrs. Bishop, Schlesinger, F. Cramer, Terrail, Jouse, Meves, Attwood, Peile, Crevelli, Kiallmark, Stodart, Beale, Preston, Liverati, Tomkinson, Willis, Hunter, Knyvett, Sale, Nicholson, Webbe, Leete, Dragonetti, Cosia, Holder, Chappell, Power, J. Lord, W. Lord, Potter, Dizi, W. Collard, Blewett, Perez, Baruett, Clifton, Sola, Parry, Addison, Neate, D’ Almaine, Burrowes, Griffin, Major, Nevello, Dr. Essex, &c. &c.
The Banquet was a most splendid one.
Sir G. SMART prefaced every toast by some pertinent and amusing observation, which added greatly to the liveliness of the scene; in short he conducted this Meeting, as he does all others, with great judgment [sic] and taste.
After his MAJESTY’S health was given, and received with rapturous plaudits, HORSLEY’S Glee of “Crown with Joys,” was sung by TERRAIL, GOULDEN, J. B. SALE, and LEETE, assisted by Messrs. CLIFTON, PARRY, DR. ESSEX, &c. &c. Sir GEORGE announced that CRAMER would perform on the Pianoforte.—(Cheers.)—He, with most excellent taste, played a Sonata from CLEMENTI’S celebrated Op. 2, in a manner that drew forth the universal applause of the company.—In proposing the health of CLEMENTI, the Chairman took a short view of his brilliant career, which had reflected so much credit on the profession. The veteran rose amid the cheers of the assembly, and returned his heartfelt acknowledgments in a very feeling manner. A Glee, written by Mr. W. COLLARD for the occasion, and composed by BISHOP, was sung, the composer presiding at the Pianoforte; it was an effort worthy of the occasion :—
GLEE.
O for the harp whose strings of gold
Were struck by Music’s god of old!
O for the voices all inspired
Divinely to its strains that choired;
For now we raise the Song to the thee
Great patriarch of minstrelsy
Hail, glory of the art divine!
Whose boldness seiz’d APOLLO’S flame
Not time that toils to bury all
Shall cast his mantle dark on thee,
Thy name and works shall never fail
Till music’s self shall cease to be.
After the health of Mr. CRAMER was given, Mr. MOSCHELES performed a brilliant Sonata of CLEMENTI’S in the most finished and exquisite style; and in returning thanks for the honour conferred on him, by drinking his health, he said that he proudly owned himself a disciple of the great master who sat beside him.—(Cheers.)
NICHOLSON performed a Fantasia on the flute (accompanied on the pianoforte by J. B. CRAMER) in his unrivalled manner.
After the toast of “The memory of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven,”
The CHAIRMAN observed, that the company had heard the performance of some of the first artists in Europe, on their various instruments, he should introduce to them the first vocalist of the day, a man who was always ready to promote the interest of a profession at the head of which he stood; he scarcely need add the name of BRAHAM.—(Cheers.)
Mr. BRAHAM (accompanied by BISHOP) sang “The Year that’s awa’ with infinite power, pathos, and feeling, and introduced the following stanza written for the occasion by PARRY:
“Here’s to CLEMENTI, whose fame
Sheds a Halo of the light round us a’,
Long, long may he live and took hack with delight
On the days o’the years pass’d awa’.”
The manner in which he gave this verse is beyond description—a rapturous encore was the result. Mr. C. POTTER executed a Capricio of CLEMENTI’S on the Pianoforte in a manner that would bear comparison with the great performances which had preceded it; this was followed by a Duet by CRAMER and MOSCHELES (No. 3, from Opera 14 of CLEMENTI). Need we add, that it was a treat of the most gratifying nature; each did his duty well, and both were rewarded with the cheers of the delighted company. A beautiful Glee of ATTWOOD’S, for five voices, was finely sung,
The CHAIRMAN gave, “The immortal Memory of Handel,” and afterwards announced that, as he knew the anxiety these would be at that meeting to hear the Father of the Profession perform, he had solicited him to gratify them, and that he had promised “Just to touch the instrument.” —(Immense applause.)
