Acquaintance of Clementi's

Muzio Clementi

One day while working on my biography of Frances Rolleston, Clementi was on my mind. I had just heard on the radio a sonatina of his that I had once played. Felix Mendelssohn was also on my mind because I was then reading his biography. So, imagine how interested I was to find a letter written by Frances Rolleston in which she mentions both of these musicians!

​What occasioned her mention of Clementi was that a friend sent her a copy of his review of Dante's "Purgatorio," and she responded by telling him that Clementi had once sent her a Roman copy of Dante to get her opinion on a disputed passage. (Sadly, she no longer remembered what the dispute was.) Clementi lived in London for most of the years that Frances lived there. They must have been fairly well acquainted for him to consult her opinion.

​Frances was also acquainted with Ludwig Berger, a student of Clementi's, who in turn, was one of Mendelssohn's early teachers. I found Frances' acquaintance with Berger particularly interesting because of a suggested possible romance. However, I will leave that for the biography!

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