Chopin and Pleyel pianos, past and present
Shortly after his arrival in Paris in 1831, Chopin adopted pianos made by Pleyel.
During the first half of his life in Poland, and on his travels to Germany and Austria, Chopin played on all kinds of pianos, mainly of Viennese origin or close to their aesthetics.
From his arrival in France in the late summer of 1831 until his death on October 17, 1849, Frédéric Chopin remained loyal to the pianos of a single maker: Pleyel. He became friends first with Ignaz Pleyel, founder of the factory, and then with his son Camille.
As a performer, Chopin emphasized how precious the delicate mechanism of Pleyel instruments, the sensitivity of touch and the infinite possibilities of creating “his own sound” were in enabling him to express the full range of emotions contained in his music.
As a composer, these same qualities were a source of development for his own piano writing, particularly in the essential new aspects to which he devoted a large part of his research: rendering color in music, elaborating new sound combinations through a highly developed use of the pedal, and making the piano “sing” to bring it closer to the Italian “Bel canto” of which he was a fervent admirer.
Links between Chopin’s works and Pleyel’s pianos.
To fully understand the importance of the links between Chopin's works composed from 1831 onwards and the Pleyel instruments that made them possible, we need to consult the composer's manuscripts.
Unlike Liszt or Schumann, to name but a few composers of the same generation, Chopin's scores contain a wealth of information designed to enlighten the future performer about his intentions: use of the pedal, different dynamics in the two hands, accents, dots, slurs... These indications correspond to a sound reality that he patiently and methodically elaborated on the Pleyel pianos.
For Chopin, having a Pleyel instrument at his fingertips was a prerequisite for any composition. Without Pleyel, he was mute. During the winter of 1838-1839 in Mallorca, Chopin waited many months without writing a single note, as the piano he had at his disposal was mediocre. When the instrument sent by Pleyel finally arrived, it took him just a few days to complete his Preludes Op. 28.
On his arrival in Nohant on June 1, 1839, Chopin discovered that George Sand, aware that he needed a good piano to compose on, had had a Pleyel grand piano delivered from Paris and installed in his room. This would be the first of eight instruments Chopin would use at Nohant between 1839 and 1846 to compose all his mature masterpieces. When Chopin and George Sand returned to Paris for the winter, the piano either went back to Paris or was sold. A new instrument arrived the following summer, benefiting from Pleyel’s most recent refinements. In this way, Pleyel's piano making and Chopin's piano writing evolved in parallel, while at the same time influencing each other.
Today's Pleyels and Chopin's music.
Chopin's death in 1849 coincided almost exactly with the birth of the “modern” piano. With their solid cast-iron frames, these pianos were first produced by new piano makers born at this precise moment, such as Steinway and Bechstein. In response to the public's growing interest in piano recitals, which demanded ever-larger concert halls, Pleyel also evolved, reluctantly abandoning the piano of the Romantic era for the modern piano, on which the new repertoire that had emerged in the “wake” could also be played. Nevertheless, Pleyel was able to retain some of the characteristics of its pianos from Chopin's time: clarity and finesse of sound, combined with luminous sonority and a sensitive touch. In a way, these qualities constitute the DNA of the French piano maker.
At the turn of the twentieth century, Pleyel's modern cast-iron pianos met with worldwide success, and enabled the factory to expand north of Paris, creating a veritable neighborhood that still bears the Pleyel name today. In Paris, the Pleyel salons that had seen Chopin's Parisian debut gave way to the Salle Pleyel, where the greatest classical artists performed until the early 2010s.
Today, after a period of cessation of production and a first attempt to rekindle the flame by a few enthusiasts of this factor with such a rich past, a new start has been made by Pianos Pleyel under the protective wing of the Nantes-based company Algam, with a noble objective: to once again produce and distribute modern pianos corresponding to the traditional sound criteria of the Pleyel factor, and bringing to the musical world that diversity of identity which makes up the richness of our cultural heritage.
During the competition, participants will be able to rehearse on recent Pleyel instruments. The competition rounds will take place on a modern 2.80 m Pleyel concert grand. They will also have the opportunity, if they wish, to perform certain works on an 1844 Pleyel piano, identical to those on which Chopin composed at Nohant. A rare privilege that few competitions can offer.