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Pleyel et Cie
Pleyel et Cie. ("Pleyel and Company") is a French piano manufacturing firm founded by the composer Ignace Pleyel in 1807. In 1815, Pleyel's son Camille joined him as a business partner. The firm provided pianos to Frédéric Chopin, who considered Pleyel pianos to be "non plus ultra". Pleyel et Cie. also operated a concert hall, the Salle Pleyel, where Chopin performed his first – and last – Paris concerts. Pleyel's major contribution to piano development was the first use of a metal frame in a piano. Pleyel pianos were the choice of composers such as Chopin, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, de Falla and Stravinsky and of pianists and teachers Alfred Cortot, Philip Manuel and Gavin Williamson. Nineteenth-century musicians involved in the company's management included Joseph O'Kelly and Georges Pfeiffer.
Around 1815, Pleyel was the first to introduce the short, vertically strung cottage upright piano, or "pianino" to France, adapting the design made popular in Britain by Robert Wornum. Their pianos were such a success that in 1834 the company employed 250 workers and produced 1000 pianos annually.
The company's success led them to invest in experiments, resulting in the double piano in 1890, invented by Hungarian composer Emánuel Moór. Although not the first company to experiment with building two pianos into the same frame, Pleyel's instrument, patented as the "Duo-Clave", was by far the most successful and produced the largest instruments.[citation needed] The company manufactured a very small number of double pianos in the 1890s and continued to make them until the 1920s. CDs can be bought today of performances on some of these pianos.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Pleyel firm produced the first chromatic harp.[citation needed]
In the early 20th century, performances by Wanda Landowska helped revive interest in the harpsichord.
In 1913, Pleyel built the "Jungle Piano" for use by Albert Schweitzer in his hospital in Lambaréné (French Equatorial Africa – now Gabon). It was fitted with pedal attachments (to operate like an organ pedal-keyboard) and built with tropical woods that would acclimate to conditions there.
In the early 1920s, Pierre Hans (1886-1960), an engineer with very thick fingers, commissioned Pleyel to build a piano he designed with an upper keyboard and a lower keyboard tuned a half tone apart, which became known as the Hans piano. Pleyel produced several Hans pianos, but they fell out of use after World War II.
Pleyel also pioneered the player piano with the Pleyela line of pianos. These were often small pianos of an unusual design.
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Pleyel et Cie
Pleyel et Cie. ("Pleyel and Company") is a French piano manufacturing firm founded by the composer Ignace Pleyel in 1807. In 1815, Pleyel's son Camille joined him as a business partner. The firm provided pianos to Frédéric Chopin, who considered Pleyel pianos to be "non plus ultra". Pleyel et Cie. also operated a concert hall, the Salle Pleyel, where Chopin performed his first – and last – Paris concerts. Pleyel's major contribution to piano development was the first use of a metal frame in a piano. Pleyel pianos were the choice of composers such as Chopin, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, de Falla and Stravinsky and of pianists and teachers Alfred Cortot, Philip Manuel and Gavin Williamson. Nineteenth-century musicians involved in the company's management included Joseph O'Kelly and Georges Pfeiffer.
Around 1815, Pleyel was the first to introduce the short, vertically strung cottage upright piano, or "pianino" to France, adapting the design made popular in Britain by Robert Wornum. Their pianos were such a success that in 1834 the company employed 250 workers and produced 1000 pianos annually.
The company's success led them to invest in experiments, resulting in the double piano in 1890, invented by Hungarian composer Emánuel Moór. Although not the first company to experiment with building two pianos into the same frame, Pleyel's instrument, patented as the "Duo-Clave", was by far the most successful and produced the largest instruments.[citation needed] The company manufactured a very small number of double pianos in the 1890s and continued to make them until the 1920s. CDs can be bought today of performances on some of these pianos.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Pleyel firm produced the first chromatic harp.[citation needed]
In the early 20th century, performances by Wanda Landowska helped revive interest in the harpsichord.
In 1913, Pleyel built the "Jungle Piano" for use by Albert Schweitzer in his hospital in Lambaréné (French Equatorial Africa – now Gabon). It was fitted with pedal attachments (to operate like an organ pedal-keyboard) and built with tropical woods that would acclimate to conditions there.
In the early 1920s, Pierre Hans (1886-1960), an engineer with very thick fingers, commissioned Pleyel to build a piano he designed with an upper keyboard and a lower keyboard tuned a half tone apart, which became known as the Hans piano. Pleyel produced several Hans pianos, but they fell out of use after World War II.
Pleyel also pioneered the player piano with the Pleyela line of pianos. These were often small pianos of an unusual design.
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