I'm Italian and not particularly fond of opera, if not for its ouvertures (first of all Rossini). I'm not saying that I skip the whole 19th century of my country, but as I'm a lover of instrumental music, my attention shifts more to Germany, Austria, Russia, and to the Czech. I am so glad to discover more of Clementi, who seems to be the last Italian to "resist" the complete domination of the opera genre (certainly due to the fact that he was living abroad), for which we'll have to wait until Martucci, Busoni and later the "80s generation" (Respighi, Casella, Malipiero, Pizzetti, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, etc.) restored a respectable instrumental output in Italy. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks to RU-vid I and over 30.000 others have been able to hear music we might otherwise never have got around to. Without feeling that such discoveries in any way replace Bach, Beethoven and Brahms whose works are as tireless as those of Haydn, Mozart and Schubert it is a great pleasure to hear a "new" and authentic voice from Clementi. The "God Save the Queen" movement gives a superb demonstration of the essential nature of classical music, constantly inventing and developing with a direction and demanding to be listened to and not merely heard. I shall be returning to this and the other symphonies, each of which is pleasingly different.
@@barrymalkin9679 Another thing I really enjoy bout this symphony is Clementi's Italian style. Especially the introduction to the first movement sounds very much like Itallian opera of the time. A nice change from the German style that dominated symphonies of the early 19th century. I also like the ending. It sounds like ending to a pops concert on the fourth of July, except it was composed about 200 years ago. Amazing creativity!
@@brianknapp8645 It's always nice to hear from you Brian. I'm curious who the gentleman on the cover of your web page is. Is he a composer or an ancestor of yours? Your love of Classical music is very enthusiastic and informed and it's always enjoyable for me to read your commentaries.
@@barrymalkin9679 My You Tube avatar is Muzio Clementi. I consider Clementi to be somewhat of a protoromantic due to the very dramatic expression of his piano sonatas and symphonies. Transition from the classical to the romantic style of music is my greatest interest and Clementi certainly contributed in this transition. Clementi was also an innovator in piano design and manufacturing. Two of Clementi's employees/proteges were Jan Ladislav Dussek and John Field. Dussek and Field were also very large influences on the transition from the classical style to the romantic style (although Dussek really influenced the later romantics more then the earlier ones). If you were asking about my Facebook avatar, it is Jan Ladislav Dussek, who is my favorite composer.
@@brianknapp8645 Thank you for that information. The late Classical - early Romantic era is my favorite period of symphonic, chamber, ballet and operatic music as well. Anything by Schubert gives me much joy.
Just heard this in Sirius XM so I'd thought to hear this recording as well. Reading up on him, Clementi was involved in a scene almost straight out of the movie Amadeus, where he and Mozart were engaged in an improvisational keyboard contest in front of Emperor Joseph, who, likely not able to judge who was actually better, declared the contest a tie.
WoO... literally means "without opus", i. e. the work was not published in its author's lifetime. Muzio Clementi was music publisher, editor, the probability that he did not publish his symphonies is zero! Other composers, such as P. Vranički, ... also did not publish their key symphonies. The illusion has been created that Beethoven has created something new! No, he did not create the musical matrices by which he composed. These musical matrices were created by: Paul Wranitzky Symphony in D minor 'La Tempesta' ( 1790), Symphony in C (1790).... Étienne Nicolas Méhul "Timoléon", Overture to the incidental music (1794), Étienne Nicolas Méhul "La chasse du jeune Henri", Overture to the opera Le jeune Henri (1797), Muzio Clementi - Symphony in B-flat major, Op.18, No.1 (1785.) Muzio Clementi - Symphony No.2 in D-major, Op. 33 (1793.),..., Ignace Joseph Pleyel, Viotti, Andrea Luchesi, Paisiello, Benda, Cramer, Hummel...
I would add Cherubini. It's true that he wrote only one symphony in 1815 but in the last decade of XVIII century the ouvertures of his operas were a model. Beethoven loved the ouverture of Medea (and he was right!) and considered Cherubini the greatest of his contemporaries. I wouldn't quote Paisiello that is not a symphonist : his ouvertures of La nina, and Il barbiere are very fine but committed to the classic era there is not the early romantic pace that we find in this fine work by Clementi ( to be redescovered not only as a keyboard author!) and not Luchesi that produced his best works from 1770 to 1780 and has nothing to share with early romantic style.
Samuel Smith was inspired by this when he wrote "My Country, 'Tis of Thee"(aka "America") when he was asked to translate the lyrics. "God Save the Queen" took the tune from Smith's tune. Therefore, this Clementi symphony is the first iteration of that particular melody. So, you were right the first time.
God Save the Queen (King) definitely predates Clementi, a form existing before Clementi was born. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Save_the_Queen The melody itself appears to have a number of sources, but what is clear is that "My country tis of thee" is not the original and came after GSTQ/GSTK, probably as a bit of musical re-engineering to re-use a familiar tune for republican purposes.
There appears to be quite a lot of nonsense written in both some of the comments and replies below relating to this ‘Great National’ symphony; the ‘National’ in the title refers to Great Britain. Whatever else it may or may not be, the famous tune in the slow movement - and elsewhere - is first and foremost clearly based on the British National Anthem ‘God Save the King’ - that was Clementi’s obvious intention. Clementi followed precedents set by other foreign composers previously in England such as JC Bach in the last movement of his Opus 1 No 6 keyboard concerto (very obviously) and Haydn in the slow movement of his Symphony 98 (extremely subtly), as well as other composers such as Beethoven in a set of variations and ‘Wellington’s Victory’. England was Clementi’s adopted country, he lived much of his life there, he died there, and he is buried in Westminster Abbey. Other references to the famous tune being this, that, or the other, are as irrelevant and unhelpful as they are misleading.
Clementi, purtroppo "confinato"in Italia al solo studio nei conservatori, andrebbe rivalutato, addirittura"valutato" dalla critica e dagli interpreti in modo diverso. C'è già tutto il miglior Schubert. .! E nella sua musica respira quello Schumann delle sinfonie in modo non tanto"velato"... bisogna ascoltare con attenzione e intravvederne quelle che saranno le formule e i contenuti del romanticismo prossimo venturo... per lui! ahimè non per noi.....!
I would add Cherubini. It's true that he wrote only one symphony in 1815 but in the last decade of XVIII century the ouvertures of his operas were a model. Beethoven loved the ouverture of Medea (and he was right!) and considered Cherubini the greatest of his contemporaries. I wouldn't quote Paisiello that is not a symphonist : his ouvertures of La nina, and Il barbiere are very fine but committed to the classic era there is not the early romantic pace that we find in this fine work by Clementi ( to be redescovered not only as a keyboard author!) and not Luchesi that produced his best works from 1770 to 1780 and has nothing to share with early romantic style.
It was weird to figure out that a German imperial song also uses Clementi´s work for inspiration. The name of the song is "Heil dir im Siegerkranz." As others here have posted, the part that starts @18:26 is what is used for "My Country 'Tis of Thee," "God Save the Queen," & "America."
As You All know, Clementi is always "Father of Pianoforte". All his piano music after 1800 influenced Chopin! This must be clearly stated!!!! Chopin could never compose a symphony. And that's the big difference..................
