Clementi numbers among his pupils more great names in the art of piano-forte playing than any other great master.  This is partly owing to the fact, it may be, that he began his career in the infancy of the piano-forte as an instrument, and was the first to establish a solid basis for the technique of the instrument.  In addition to John Field and J. B. Cramer, previously mentioned, were Zeuner, Dussek, Alex.  Kleugel, Ludwig Berger, Kalkbrenner, Charles Mayer, and Meyerbeer.  These musicians not only added richly to the literature of the piano-forte, but were splendid exponents of its powers as virtuosos.  But mere artistic fame is transitory, and it is in Clementi’s contributions to the permanent history of piano-forte playing that we must find his chief claim on the admiration of posterity.  He composed not a few works for the orchestra, and transcriptions of opera, but these have now receded to the lumber closet.  The works which live are his piano concertos, of which about sixty were written for the piano alone, and the remainder as duets or trios; and, par excellence, his “Gradus ad Parnassum,” a superb series of one hundred studies, upon which even to-day the solid art of piano-forte playing rests.  Clementi’s works must always remain indispensable to the pianist, and, in spite of the fact that piano technique has made such advances during the last half century, there are several of Clementi’s sonatas which tax the utmost skill of such players as Liszt and Von Billow, to whom all ordinary difficulty is merely a plaything.  As Viotti was the father of modern violin-playing, Clementi may be considered the father of virtuosoism on the piano-forte, and he has left an indelible mark, both mechanically and spiritually, on all that pertains to piano-playing.  Compared with Clementi’s style in piano-forte composition, that of Haydn and Mozart appears poor and thin.  Haydn and Mozart regarded execution as merely the vehicle of ideas, and valued technical brilliancy less than musical substance.  Clementi, on the other hand, led the way for that class of compositions which pay large attention to manual skill.  His works can not be said to burn with that sacred fire which inspires men of the highest genius, but they are magnificently modeled for the display of technical execution, brilliancy of effect, and virile force of expression.  The great Beethoven, who composed the greatest works for the piano-forte, as also for the orchestra, had a most exalted estimate of Clementi, and never wearied of playing his music and sounding his praises.  No musician has probably exerted more far-reaching effects in this department of his art than Clementi, though he can not be called a man of the highest genius, for this lofty attribute supposes great creative imagination and rich resources of thought, as well as knowledge, experience, skill, and transcendent aptitude for a single instrument.