A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Pleyel & Co.
PLEYEL & CO. This distinguished Parisian firm of pianoforte-makers is now styled Pleyel Wolff et Cie., and from particulars supplied by M. Wolff—formerly a pianist and professor at the Conservatoire, and for many years head of the house—its founder was Ignaz Pleyel, the composer, who established it in 1807. The Pleyel firm is remarkable for having always been directed by musicians, such as Camille Pleyel, who became his father's partner in 1821, and Kalkbrenner, who joined them three years later. At starting, the pianoforte-maker, Henri Pape [App. p.749 "died Feb. 1887"], lent valuable aid. The influence of Chopin, who made his débût in Paris at Pleyel's rooms, in 1831, has remained a tradition in the facile touch and peculiar singing tone of their instruments. Camille Pleyel was succeeded in the control of the business by M. A. Wolff above mentioned, who has much improved the Pleyel grand pianos in the direction of power, having made them adequate to the modern requirements of the concert room, without loss of those refined qualities to which we have referred. The firm has had since 1876 an agency in London.
[ A. J. H. ]