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Boosey & Hawkes

April 10, 2024

"Boosey" redirects here. For the locality in Australia, see Boosey, Victoria.

Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments.

Boosey & Hawkes
Parent companyConcord
PredecessorBoosey & Company
Hawkes & Son
Founded1930; 94 years ago (1930)
FounderLeslie Boosey
Ralph Hawkes
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Headquarters locationAldwych, London
Key peopleJohn Minch
Janis Susskind OBE
Official websitewww.boosey.com

Formed in 1930 through the merger of two well-established British music businesses, Boosey & Hawkes controls the copyright to much major 20th-century music, including works by Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, Sergei Prokofiev, and Igor Stravinsky. It also publishes many prominent contemporary composers, including John Adams, Karl Jenkins, James MacMillan, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Steve Reich.

With subsidiaries in Berlin and New York, the company also sells sheet music via its online shop.

History edit

Pre-merger edit

Boosey & Hawkes was founded in 1930 through the merger of two respected music companies, Boosey & Company and Hawkes & Son.[1]

The Boosey family was of Franco–Flemish origin.[2] Boosey & Company traces its roots back to John Boosey, a bookseller in London in the 1760s–1770s.[3] His son Thomas continued the business at 4 Old Bond Street,[4][5] and from 1819 the bookshop was called Boosey & Sons or T. & T. Boosey.

 
A drawing of a euphonium manufactured by Boosey & Co. in 1878

Thomas Boosey's son, also named Thomas (1794/1795–1871), set up a separate musical branch of the company known as T. Boosey & Co. and, in the latter part of the 19th century, Boosey & Company. It initially imported foreign music but soon began publishing in England the works of composers such as Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Saverio Mercadante, Ferdinand Ries and Gioachino Rossini, and subsequently important operas by Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. Elgar and Vaughan Williams were among its later signings.[6] It also produced books; among its first publications was an English translation of Johann Nikolaus Forkel's book Life of J. S. Bach (1820).[7] The company was seriously affected by the House of Lords' decision in Boosey v. Jeffreys (1854) which deprived English publishers of many of their foreign copyrights.[2]

Boosey & Company diversified into manufacturing woodwind instruments in 1851, collaborating in 1856 with flautist R. S. Pratten (1846–1936) to develop new designs for flutes. It bought over the business of Henry Distin in 1868, allowing it to begin making brass instruments. Among its achievements was the widely acclaimed design for compensating valves developed by David James Blaikley in 1874.[2] The company also commenced production of string instruments.[6]

The company capitalised on the increasing popularity of the ballad by focusing its publishing activities on them. To promote sales, John Boosey (c. 1832–1893), son of Thomas Jr., established the London Ballad Concerts in 1867 at St. James's Hall and later at Queen's Hall when it opened in 1893. Clara Butt, John Sims Reeves and Charles W. Clark performed at these concerts, and their successes included Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord" (1877) and Stephen Adams' "The Holy City". The company began emphasising educational music from about the end of the 19th century.[2]

In 1874 Boosey & Company moved into offices at 295 Regent Street,[4] where the business was to stay for the next 131 years. In 1892, Boosey & Company opened an office in New York which still exists today.[6] The business eventually owned half of Regent Street, and at the time of the merger was managed by Leslie Boosey (1887–1979).[8]

Hawkes & Son (initially Rivière & Hawkes),[2] a rival to Boosey & Company, was founded in 1865 by William Henry Hawkes selling orchestral sheet music. The company also made musical instruments and spare parts such as clarinet reeds, and by 1925 Hawkes had set up an instrument factory in Edgware, North London.[6] The business, which was particularly known for brass and military band music,[2] was eventually inherited by Ralph Hawkes (1898–1950).

