trument. When he
died, the magnificent instruments of Erard, Broadwood, and Collard,
to the latter of which his own mechanical and musical knowledge had
contributed much, were in common vogue. Such was the career of Muzio
Clementi, the father of piano-forte virtuosos. Had he lived later, he
might have been far eclipsed by the great players who have since adorned
the art of music. As Goethe says, through the mouthpiece of Wil-helm.
Meister: "The narrowest man may be complete while he moves within the
bounds of his own capacity and acquirements, but even fine qualities
become clouded and destroyed if this indispensable proportion is
exceeded. This unwholesome excess, however, will begin to appear
frequently, for who can suffice to the swift progress and increasing
requirements of the ever-soaring present time?" But, measured by his own
day and age, Clementi deserves the pedestal on which musical criticism
has placed him.

MOSCHELES.

Clementi and Mozart as Points of Departure in Piano-forte
Playing.--Moscheles the most Brilliant Climax reached by the Viennese
School.--His Child-Life at Prague.--Extraordinary Precocity.--Goes to
Vienna as the Pupil of Salieri and Albrechts-burger.--Acquaintance
with Beethoven.--Moscheles is honored with a Commission to make a Piano
Transcription of Beethoven's "Fidelio."--His Intercourse with the Great
Man.--Concert Tour.--Arrival in Paris.--The Artistic Circle into which
he is received.--Pictures of Art-Life in Paris.--London and its Musical
Celebrities.--Career as a Wandering Virtuoso.--Felix Mendelssohn becomes
his Pupil.--The Mendelssohn Family.--Moscheles's Marriage to a
Hamburg Lady.--Settles in London.--His Life as Teacher, Player, and
Composer.--Eminent Place taken by Moscheles among the Musicians of
his Age.--His Efforts soothe the Sufferings of Beethoven's
Deathbed.--Friendship for Mendelssohn.--Moscheles becomes connected with
the Leipzig Conservatorium.--Death in 1870.--Moscheles as Pianist
and Composer.--Sympathy with the Old as against the New School of the
Piano.--His Powerful Influence on the Musical Culture and Tendencies of
his Age.

I.

The rivalry of Clementi and Mozart as exponents of piano-forte playing
in their day was continued in their schools of performance. The original
cause of this difference was largely based on the character of the
instruments on which they played. Clementi used the English piano-forte,
and Mozart the Viennese, and the style o