What was Muzio Clementis piece that Mozart stole for The Magic Flute?
It’s the Sonata in Eb major written in 1781, 10 years before Magic Flute. Clementi composed 110 piano sonatas. Some of the earlier and easier ones were reissued as sonatinas and continue to be popular pieces in piano education. However, most of Clementi’s sonatas are more difficult to play than those of Mozart, who wrote in a letter to his sister that he would prefer her not to play Clementi’s sonatas. Mozart disliked Clementi especially after their fortepiano ‘challenge’ in Vienna in 1782: they sat at different pianos and would play continuously, with variations on each other’s themes. M. wrote his father C. was a ‘good pianist, very clever with right hand and on thirds’. C. commented that M. had a ‘rather dirtyish’ style. Every time his sonata in Eb would be reprinted, Clementi had a forenote written in first page stating it was composed 10 years earlier than Flute. EDIT: I’m sorry it is actually in Bb major (Si bemolle maggiore): sooner or later keeping the double notation in mind h
