Who is Muzio Clementi from The Great Pianists and what is their importance?

Muzio Clementi is the name of an Italian-born English piano virtuoso who was considered no match to Mozart in a competition sponsored by the Emperor. Ironically, there was no winner. Clementi's technical skill was overcome by Mozart's art, taste and feeling. Mozart disliked Clementi's stronger technical skills and was offended by his unconventional romantic modulations. Muzio Clementi was born in 1752 Italy and raised by an English Member of Parliament. Peter Beckford saw musical genius in the fourteen year old and brought him to Wiltshire, England. He practiced harpsichord at least eight hours daily in the Beckford house. After 1773 he gave concerts on an English piano that shaped his style with its resonant sound and carrying power. He was called the father of technique and modern piano school. Clementi also manufactured pianos and did not have to play since sales made him rich. He had a scientific talent that led him to improve the action of pianos he made. He traveled for his music business and met Beethoven in Vienna after 1807. Clementi was a miserly but socially popular mentor. He played with a quiet and low hand position and practiced with a coin on the back of the hand to control position. Clementi wrote twenty symphonies, a hundred sonatas and taught three great pianists of the 1800s including Cramer, Kalkbrenner and Field. Research concurs Clementi was the first great virtuoso.