O ne of the world's great brand names may be going under. Let's hope not — and set it to music.
Pleyel is closing its factory near Paris, where it has manufactured pianos for 206 years.
To give an idea of the tradition here, Chopin played and composed on a Pleyel. Franz Liszt too. When composer-publisher Ignaz Pleyel started producing his own instruments in 1807 Napoleon sat on the throne of France. Beethoven was going strong, Schubert was a choir boy, and Mendelssohn, Verdi and Stephen Foster hadn't been born yet.
A quarter-million pianos have come out under the Pleyel label over the centuries. They were never what you'd call mass-produced. Too much handwork, craftwork and earwork went into them. Quality control by tuning fork and instinct: testing, turning, tightening, smoothing along the curve of the wooden body and the subtle stretch of the sounding board.
There is cheaper competition; wouldn't you know, China is the biggest piano maker now?
And technological competition. Plug-in electronic keyboards are vastly more portable than the half-ton real thing. And they sound, if not the same (purists would shudder at the thought) at least pretty good. It's also likely that kids in Europe and America don't “take piano” in the numbers they used ot. They're into guitars.
Last year Pleyel's factory sold only 20 pianos. The work force as the closing was announced last week was down to 14.
However, the great name shouldn't go out of existence, according to Bernard Roques, the firm's managing director. He says Pleyel is seeking “alternative solutions.” One possibility is a kind of boutique factory to turn out a few very high-end instruments.
If this were happing in America (maybe in France too) a billionaire might come forward to keep the plant going personally. But its days would still be numbered as just a charity. The rescuer might move production to Asia or place the brand name on a really deluxe keyboard, if the sacrilege could be endured.
For the majority of musical amateurs keyboards happen to be a good choice.
They're about the weight of a suitcase, never need tuning, and can handle practically all popular songs (although not Mozart or Chopin) on 61 keys instead of 88. And instead of costing thousands, a discount version might for $100. There's also a merciful earphone option. A musical klutz can practice “silently” — melody in the right hand, simple chords in the left — without torturing the neighbors. Can't do that with a Pleyel or a Steinway. Grand pianos, even uprights, are moving-van heavy, too, thanks to the internal cast-iron “harp” that holds the keys in tension.
Too bad that music instruction is viewed as a frill in budget-challenged school systems nowadays. Practicing the piano or any serious instrument is a discipline that establishes habits of study and serious preparation. Good alternative, too, to the time-wasting of cellphones, computer games and texting.
A noticeably high percentage of young people practicing the piano nowadays — and getting very good at it — are Asian kids. Their parents know how important it is. That China is Number One in pianos nowadays should be no surprise. Pleyel is a warning to us.
Jack Markowitz is a Thursday columnist of Trib Total Media. Email jmarkowitz@tribweb.com.