The ancient Bard was led to the Pianoforte by Sir GEORGE SMART, CRAMER, MOSCHELES, &c. All was breathless expectation, for only very few in the room had ever heard Clementi play. He chose for a subject, an air of HANDEL’S, then he revelled amid the most luxuriant mazes of harmony,
“His eye in a fine frenzy rolling,”
and touched the keys with such consummate skill, taste, and expression, that he drew tears from the eyes of his enraptured children, who flocked around him, “each anxious for the first friendly grasp.”
It is impossible to conceive a more interesting scene, than to behold a man, bordering on eighty years of age, executing with energy most brilliant passages on an instrument, of which he may be called the founder, and to see, standing round him, men who are eminently great as composers and performers, all acknowledging their obligations to him. After the bustle which this had naturally caused had subsided, the CHAIRMAN requested Mr. PARRY to sing the following song, which, he had written for the occasion :—
AIR—“Fly not yet.”
Around the festive board we meet
Our Master, Father, Friend, to greet;
Though gliding down the vale of years,
His muse can still delight our ears,
And raise our spirits high ’
To him the sons of science owe
More thanks than they ran e’er bestow;
His master hand, with skilful art,
Inspires the soul and charms the heart.
Fill high ! fill high !
And let the goblet gaily pass;
To him be pledg’d each sparkling glass
Whose name will never die ’
Chorus -Fill high, &c.
APOLLO and the Muses smile,
To see the sons of Britain’s Isle
Their homage thus to talent pay,
And signs of true regard display;
While joy lights every eye,
Though born in great Imperial Rome,
England is now CLEMENTI’S home.
As honour’d all his life has been
Oh ! be its Coda* as serene!
Fill high! fill high !
And let the goblet gaily pass;
To him he pledg’d each sparkling glass
Whose name will never die.
Chorus— Fill high, &c.
*Coda, the final close of a piece of music.
In the course of the evening Mr. BRAHAM sung a new song, by WEBBE; and Mr. TERRAIL sung, “And has she then fail’d in her Truth.” exquisitely.
Mr. BRAHAM, in proposing the health of the Chairman, paid several high, bill well-merited compliments. About eleven o’clock CLEMENTI, left the room, followed by the Committee, &c. to whom he declared that it was utterly out of his power to give an adequate idea of his feelings on the occasion.
Several songs were sung by Messrs. CLIFTON, BLEWETT, TERRAIL, &c. and the delighted “Sons of Song” retired, highly gratified with the proceedings of the day, which will be long remembered, and reflect an honour on the musical profession.
The Atlas (December 23, 1827): 12.
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS,
At the dinner given to Mr. CLEMENTI on Monday last, at the Albion Tavern, Aldersgate-street, we were glad to see that gentleman (after his tour through Italy and Germany, the scenes of his pas honours,) in good health. The musical profession, to the members of which the invitations were almost exclusively confined, in expressing cordially and unanimously its sense of the great benefits resulting from Mr. CLEMENTI’S labours to the science in general and students in particular, has done itself honour. We know of no one who better deserves a public compliment of this sort, nor do we know of a more pleasant duty than to join in giving a venerable and splendid musician one more proud day of existence, that he may feel in the consciousness of the instant—in its unbought praise—that he has not sat alone and communed with his own thoughts for nothing. The breath of popular applause is the atmosphere in which the player “lives and moves, and has his being;” and to live over again in imagination passed triumphs, has something melancholy in it. Since, then, Mr. CLEMENTI has long made his last bow to an audience, we think there was some heartiness in the applause of Monday, which must have made his cheeks burn and tingle with more solid feelings of satisfaction than in days of yore, for it was from his brother artists, and not from the public, that the approbation came. Would that the excitement of such an evening might ever remain with him! There was some excellent pianoforte playing on Monday. Mr. JOHN CRAMER performed a sonata of CLEMENTI in A, and Mr. MOSCHELES another in B flat; and the veteran musician himself took a subject from one of HANDEL’S old concertos, and elaborated it in a manner which shows he has not yet lost his youthful fire. There were also some songs and glees composed for the occasion, by Messrs. HORSLEY, BISHOP, and S. WEBBE. The evening passed off with much friendliness and conviviality; to which SIR GEORGE SMART, who occupied the chair, contributed by precept and example; for the deuce is in it if a party is not pleasant, when musicians bring their heads and fingers to it, and a disposition to be happy into the bargain. We make no distinction in the individual performers, where each did his best for the occasion.
