Virtuoso pianist who bridged the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras. He had a tumultuous friendship with Beethoven. He was also their for his 1828 publication "A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of Instruction on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte."
He was trained for four years by composer and pianist Muzio Clementi while in London.
He was Kapellmeister in Stuttgart from 1816 until 1819 and in Weimar from 1819 until 1837. He became good friends with Goethe in Weimar.
His father Johannes Hummel conducted Emanuel Schikaneder's theatre orchestra and was Vienna's Imperial School of Military Music's director.
His close friendship with Franz Schubert motivated Schubert to dedicate his final three piano sonatas to him, although the publishers switched the dedication to Robert Schumann.