Pleyel

History

Founded 1795 by the composer Ignace Joseph Pleyel (1757-1831) in Paris. In the course of 39 years, the firm issued approximately 4000 works, including notable editions of works by Pleyel's colleagues Boccherini, Beethoven, Clementi, Cramer, Dussek, Haydn, Hummel, and Onslow along with his own works and those of his son Camille Pleyel (1788-1855). In 1801, Pleyel issued the landmark Collection complette des quatuors d’Haydn, consisting of some 80 quartets. Three additional quartets were added in subsequent printings of the collection, as Haydn composed them. Pleyel established relationships with most major publishers in Europe during this period, including the Vienna firms of Artaria and Hoffmeister, Breitkopf und Härtel (Leipzig), Hummel (Amersterdam), and N. Simrock (Bonn). Pleyel was the first publisher to issue miniature scores (the series Bibliotheque Musicale), starting with four symphonies of his former teacher Joseph Haydn in 1802. The series continued with scores of the Haydn quartets and chamber music of Beethoven, Hummel and Onslow.

Engravers employed by Pleyel include Lobry, Petit, Marquerie, Richomme, and Richault. The composers Kalkbrenner, Méhul, Rossini were actually investors in Pleyel's firm, and subscriptions were sold to a significant number of notable musicians of the period (Cherubini, Dussek, Grétry, Kreutzer, Méhul, Salomon, Viotti) along with a number of important names in the Vienna aristocracy. The firm survived its founder's death only 3 years, selling off its entire stock and engraved plates to the Parisian publishers Delloy, Lemoine, Prilipp, Richault and Schlesinger in 1834.

Pleyel et Cie survived as a keyboard instrument manufacturer, however, inventing the first chromatic harp (though not eventually the most-used kind, relatively speaking) late in the 19th century, and still publishing some music for its inhouse instruments.

Imprints, Addresses, Agencies

• I. Pleyel et fils ainé (from 9 December 1814 until 1827)
• Pleyel et Cie. (from 1828 until 1834)

Paris

• rue des Poulies, no. 204 (1795-1796)
• rue Neuve des Petits-Champs, no. 24 (1796-1798)
• rue Neuve des Petits Champs, no. 728 (1798-1803)
• rue Neuve des Petits Champs, no. 1286 (1803- )
• Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, No. 8 (1814-1815)

Plate Numbers

All Plates

References

• 1. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie.

New York and London: Macmillan Publications, 1980.

• BNF data
• 2. Anik Devriès and François Lesure, Dictionnaire des éditeurs de musique français, volume 1

Genéve: Éditions Minkoff, 1979, p. 127-130.

Authority control

• VIAF (Pleyel (Firm))

Links

• Category:Scores published by Pleyel

Further Reading

Complete plate number documentation and dating:

• Benton, Rita; Halley, Jeanne (1990). Pleyel as music publisher : a documentary sourcebook of early 19th-century music. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press. ISBN 9780918728616 . OCLC 20014950.