The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, vol. 9 (1827): 345-349.
DINNER TO MR. CLEMENTI.
If the maxim, Laudari a laudato, be possessed of the force, which has by common consent been attributed to it—if the estimation that is the most valuable is to be drawn from the acknowledgments of those who are the most eminently skilled in the same or in kindred pursuits, and if nothing be so difficult to attach as the homage and the regard of contemporary artists, no one has ever received a more cordial, more brilliant, or more enduring testimony of such homage and regard than this eminent person in the celebration we are now to record. There have been occasions when the age and standing of meritorious individuals have claimed similar marks of respect—in other cases superior merit has extorted such attentions—and again, personal qualities have conciliated the just expression of similar sentiments, but in the case before us all these accessories have united to originate the unsought declaration of commingled sentiments of admiration and of friendship, from a more numerous and more elevated band of admirers than any living professor of liberal art has ever before won—in this country at least.
We have no more information concerning the origin of this flattering yet faithful testimony to the merits of the individual so distinguished by talents and so dignified by years, than that Mr. Cramer, Mr. Moscheles, and some others of the best judges and of the oldest admirers of Clementi, were deeply impressed with the desire of signalizing their veneration for a master from whom they had derived so much, and not less with the propriety of invoking the general accordance of their brother professors in some public testimony of the common feeling. After some consultation, it was deemed most expedient to invite Mr. Clementi to a dinner, to be given in honour of his name. A committee was appointed—the 17th of December, 1827, was named for the day, when a party assembled at the Albion Hotel, which comprehended nearly all the greatest names connected with the musical profession in London. Sir George Smart was placed in the chair, and Messrs. Horsley and Collard were his vice-presidents.
All the circumstances of the day were of course devoted to the leading object, and it would be a needless compliment to the well-known tact and ability of the chairman to add more, than that with a judgment and quickness that have no superior, he contrived to call forth and direct the great powers surrendered to his guidance with as much skill in the manner as satisfaction to the large party assembled. After the health of the King, the first demonstration was the announcement that Mr. Cramer would sit down to the piano forte, and with equal good taste and good feeling he chose Clementi’s celebrated opera 2—a production which has now been before the world half a century, and which was the source of the new and the greatest and best style of writing for the instrument. Mr. Cramer received the rapturous applauses he had well earned.
The health of Mr. Clementi was then given by Sir George, who, after a short review of his public and private life, made himself the organ of the respect of all those around him, and expressed their veneration for the artist and their regard for the man in sensible and just terms. The feelings of Mr. Clementi can be better imagined than described; but he spoke with deep emotion, and concluded by the declaration “I consider this to be the proudest day of my long life.” A glee, written for the occasion by Mr. W. F. Collard, the music by Mr. Bishop, was then sung—the words were these:
GLEE.
O for the harp whose strings of gold
Were struck by Music’s god of old !
O for the voices all inspired
Divinely to its strains that quired !
For now we raise the song to thee
Great patriarch of minstrelsy.
Hail, glory of the art divine !
Whose boldness seiz’d Apollo’s flame,
And with a pow’r was only thine
Made budding genius blossom fame !
