Camille Pleyel

Biography

Camille Pleyel was born at Strasburg in 1792, the son of Ignace Pleyel. He studied music with his father and later studied piano with Dussek. Regarded as a talented composer in his own right, one biographer suggested he might have become a great composer had he not become a music seller and piano maker instead. He partnered closely with Kalkbrenner, the noted musician and piano virtuoso, and together they spent several years in London studying piano making with Broadwood, Collard, and Clementi. They adopted Wornum's upright action and the Broadwood grand-piano design for their own instruments and organized their factory using modern London methods, contributing to the firm's success. An accomplished pianist himself, Camille Pleyel moved in circles with leading musicians of the era and formed an intimate friendship with Frederic Chopin, who became an enthusiastic admirer (the text continues onto the following page). Camille Pleyel headed the Paris piano firm bearing his family name during the period when the Salle Pleyel hosted major musical figures, including Chopin's 1832 Paris debut and youthful appearances by Anton Rubinstein and Saint-Saëns. He died in Paris on May 4, 1855. He was succeeded by his business partner, Auguste Wolff, at which point the firm's name was changed to Pleyel, Wolff & Company. From Spillane (1890): Camile Pleyel was the son of Ignace Pleyel, the Austrian-born composer who had founded the family's Paris piano-manufacturing house. By about 1835 Camile and his partner Kalkbrenner, a well-known musician, were controlling the largest wholesale and retail pianoforte trade then existing in Europe, continuing and extending the business his father had built.

Highlights

• Born at Strasburg in 1792; took over his father Ignace's music publishing and piano business in 1824
• Studied piano making in London with Broadwood, Collard, and Clementi alongside Kalkbrenner
• Formed a close friendship with Frederic Chopin
• Died in Paris in 1855, succeeded as head of the firm by his partner Auguste Wolff, after which it became Pleyel, Wolff & Company
• Son of Ignace Pleyel; by about 1835, with partner Kalkbrenner, controlled the largest wholesale and retail pianoforte trade in Europe.

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 256.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 23.

Public domain.