Composer, Entrepreneur. Founder of the world famous Pleyel piano manufacturing company. He was born in Ruppersthal, near Vienna, the son of a schoolteacher. A local nobleman recognized his early musical gifts and enabled him to study with Haydn in Eisenstadt, beginning in 1772. During the 1780s he lived in Strasbourg, France, serving as kapellmeister of the cathedral there until the French Revolution drove him into temporary exile in England. From 1791 to 1792 Pleyel conducted the highly successful Professional Concerts in London, where he found himself competing with his former teacher Haydn. The British press concocted a rivalry between the two but in reality they remained cordial. The bulk of his music, written in an elegant Classical style, dates from early in his career and includes 41 symphonies, eight concertos, two operas, a requiem, and over 200 pieces of chamber music; his duets for wind instruments are still used by students. He virtually ceased composing after settling in Paris as a businessman in 1795. As founder of the Maison Pleyel music publishing firm in 1797, Pleyel greatly advanced the field of musicology by introducing inexpensive miniature scores for study purposes, and printed works by Haydn, Beethoven, Boccherini, and Clementi. In 1807 he established Pleyel et Cie for the manufacture of top quality pianos, later pioneering in the use of metal soundboard frames for a more powerful acoustic. His son, Camille Pleyel (1788 - 1855), became a partner in 1815 and took over the business after his father's retirement in 1824. Camille built the historic Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris (1830) and was a close friend and sponsor of Chopin, who played Pleyel pianos throughout his career. The firm continued to be innovative in the 20th Century, patenting the first chromatic harp and reviving the hapsichord for early music performances. After 206 years in business, the Pleyel company ceased production in November 2013.