Ignace Joseph Pleyel was born in Austria in 1757, and as a young man studied composition with Haydn. His subsequent career was to have a major influence on music, his large publishing house in Paris promoting young musicians who were to become the famous composers of that era. He travelled extensively throughout Europe as a pianist, conductor and composer, and in the latter capacity enjoyed a widespread popularity that even exceeded Beethoven. He was to publish a large quantity of his own music, including forty Symphonies (or Sinfonias) that were much in the style of Haydn.