Not time that toils to bury all
Shall cast his mantle dark on thee,
Thy name and works shall never fall
Till music’s self shall cease to be.
The health of Mr. Cramer followed, and was received with acclamation. Mr. Moscheles then played Clementi’s sonata dedicated to Kalkbrenner; and his health being given, in returning thanks, he was happy, he said, to acknowledge himself a disciple of the great master in whose honour they were met.
Mr. Braham sung “The Year that’s awa,” with the following additional stanza written by Mr. Parry.
“Here’s to Clementi, whose fame
Sheds a halo of light round us a’,
Long, long may he live and look back with delight
On the days o’ the years pass’d awa’.”
Mr. C. Potter played a capriccio of Clementi’s, and Messrs. Cramer and Moscheles his duet in E flat, op. 14. The consummate skill which could confer the only title to be heard in an assembly of such judgment, supersedes all commendation. After a beautiful glee, the composition of Mr. Attwood, the chairman gave “the immortal memory of Handel,” and announced that “the father of the piano forte” had consented just to touch the instrument, to which he was led by the chairman, Messrs. Cramer and Moscheles.
A very long period, probably not less than twenty-five years have elapsed, since this, the greatest player of his time, has been heard even by his nearest friends, while but a very few of those present had ever heard him at all. Expectation was there fore at its very pitch. He chose a fine subject from Handel’s first organ concerto, upon which he extemporised. The science, the manner, the occasion, and the personal qualities of the artist, all conspired to raise such a series of strong and contrasted emotions in the hearers, that to know could only be to feel them. Years seemed to have diminished none of his energies, and at the conclusion every one present was eager to convey and to share some token of gratulation. To Mr. Clementi these greetings were all but overpowering.
The chairman next requested Mr. Parry to sing some stanzas he had written for the day, which he did, to the air of “Fly not yet.”
Around the festive board we meet
Our Master, Father, Friend, to greet ;
Though gliding down the vale of years,
His muse can still delight our ears,
And raise our spirits high !
To him the sons of science owe
More thanks than they can e’er bestow ;
His master hand, with skilful art,
Inspires the soul and charms the heart.
Fill high ! fill high !
And let the goblet gaily pass ;
To him be pledg’d each sparkling glass,
Whose fame will never die!
Chorus— Fill high, &c.
Apollo and the Muses smile
To see the sons of Britain’s Isle
Their homage thus to talent pay,
And signs of true regard display ;
While joy lights every eye.
Though born in great Imperial Rome,
England is now Clementi’s home.
As honour’d all his life has been
Oh ! be its Coda* as serene !
Fill high ! fill high !
And let the goblet gaily pass ;
To him be pledg’d each sparkling glass
Whose name will never die.
Chorus—Fill high, &c.
The health of the chairman was given by Mr. Braham, who spoke justly of Sir George Smart, yet with the ardour of professional respect and the warmth of personal friendship. Messrs. Braham, Terrail, Clifton, Blewitt, and others enlivened the evening with songs, and about eleven o’clock Mr. Clementi left the room, followed by his friends of the committee; and thus closed the day.
* The final close of a piece of music.
A commemoration so spontaneously and so generally taken up by the eminent in art, is indeed an honour; and we run no risk of the charge of adulation in saying it has been nobly earned, for there is not a man in existence whose deserts are so readily, so universally, so respectfully admitted. Nor is the object of this regard distinguished as a musician alone; his mind is deeply imbued with classical and various learning. Mr. Clementi has indeed enjoyed the rare fortune not only to reach the highest excellence as a writer and a player, and to give a new character to performance and to composition, but to live long enough to see the fullest efforts of his creative genius acknowledged and developed by persons of the finest talents. Nor is this all the good for which he has to thank his Creator and Preserver—a life of temperance and studious exercise has secured to him the fullest, most active enjoyment of his faculties, at a period when the majority of human beings born at the same time with himself, are mouldered into dust, or just crawling upon the verge of existence; while the variety of his attainments and the elasticity of his mind enable him to luxuriate in his intellectual possessions with far more zest, as well as for a far more protracted period, than is allotted even to the favoured among mankind. Such powers, so employed, exhibit a beautiful and an instructive subject for moral reflection, and for the imitation of young and ardent spirits, and we trust Mr. Clementi will yet live many years to animate all who desire to emulate so excellent an example, and to contribute, if not so largely as he has done, to the stock of mental refinement and of human happiness.
