First movement

Clementi was the figure who made Beethoven's London publishing career — his publishing house brought the late piano sonatas to print — and his teaching pieces have been continuously in use since the eighteenth century. Op. 36, the Six Sonatinas, is the bedrock of pre-Mozart Classical pedagogy: small two- and three-movement sonatinas that introduce sonata form, articulation, and Classical balance in equal measure.

The first movement of Op. 36 No. 1 is in C major, in 4/4, and tests proper Classical poise: a clearly-shaped exposition with two contrasting themes, a brief development, and a recapitulation. The right hand carries the principal melody and a transitional figure built from running quavers; the left hand has Alberti-bass support and clear cadential figures. The technical demand is even passagework in the right hand and a steady, quiet Alberti pulse in the left.

Two pitfalls. First, the Alberti bass can become mechanical — Clementi's writing rewards a left hand that holds pulse but breathes with the melody, with a small dynamic curve across each phrase. Second, students often play the development at the same dynamic and tempo as the exposition; the development should feel slightly more harmonically active, with a lift into the recapitulation.

The complete Op. 36 is on IMSLP in clean public-domain editions. Hearing the surrounding sonatinas calibrates the right Classical poise; the second-movement Andante and third-movement Vivace make a complete statement together.