Sinfonia Concertante in F

Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831) was at one time the most famous composer in the world. The popularity of his music eclipsed that of even his teacher Haydn and publishers vied to bring out his latest works as soon as they were finished. Some 2000 separate prints of Pleyel works had appeared by 1800 and his fame extended to every corner of Europe and as far afield as North America. Pleyel’s career as a composer spanned less than thirty years with the majority of his works composed in the 1780s. He founded a successful publishing house in Paris in the mid-1790s and later began manufacturing keyboard instruments. With increasing demands on his time from his business concerns Pleyel’s productivity as a composer dropped sharply and he ceased composing around 1805. The Sinfonia Concertante in F is a work rather better known by reputation than personal experience. It was played with great success at the third of the Professional Concerts in 1792 and Salomon, who attended the performance with Haydn, was impressed enough by its rapturous reception to persuade Haydn to write a similar work for his own series. Pleyel’s work has of course been overshadowed by Haydn’s masterpiece but its own merits are considerable. In the words of its first reviewer: “The subject is extremely easy, airy, and well calculated for the obligati of the different Instruments which succeed each other – all varied with profound skill, and producing the most delightful effects.”