Synopsis
Drop the name “Pleyel” among classical music aficionados and one might say, “Oh, yeah, Pleyel. He was a French piano maker. I think Chopin liked Pleyel pianos.” Another might add, “He was a composer, too, but … I don’t think he was really French…” Another might add, “Didn’t he have something to do with Haydn?”
Well, they’re all right. Ignace Joseph Pleyel was born near Vienna on today’s date in 1757. As a teenager, he became a pupil of Haydn, and in 1791, ended up in London, where, for a time, his orchestral concerts competed with Haydn’s. The two remained friends, however, dined together and attended each other’s concerts.
In 1795, Pleyel set up shop in Paris, where he founded a publishing house and piano factory. His own compositions remained enormously popular. In 1805, he travelled to Vienna, visited the aging Haydn and heard that young upstart Beethoven improvising at the piano.
In 1822, the whaling port of Nantucket, Massachusetts, formed a Pleyel Society ‘to chasten the taste of listeners,’ in the words of a local newspaper. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music, “The most telling evidence of the appeal of Pleyel’s music lies in the thousands of manuscript copies that filled the shelves of archives, libraries, … and private homes, and in the thousands of editions of his music produced in Europe and North America.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831): Symphony in G; London Mozart Players; Matthias Bamert, conductor; Chandos 9525
On This Day
Births
1757 - Austrian-born composer and piano maker Ignaz Joseph Pleyel, in Ruppertsthal, near Vienna. He studied with Haydn and was one of the older composer’s favorite pupils.
1904 - French composer and conductor Manuel Rosenthal, in Paris. His ballet arrangement of Offenbach melodies, Gaîté Parisienne, is his best-known work.
1843 - Austrian cellist and composer David Popper, in Prague
1905 - Estonian-born Swedish composer Eduard Tubin, in Kalaste, near Tartu (Dorpat) (Julian date: June 5)
1942 - English singer, composer and Beatle, Paul McCartney, in Liverpool
Deaths
1726 - French composer Michel-Richard de Lalande (La Lande, Delalande), 68, at Versailles
Premieres
1821 - Weber: opera Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter), in Berlin at the Königliches Schauspielhaus
1923 - Gershwin: musical revue, George White’s Scandals of 1923 at the Globe Theater in New York City
1958 - Britten: opera Noye’s Fludde, in Orford Church, near Aldeburgh
1980 - Persichetti: Three Toccatinas for Piano, by contestants in the International Piano Festival and Competition at the University of Maryland
1992 - Anthony Davis: opera Tania at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia
Others
1837 - Mendelssohn finishes his String Quartet No. 2, in Freiburg (Germany), while on his honeymoon
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.