Bosworth & Co.

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cover 1899
typical cover 1908
an early success 1890s

Contents

History

In spite of the English name, this was a German publishing company in Leipzig, that specialized in popular music. On the other hand, there was a strong initial connection to England: the firm was founded in 1889 in Leipzig by the Englishman Arthur Edwin Bosworth (1858–1923), on the initiative of the Chappell company of London.

The reason for this venture was the weak state of intellectual property laws in those days. Chappell, the publisher of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, established the company in order to get Austrian and German copyright protection for its valuable properties, and in fact Bosworth's first publication was the vocal score of The Gondoliers. Bosworth and Chappell put up the initial capital, but Chappell took no part in the management, leaving it all to the adventurous Bosworth, whose main deficiency was a lack of German language. Fortunately, Bosworth found an energetic local partner in Carl Kratochwill, and between them they created one of Europe's major popular music companies. In fact, the business quickly expanded beyond Gilbert and Sullvan.

After securing popular successes in song, dance, and operetta by Alphons Czibulka (Songe d’amour Op.356, 1890), Erik Meyer-Helmund (Rokoko-Liebeslied 1895) and Carl Zeller (the operetta Der Vogelhändler) the firm began to expand operations beyond Germany, opening four additional branches over the next 25 years, of which the Vienna branch (1902) was the most successful. A policy of expansion through acquisition of smaller publishers brought the catalogs of Wilhelm Aletter of Berlin (1896), Eduard Ebner of Ludwigsburg (1897), and Heinrich Petersen of Leipzig. The Petersen acquisition contributed significantly to the firm's catalog of educational works. A further prize in the educational field was Sevcik's violin studies.

The move to Vienna took the form of the buyout of the bankrupt firm Vinzenz Kratochwill Ltd. The timing was fortunate as Viennese dances, operettas, and songs were reaching their peak of worldwide popularity. Among the popular composers of the time were Alphons Czibulka, Alfred Grünfeld, Karl Komzak, Carl Millöcker, Eugen von Taund and Albert Gortner. Bosworth gained the exclusive rights to works such as the operetta „Zur indischen Witwe“ by Oscar Straus and the ballets of Oskar Nedbal. Further acquisitions in Vienna, such as Julius Chmel, made Bosworth a natural choice for the last great Viennese operetta composer Franz Lehar. Local dialect songs and zither music were also in the catalog, which grew to 30,000 titles by 1914.

After Arthur Edwin Bosworth's death in 1923 his sons Laurence Owen Bosworth (1886–1952) and Arthur Ferdinand Bosworth (1893–1959) took over the company. They continued acquisitions, buying the Berlin firms Lyra and Roehr, and the Viennese firm Blaha. Roehr A.G., bought in 1934, contributed many popular Berlin songs of the 20s, such as „Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht“, „Man schenkt sich Rosen, wenn man verliebt ist“, and „Heut war ich bei der Frida“. For its part Blaha, bought in 1939, supplied a wealth of Viennese popular songs by Ernst Arnold, Roman Domanig-Roll and Franz Paul Fiebrich, marches by Fucik and waltzes by Komzak. The two great innovations of the 1920s were the growing influence of American songs and musicals and the role of music in movies and on the radio. Bosworth also got the British rights to Steingraeber’s publications. The late 1930s were difficult times for all German music publishers, with a ban on publishing Jewish composers' works, and restrictions on exporting to enemy countries. Then in the war both the London and Leipzig premises were destroyed by aerial bombing. After the war the Leipzig office moved to Cologne (1948) and business was resumed. In 1998, Bosworth was absorbed by Music Sales Group, and in 2018 Music Sales sold its printed music division to Hal Leonard.

Important Acquistitions

Series and Editions

Series

Editions

Imprints, Agencies, Addresses

Plate Numbers

Bosworth plate numbers initially employed the prefix B. & Cº.

Plate Composer Work Year
00092 Sobeck Wind Quintet No.2, Op.11 1891
00477-79 Sitt 3 Albumblätter, Op.13 (no.1-3) 1894
00585-89 Cui 5 Morceaux, Op.52 1895
02105 Chopin Etude, Op.10, No.6 (ed. E. Biehl)
02109 Chopin Etude, Op.10, No.10 (ed. E. Biehl)
02355 Arensky Piano Trio No.1, Op.32 (sc&pts) 1898
02431 Stanford Piano Trio No.2, Op.73 (sc&pts) 1899
02820 Sabathil Da Capo!’s Mauerblümchen, Op.168 1902
02889 Held, L. Potpourri on the Opera Gaudeamus
(music and arr. both by Held?)
1902
03066.2761 Sitt Violin Concertino in A minor, Op.70 (vn&pf) 1898
04289 Ševčík Violin Studies, Op.7 1901
04503 Brüll 2 Piano Pieces, Op.89 1904
04515–16 Sitt 3 Morceaux, Op.75 (nos.1,2) 1901
05123 Wilm 6 Bagatelles, Op.188 (No.1) 1903
05400–02 Brüll 3 Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op.90 (ed.Lloyd) 1904
05786 Brüll Waltz for Choir and Orchestra, Op.91 (reduced) 1904
06074 Brüll 3 Piano Pieces, Op.93 1905
06595 Drdla Träumerei, Op.21 1905
06768 Perger 2 Duets for Soprano & Alto 1906
10068 Brüll 3 Piano Pieces, Op.101 1906
10171 Rieding Violin Concertino, Op.25 1907
10633 Jentsch 3 Mazurkas, Op.22 (no.3) 1908
13211 Brian, Havergal The vision of Cleopatra, Op.15 1909
16163 Arnold, Wilfrid Ashes of Roses, valse triste (pf. version) 1919

Sources Consulted

External Links

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