Pleyel is one of the most celebrated and renowned piano names in history. Ignaz Pleyel was not only a piano manufacturer, but also a successful musician, inventor, and publisher. Pleyel was a renowned musician and composer, beginning in the late 18thCentury. Pleyel moved to Paris in about 1795 and opened his first music store and publishing house. Seeing the fast rising popularity of the piano-forte, Pleyel founded the Pleyel Manufacturing Plant in Paris in 1807. At his death in 1831, Pleyel had become an established supplier to the Empress Josephine and all the European courts. His pianos were exported all over the world and his name was celebrated among the highest of society. His son Camille, also a great pianist, gained control of the firm after his father’s death, and continued to make the Pleyel firm an international sensation. Pleyel played a significant role in strengthening and broadening the activities of the Pleyel brand. Firstly, Augustus Wolff who introduced numerous innovations improving the reliability of the company’s pianos, creating new models such as the upright piano and Gustave Lyon, who took over in 1887. Pleyel continued with great success throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, providing top quality concert instruments for stages all over the world.