Antique Pleyel Baby Grand Piano

This beautiful antique Pleyel baby grand piano was built between 1898-1899, at a time when Pleyel was at the height of popularity in Europe. It has an overall large and impressive appearance in person while also offering a delicate but formal look up close. Made from a beautiful rosewood veneer case with French polished shellac hand finish, this piano is not just a beautiful piece of antique furniture; the quality of this piano will compare to any top quality new piano.

This piano has been fully rebuilt with a new complete roller action. This new mechanism performs beautifully across many different piano styles.

Pleyel is known for its expertise and was sought after by artists such as Frédéric Chopin, Camille Saint-Saëns, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky and Manuel de Falla.

History of Pleyel

Ignace Pleyel, an Austrian-born composer and musician, started the production of Pleyel pianos towards the end of his own professional career in 1807. This makes Pleyel one of the oldest French piano manufacturers. Ignace was quickly joined in the business by his son, Camille, which allowed Ignace to retire. He died in 1831, and by three years later, Camille had made Pleyel pianos such a success that the company now employed 250 workers and produced 1000 pianos annually.

Camille’s friend Auguste Wolff became head of the company in 1855. Like the Pleyels, he was also from a family of musicians. Wolff was a talented composer and an excellent musician and was awarded first prize in piano at the Paris Music Conservatory in 1839.

Wolff had many skills that allowed him to extend the work of Pleyel. He became an expert piano maker and was an major factor in the growth of the company. His new ideas of the mid 19th century included: the pedal piano, the tonal pedal on the piano and the improved double escapement.

Special attention was paid to the keyboard for accuracy, sensitivity and speed. The careful selection of materials allowed for more strength and lightness within the wooden structures. Wolff also replaced the wooden frame with cast iron in order to give a finer, more distinguished sound to the pianos.

Wolff’s work did not go unnoticed, the Pleyel Company received a medal at the London World Exhibition in 1862.

Pleyel, the “French” sound

In 1883 Gustave Lyon (Wolff’s son-in-law) took charge of the Pleyel Company. Lyon was an alumnus of the Ecole Polytechnique and held a engineering degree from the Ecole de Mines.

Also an accomplished musician, Lyon used his scientific knowledge to improve the quality of pianos and deepen the acoustic timbre. Lyon took the work of Wolff even further to advance Pleyel into a new age of piano production.

One of his first ideas was to make a stainless steel metal frame for pianos. The famous “Pleyel steel” was created: one piece of cast carburised metal. Before, the frames had been made in separate parts.

His inventions earned him an honorary award at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition when the Pleyel Company produced its 100,000th piano. Pleyel was the first piano manufacturer in the world to reach this figure.

Pleyel pianos have lightness, roundness, a powerful bass and an amazing sparkling treble, often described as “The French sound”. This gives them a real harmony, and it is easy to see how their sound has seduced many performers, composers and musicians throughout history and into today.