Ignaz Pleyel

Ignace Joseph Pleyel (1757–1831) was an Austrian-born French composer, music publisher and piano builder of the Classical period. He was admitted to the class of the composer Vanhal and came to the attention of a Hungarian nobleman who paid Pleyel's way to study and live with Franz Joseph Haydn at Eisenstadt. Pleyel made rapid progress, and he reported that he and Haydn enjoyed a close, friendly relationship. Pleyel probably worked briefly for the his noble patron, Count Ladislaus Erdödy, and in the early 1780s he traveled widely in Italy. He composed lira (hurdy-gurdy) pieces for King Ferdinand IV of Naples to play and wrote an opera, Ifigenia in Aulide, that was premiered at the Teatro San Carlo (Naples' major opera house) in 1785. Its success generated a further 18 performances. The previous year Pleyel had become the assistant to Franz Xaver Richter, Kapellmeister of Strasbourg Cathedral, and inherited the post when Richter died in 1789. He gave public concerts as well. During this period, Pleyel wrote accompaniments for Scottish songs and a set of piano trios. In general, the years 1785 to 1795 were his most productive period as a composer. During the French Revolution, Pleyel moved to London, where he was invited to conduct the Professional Concerts from 1791 to 1792. This was the period when Haydn was also giving concerts in London, but the two composers personally ignored the rival publicity that their respective impresarios generated. As it turned out, there was room for both; while Haydn's concerts were better attended and got more attention, Pleyel's concerts were successes. In 1795 Pleyel also acquired a house in Paris, opened a piano factory, and founded a publishing house. This became one of the most important in Europe, publishing over 4,000 compositions during its nearly four decades of existence. Pleyel was also the first person to issue miniature scores for study. Among the composers Pleyel published were Beethoven, Haydn, Boccherini, Clementi, Méhul, and Rossini. In 1805 (during a temporary peace between Napoleon and Austria) Pleyel returned to Vienna, was reunited with the aging Haydn, praised Beethoven's skill as an improviser, and arranged performances of his string quartets, which won favor with the Viennese. After his return to Paris, he gradually retired to a rural estate. In 1824 he retired and sold the assets of his still-successful firm. During his life, his tuneful music, often not too difficult for home music-making, was very popular.