Ignace Pleyel
(1757-1831)
Adagio – Allegro
Adagio
Menuetto e trio: Allegretto
Tempo giusto
The late 18th century saw the apogee of the Viennese Classical style, in the hugely influential Joseph Haydn, whose symphonies and quartets were played all over Europe, imitated and even forged by publishers. If some of the music attributed to Haydn is actually by Pleyel, that is because the pupil paid his master the sincerest form of flattery: imitation.
Born in Ruppersthal near Vienna, Pleyel from age 15 to 20 was Haydn’s pupil and lodger at Eisenstadt. Wolfgang Mozart in 1784 wrote to his father, about Pleyel’s latest set of string quartets, that they are ‘very well written and very agreeable; you will immediately recognise the hand of his teacher. Well, it will be a lucky day for music if, when the day comes, Pleyel should replace Haydn’. In the early years of the 19th century, when Haydn had virtually stopped composing, Pleyel indeed seemed Haydn’s successor. He was one of the most prolific, and probably the most popular composer in Europe.
But posterity until recently has virtually forgotten Pleyel’s music, remembering him, if at all, as a publisher and founder of the piano firm which bears his name. Pleyel became assistant, then in 1789 director of music at Strasbourg Cathedral. The disruption caused by the French Revolution caused him to accept an invitation to conduct the Professional Concerts in London from December 1791 to May 1792, where he found himself in rivalry with his teacher Haydn who was appearing for a competing concert series promoted by Salomon. They remained friendly, dining together and playing each other’s music. In 1795 Pleyel settled in Paris and opened a music shop. Gradually his publishing activities took over from his composing – he published over 4000 titles, including the first miniature scores and a complete edition of Haydn’s String Quartets, dedicated to Napoleon (1801). In 1807 Pleyel founded his piano factory. In his later years, during the 1820s, Pleyel spent more and more time in rural activities on his large farm about 50 km from Paris.
Although much of Pleyel’s music was cleverly tailored to contemporary taste and demand, in his quartets and symphonies at least, his aspiration is to be worthy of his teacher. This Symphony in C is catalogued by Rita Benton as the 34th of Pleyel’s 41 symphonies. It was composed in 1803, the same year as Beethoven’s Eroica, but shows Pleyel, unlike Haydn’s unruly pupil from Bonn, continuing in a style he had first developed in the 1780s, in emulation of his master.
The spirit and example of Haydn’s ‘London’ Symphonies is rarely far away in this symphony. Very Haydn-like is the grand slow introduction, and so are the jaunty subjects of the Allegro, which are dealt with in reverse order in the recapitulation. Pleyel prefers extensive statement of each idea, rather than Haydn’s concision and logic in fusing presentation and development. The theme of the slow movement, on muted strings, is repeated in varied instrumental treatments. The minuet, with its waltz-like trio, is most like Haydn of all. There are witty touches in the finale, and a grandeur of sound which is characteristic of the whole symphony.
If you happened on this symphony on the radio in Mathias Bamert’s recording with the London Mozart Players, you might discover with not unpleasant surprise that such good Haydnish-sounding music is by Pleyel.
First published for Sydney Symphony Orchestra, 2003