Ignaz Joseph Pleyel - Sinfonia Concertante for violin, piano, orchestra in A major Op. 57

 

Ignaz Joseph Pleyel

(18 June 1757 – 14 November 1831) was an Austrian-born French composer and piano builder of the  Classical period .

 

 

Sinfonia Concertante for violin, piano, orchestra in A major Op. 57

 

Sinfonia Concertante in F Major for Violin and Piano, Ben.115  

For this symphony there are two variants: one for flute, oboe, bassoon, horn, the second (the one posted here) is for violin and piano:
I. Allegro
II. Tempo di Minuetto: Allegro
III. Presto assai

Pleyel's first professional position may have been as Kapellmeister for Count Erdődy, although this is not known for certain. Among his early publications was a set of six string quartets, his Opus 1.
At one time the pupil – and then the London rival – of Franz Joseph Haydn, Pleyel's reputation rested at least in part on the undemanding character of his music.

 

Pleyel is one instance of the phenomenon of a composer (others include Cherubini, Meyerbeer, and Thalberg) who was very famous in his own time but currently obscure. Keefe (2005) describes a "craze for his music c. 1780–1800", and quotes a number of contemporary witnesses to this surge. For instance François-Joseph Fétis wrote, "What composer ever created more of a craze than Pleyel? Who enjoyed a more universal reputation or a more absolute domination of the field of instrumental music? Over more than twenty years, there was no amateur or professional musician who did not delight in his genius."