The Harmonicon, vol. VI (January 1828): 18-19.
DINNER TO CLEMENTI.
———
AT the suggestion of Mr. J. B. Cramer and Mr. Moscheles, who, with a few others, formed themselves into a committee, and issued a circular to all the principal musical professors of the metropolis, a splendid dinner was given at the Albion Hotel, on Monday the 17th ult., to Muzio Clementi, Esq., in honour of his long and brilliant career in the musical art, and as a public demonstration of the high respect and esteem in which the profession hold his character as a man.
Sir G. Smart was President; Mr. Horsley and Mr. Collard, Vice-Presidents; and upwards of sixty of the most distinguished professors, piano-forte manufacturers, and music-publishers were present.
The chairman was supported by Messrs. Clementi, J. B. Cramer, Braham and Moscheles. Amongst the company we remarked Messrs. Attwood, Bishop, Liverati, Griffin, Neate, Potter, F. Cramer, Dragonetti, Coccia, Crivelli, Dizi, Sola, Peile, Schlesinger, Meves, Nicholson, Sale, Kiallmark, Novello, Burrowes, Major, Parry, Beale, Webbe, Leete, Clifton, Blewitt, Barnet, Holder, Stodart, W. F. Collard, Tomkinson, Preston, Willis, Chappell, D’Almaine, Addison, &c. &c. &c. Several others were prevented attending, by the shortness of the notice, and by being obliged leave town. Sir G. Smart introduced every toast in an appropriate manner, and ably conducted the business of the day.
After THE KING’S HEALTH, which was followed by the most animated applause, a glee by Horsley, was sung by Terrail, Goulden, J. B. Sale and Leete. After the second toast, the chairman announced that Mr. Cramer would sit down to the piano-forte, which was received with a general cheer. He performed the beautiful Sonata in A, from Clementi’s Opera 2, with matchless grace and taste.
In proposing the health of Mr. Clementi, the Chairman took a short view of his professional life, both as a composer and performer, which had reflected so much honour on the art; and concluded his remarks by assuring him of the high esteem, respect, and veneration, in which he was held, both by his brethren and by all who had the advantage of knowing him, for his excellent qualities as a man. The veteran rose, with evident marks of strong feeling depicted in his intelligent countenance [sic], amidst the cordial and animated cheers of the whole assembly. His words were few, but full of meaning; and he concluded by saying, “I consider this as the proudest day of my long life.” A glee, written by Mr. W. F. Collard for the occasion, and composed by Mr. Bishop, was then sung with great effect, the composer presiding at the instrument. It was a production worthy of the occasion. The following are the words.
O for the harp, whose strings of gold
Were struck by Music’s god of old!
O for the voices, all inspir’d,
Divinely to its strains that quir’d’
For now we raise the song to thee,
Great Patriarch of Minstrelsy!—
Hail! glory of the art divine!
Whose boldness seiz’d Apollo’s flame;
And, with a po’’r was only thine,
Made budding genius blossom fame!
Not Time, that toils to bury all,
Shall cast his mantle dark on thee—
Thy name and works shall never fall
Till Music’s self shall cease to be!
The health of Mr. Cramer was then given, which excited a general cheer. Mr. Moscheles now proceeded to the piano-forte, and performed Clementi’s sonata dedicated to Kalkbrenner, in the most masterly style. In returning thanks for the honour done him in drinking his health, he said he was doubly gratified on this occasion, as it also afforded him an opportunity of thus publicly acknowledging how proud he felt in owning himself a disciple of the great master, in honour of whom they were that day assembled. (Great cheers).
