Johann Nepomuk Hummel, the composer, studied under Mozart from the age of 8, actually living in his home for two years.
Liszt (or his father Adam) was keen to study with Hummel, and Schubert resolved to dedicate his last three piano sonatas to him.
Despite widespread acclaim, the popularity of Hummel's works waned over time as piano playing became less conceptual and more spectacular.
Costantino Mastroprimiano, the fortepiano performer, has recorded a complete set of Muzio Clementi's sonatas across 18 CDs for Brilliant Classics.
The recording features two fortepianos: an Urbano Petroselli after Anton Walter ca.1790 and an Erard 'en forme de clavecin' from 1838.
Hummel learned to use the Ars Rhetorica, a system for applying rhetorical devices to music, from Haydn, as revealed in his Sonatas.
Hummel's piano works are full of quotations, transcriptions, and arrangements that echo his teacher Mozart's compositions.
