Muzio Clementi (23 January 1752 – 10 March 1832) was an Italian born English composer, pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer. Encouraged to study music by his father, he was sponsored as a young composer by Sir Peter Beckford who took him to England to advance his studies. Later, he toured Europe numerous times from his long-standing base in London. It was on one of these occasions, in 1781, that he engaged in a piano competition with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.