Nicholson performed a fantasia on the flute in admirable style, accompanied by J. B. Cramer on the piano-forte.
After the toast,—“The memory of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven,” the chairman, with a well-turned compliment to Mr. Braham, informed the company that that gentleman would favour them with a song. He accordingly sung, in his finest and most impressive manner, “The year that’s awa’,” introducing the following stanza, written by Mr. Parry.
Here’s to CLEMENTI, whose fame
Sheds a halo of light round us a’;
Long, long may he live, and look back with delight
On the days o’ the years pass’d awa’.
This was unanimously encored.
Mr. Potter next executed a Capriccio of Clementi on the piano-forte, in a manner that lost nothing of its excellence by comparison with the great performers who had preceded him.
One of the greatest treats of the evening next followed. Cramer and Moscheles played Clementi’s duet in E flat, opera 14, with such exquisite skill as renders it impossible to give it due praise. It was one of the most admirable performances ever heard, and the whole audience testified their delight by the most rapturous applause.
A beautiful glee by Attwood, for five voices, was then sung; when the chairman again rose, and in giving “The immortal memory of Handel,” stated, that as he knew the anxiety which the meeting must feel to hear the FATHER OF THE PIANO-FORTE perform, he had solicited him to gratify them; and had the pleasure to announce that he had kindly consented “just to touch the instrument,” not withstanding the long interval which had elapsed since he withdrew from public life, and an injury in his wrist, which he had met with whilst in Russia, from which he had never recovered.
The applause that followed this announcement was not less sincere than loud. When it had subsided, he in whose honour the party had assembled, was led to the piano-forte by the chairman, Messrs. Cramer and Moscheles. A breathless anxiety prevailed, none having heard him for little less than a quarter of a century, and the greater part never.
He chose his subject from Handel’s first concerto, and as he improvised on this, his countenance grew animated, and he touchedthe keys with such masterly skill, and luxuriated in such rich combinations of harmony, that he drew tears of pleasure,—not unmixed with recollections of the past and thoughts of the future,—from many who surrounded him.
Thus passed the day on which “the Father of all such as handle the piano-forte,” both received and conferred honour. Of Mr. Clementi we have had more than one occasion to speak in the former series of the Harmonicon; but warmly as we have expressed our opinion of him and his works, our language would have taken a much more encomiastic tone had he been beyond its reach—had it been impossible for him to suspect, or the world to impute, anything like flattery as its motive. On his compositions is founded whatever taste we possess for that class of music at the head of which they stand. To the frequent hearing of his best disciple do we mainly ascribe our love for a style that is the beau ideal of piano-forte playing, and from which we have derived so much pleasure. Ungrateful, therefore, should we be did we not acknowledge our obligation to the source of both—did we not contribute our mite of praise to a man to whom we feel personally indebted, and who, whatever the frigid cynic, the false philosopher, may say or think, has increased the stock of human happiness, and added to the glory of his age.
Liverpool Mercury (January 4, 1828): 6.
PUBLIC COMPLIMENT TO THE VETERAN CLEMENTI.
A dinner was given on Monday, the 17th ult., to Mr. Clementi, at the Albion Tavern, Aldersgate-street, after his tour through Italy and Germany, the scenes of his past honours. This gentleman may be considered as the master, or father, as it is termed, of the style of modern piano-forte playing; and, since the death of Beethoven, unrivalled as a composed of symphonies. Cramer, Moscheles, Webber, and Sir G. Smart, were amongst the company, which consisted almost exclusively of professional men, who displayed their respective talents in compliment to their venerable friend, who, on the occasion, performed, to the delight and admiration of all the audience. Several glees and songs, composed for the occasion by Horsley, Bishop, and S. Webber, were sung, and amongst them the translation of the Carmen Panegyricum, which together with the original, we shall subjoin, as we feel more than ordinary interest in the reputation of the young author, who is the son of Mr. Samuel Webbe, the composer. His father having named to him the approaching jubilee in honour of Clementi, our young friend wrote the Carmen, of which he also furnished the free translation, which was sung with great effect by Mr. Braham.
