Schirmer

cover (1920s)

Schirmer-Hal Leonard cover

History

Schirmer is one of the leading, and oldest, US publishers of classical music. Founded in 1861 by Gustav Schirmer, Sr. (1829–1893) son of a German immigrant to New York. Schirmer was manager of the New York publisher Kerksieg and Bruesing by 1854. Along with colleague with Bernard Beer he took it over in 1861 to form Beer & Schirmer. Beer sold his interest in 1866 and by 1891 a engraving and printing plant was established, facilitating the rapid expansion of the catalogue. The famous yellow-covered Library of Musical Classics first appeared in 1892. Over 20 years later, in 1915, The Musical Quarterly, the oldest academic journal on music in the U.S., was founded by Schirmer in co-operation with Oscar Sonneck (editor 1915-1928).

After the 2nd World War the firm passed out of Schirmer family hands. In 1968 it was bought by Macmillan, who sold it in 1986 to Robert Wise, the owner of popular music publisher Music Sales, Inc. Music Sales designated Hal Leonard as the sole distributor of the Schirmer catalogue the same year.

External Links

• Company website
• Wikipedia article

Editions

• Unknown number. Haydn: Piano Sonatas. Edited by Ludwig Klee and Sigmund Lebert, 1894.
• No 1769-70: Beethoven, Piano Sonatas. Reprint of Breitkopf edition of 1898. Preface not in EU-public domain (1953)!

Imprints, Addresses, Agencies

Imprints

• Beer & Schirmer (1861-1866)
• G. Schirmer (1866-

Addresses

• 1861-1880 - 701 Broadway
• 1880-190x? -- 35 Union Square
• New York: G. Schirmer, Inc, 3 East 43rd Street, New York 17

Plate Numbers

Schirmer's plate numbering system was employed in a fairly consistent order. They are thus generally reliable as a guide to determining the date for a particular score.

Catalogs

• Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics (1901)

Authority control

• VIAF (Schirmer, G. (Gustav), 1829-1893)
• VIAF (G. Schirmer Inc.)