Ignace Pleyel

Ignace Pleyel (1757–1831) – Austrian-born composer, violinist, pianist, founder of a piano manufactory and publisher. For five years, he was a pupil of Joseph Haydn, and he also trained in Rome. He wrote 29 symphonies, 45 string quartets, 4 cello concertos and 2 piano concertos, as well as numerous chamber works for various forces and solo compositions. The Pleyel firm that he founded (producing the pianos that were most highly regarded by Fryderyk Chopin) was later fused with the firm of Gaveau-Erard, and in the 1970s it was bought out by the German firm of Schimmel. Pleyel’s publishing house, which issued works by Chopin, Kalkbrenner, Beethoven, Hummel and Clementi, existed until 1834.