The Kaleidoscope: or, Literary and scientific mirror, vol.8, (January 8, 1828): 224.
[Same as issued in Liverpool Mercury on January 4]
Zeitung für die elegante Welt (January 12, 1828): 72.
Am 17. Decbr. v. J. wurde in London von einer Gesellschaft der ersten Künstler dem Veteran Clementi ein großes Diner gegeben, um die glückliche Rückkehr des Greises nach England und sein großes Verdienst um die Tonkunst zu feiern. Eine Reputation der in London befindlichen Tonkünstler, bestehend aus J. B. Cramer, Dragonetti und Moscheles, lud ihn dazu feierlich ein.
The Harmonicon, vol. IX (August 1831): 185-186.
MEMOIR OF MUZIO CLEMENTI.
…. Clementi had, during many years of his long life, been accustomed to receive all the rewards or praises that sovereigns or the public could bestow on superior talent; a compliment yet remained to be paid him, valuable as it was unsought—honourable as, in this country at least, it was rare. At the suggestion of Messrs. Cramer and Moscheles, it was proposed to call the veteran artist from his retirement to an entertainment at which all the élite of the profession then in London, foreigners as well as English, should assemble to receive and congratulate, on his ‘frosty but kindly’ age, the instructor of many, the admired and looked up to of all. A Committee to regulate the arrangements was soon formed, and the entertainment took place at the Albion Tavern on the 17th of December, 1827. After several glees and songs, and after Moscheles had performed one of Clementi’s sonatas, Mr. C. Potter one of his capriccios, and Messrs. J. B. Cramer and Moscheles his duet, Op. 14, in a style worthy of their own talents and the presence of the composer, the toast, “The immortal memory of Handel’ was the signal for the veteran himself to approach the instrument, and, as the chairman, Sir George Smart, announced to the delighted company, ‘just touch the keys.’ Clementi had throughout life been celebrated for his powers of extemporaneous playing; when drawing unpremeditatedly on the resources of his own mind, his fancy seemed as unbounded as his science, his delicacy as polished as his learning was profound. Early in his professional career, Dussek, when asked to play after Clementi had been extemporizing, replied, ‘To attempt anything in the same style, would be presumption; and what sonata, what concerto, or what other regular composition, could a man play that would not be insipid after what we have heard?’ In his tours on the Continent the most learned professors had been delighted by his feeling and invention, as much as they were astonished by his facility and resources. On this occasion he indulged his assembled friends with a last proof that his fancy was unfettered by age, and his finger unpalsied by years. Paying to the giant composer, whose immortal memory had just been drunk, the compliment which some future artist of equal eminence may pay to himself, Clementi chose a subject from the first organ concerto as the theme of his performance, and then proceeded to extemporize in a style in which those who had been his contemporaries or pupils immediately recognised the undiminished powers of their old friend or instructor; and at which those who for the first time heard the more than septuagenarian artist, could hardly find terms to express their delight and surprise. The plaudits were long, loud, and to their object almost overpowering. It was, he declared, ‘the proudest day of his life;’ and with this day our brief memoir concludes. Its subject is still living, at the advanced age of eighty, surrounded by all
‘Which should accompany old age;
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends.’
He is, and long may he continue, a bright proof of the respect and reward which, to the last moment of protracted life, will attend upon a youth spent in temperance and virtuous industry, and a manhood guided by honour, and dedicated to laudable ambition.
‘TRANSEAT IN EXEMPLUM.’
Ignaz Moscheles' Concert Life 