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Clementi, Muzio

(Encyclopedia)Clementi, Muzio mo͞oˈtsēō klāmĕnˈtē [key], 1752–1832, Italian composer, pianist, and conductor, b. Rome. He wrote more than 100 keyboard sonatas, which set the definitive form, and he had an...

Field, John

(Encyclopedia)Field, John, 1782–1837, Irish composer and pianist. In London he studied with Clementi, with whom he later toured Europe. In 1804 he settled in Russia. Field was a successful pianist and his style o...

Bononcini

(Encyclopedia)Bononcini bwō– [key], musical family of Modena, Italy. Giovanni Maria Bononcini, 1642–78, choirmaster and organist at Bologna and Modena, was a composer and the author of Musico prattico (1673). ...

Sforza, Francesco I

(Encyclopedia)Sforza, Francesco I , sfôrˈtsä [key], 1401–66, duke of Milan (1450–66); illegitimate son of Muzio Attendolo Sforza. He succeeded his father as leader of his band of mercenaries, and by his valo...

piano

(Encyclopedia)piano or pianoforte, musical instrument whose sound is produced by vibrating strings struck by felt hammers that are controlled from a keyboard. The piano's earliest predecessor was the dulcimer. The ...

Sforza

(Encyclopedia)Sforza sfôrˈtsä [key], Italian family that ruled the duchy of Milan from 1450 to 1535. Rising from peasant origins, the Sforzas became condottieri and used this military position to become rulers i...