Ignaz Josef Pleyel (1757-1831)
- Sinfonie Concertante A Violon et viola (1791), BenP 112
Performers: Christoph Angerer (viola); Concilium musicum Wien; Paul Angerer (1927-2017, violin & conductor)
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Austrian composer, music publisher, and music instrument manufacturer.
As a child, Pleyel probably had a few lessons with Jan Křtitel Vanhal,
but in 1772 he was sent to Eisenstadt to study under Joseph Haydn. He
made such progress that in 1776 he not only successfully premiered his
own opera Die Fee Urgele at Esterháza, but also composed an overture for
Haydn’s Die Feuerbrunst as part of the same program. Around the same
time he became Kapellmeister to his patron Count Erdődy in Fidich in
Burgenland, but by around 1780 he traveled to Italy where an amateur
composer and diplomat, Norbert Hardrava, became his patron in Naples. By
1784 he arrived in Strasbourg, where he was appointed as assistant to
Franz Xaver Richter, eventually becoming Richter’s successor in 1789.
When the religious centers were abolished during the Revolution, he was
able to travel to London to participate in the Professional Concerts in
1791, but he soon returned to France, settling in Paris in 1795. At that
time he opened a publishing house, which soon came to dominate music
publishing in France. Among the innovations Pleyel introduced were
miniature scores (1802). Further travels back to Austria resulted in a
pan-European reach, and he expanded his activities to the development
and construction of keyboard instruments. He retired in 1820 to a farm
outside of Paris. As a composer, Pleyel was conscious of the need to
balance pleasing music with progressive development. He had an innate
sense of melody, often coupled with progressive harmonies and expanded
formal structures. He did not, however, fulfill the oft-quoted
reflection of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that he might become Haydn’s
successor in the world of music. His works include two operas, two
Masses, a Requiem, four Revolutionary hymns, 32 Scottish songs, 40
symphonies, nine concertos (several with interchangeable alternative
solo instruments), six sinfonia concertantes, nine
serenades/divertimentos/notturnos, 95 quartets, 17 quintets, 70 trios,
85 duos, and around 65 works for fortepiano, as well as numerous smaller
compositions. His music is known by Ben [Benton] numbers.
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