Muzio Clementi is perhaps best known today for his piano studies Gradus ad Parnassum (Steps Towards Parnassus), which were affectionately satirised by Debussy, and he is notable for imbuing such teaching material with an unexpected charm and musicality. He was born in 1752 in Italy but trained in England and launched his public career in London in 1774. On his first continental tour in the early 1780s, he took part in a famous keyboard duel with Mozart, who—despite his low opinion of Clementi—later borrowed the theme of one of his sonatas for his overture to The Magic Flute. Back in London, Clementi found sustained success as a conductor and keyboard soloist, although he was overshadowed by Haydn’s two extended visits to the city in the 1790s. He became a music publisher (representing Beethoven in England) and ran a successful piano-building firm. He composed a number of symphonies, which he promoted assiduously on the continent, although by far the largest part of his output was for piano, his personal legato style influencing Beethoven and Chopin, among others. He died a rich man aged 80 in rural Worcestershire and was buried at Westminster Abbey.