Post-merger edit

Leslie Boosey and Ralph Hawkes met in the 1920s when they were on the Board of the Performing Right Society, saw an opportunity to combine their businesses, and formed Boosey & Hawkes in October 1930.[8] Hawkes & Son moved from its office in Denman Street to join the Boosey staff at 295 Regent Street.[4]

The 1938 Anschluss—the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi regime—led to the Nazification of Viennese publishing house Universal Edition. Boosey & Hawkes seized the opportunity to sign up composers Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, and also rescued Universal's Jewish staff, who later played an important role in developing the company. One such employee in particular, Ernst Roth, facilitated the signing of Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky, and was instrumental in the production of Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) (1948; premièred 1950) and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (premièred 1951).[8] Another significant figure from Vienna who occupied an editorial role was composer Arnold Schoenberg's pupil Erwin Stein, and after the war the composer Leopold Spinner, a pupil of Anton Webern, was also on the editorial staff. Stein was instrumental in founding the modern-music journal Tempo in 1939,[2] which began as Boosey & Hawkes' own newsletter but later became a more independent publication.

By the time World War II broke out in 1939, Boosey & Hawkes had also signed Benjamin Britten and Aaron Copland. It was Ralph Hawkes who championed Britten when he was still relatively unknown, often against the rest of the board of directors, until the première on 7 June 1945 of Peter Grimes, which was a critical and popular success. Sheet music sales soared during the War, enabling Boosey & Hawkes to buy Editions Russes which held the rights to the most valuable works of Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky. The company also purchased the lease of the Royal Opera House in London in 1944,[9] rescuing it from becoming a permanent dance hall and providing a venue for world-class ballet and opera in the capital.[8]

By 1950, Boosey & Hawkes was a leading international music company with an extensive catalogue of serious composers and offices in Bonn, Johannesburg, New York, Paris, Toronto and Sydney. However, from the late 1940s, strains had begun to appear in the relationship between Leslie Boosey and Ralph Hawkes, and this led to factions supporting each man forming in the company. It was discovered that Hawkes had borrowed capital of £100,000 during the war without the permission of the exchange control authorities, and Boosey was forced to clear up the situation at great personal cost. Hawkes secretly wanted to buy out the music publishing side of the business and manage it from New York, leaving Boosey in London with the musical instrument business which Hawkes found dull. However, he died suddenly on 8 September 1950, and representation of his faction was taken over by his flamboyant but unreliable brother Geoffrey who spent much of the company's money on ventures such as the manufacture of mouth organs and ovens, which failed. Geoffrey Hawkes also sold shares in the company to fund his philandering, to the point that the company was forced to go public to raise cash. Leslie Boosey allowed Geoffrey his turn as chairman, but within two years the profitable company was on the brink of insolvency and Geoffrey Hawkes died of leukaemia in 1961.[8]

 
Distinctive brown cover of a Hawkes Pocket Score: Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1

During these difficult years, Boosey was supported by his trusted managing director, Ernst Roth. However, Roth later regarded the Boosey family as ineffectual and parochial. In the early 1960s, Roth forced Boosey's sons Anthony and Simon out of the company, and prevented his youngest son, Nigel, from even joining, allegedly at the behest of Benjamin Britten. Roth and Boosey also had differences over Britten's influence over the company. Roth regarded Britten as a gifted local musician, rather than a true genius like Roth's friends Strauss and Stravinsky. Boosey realised how valuable Britten was to the company, and agreed to Britten's request to divide the company into instruments and publishing. However, Britten humiliated Boosey by preventing him from chairing the music publishing board Boosey had established at Britten's request. In 1963, Britten also managed to get Boosey & Hawkes to employ Donald Mitchell to find new, young composers for the company. Angered by the sway Britten had over Boosey, Roth fired Mitchell within a year. Mitchell later set up Faber Music for book publisher Faber and Faber with the assistance of Britten and the blessing of T. S. Eliot.[8]

Boosey retired from the company in 1964, and died without an obituary in 1979. Although he had been awarded with the Légion d'honneur by France, his achievements were mostly unrecognised in the UK. However, a large number of composers and their estates continue to benefit from his pioneering work in rights and royalty collection.[8] In addition, every two years the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Performing Right Society honour individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the furtherance of contemporary music in Britain with the Leslie Boosey Award. The award is given to those who work "backstage", such as administrators, broadcasters, educationalists, programmers, publishers and representatives from the recording industry.[10]

Some time during the late 1960s or early 1970s Boosey & Hawkes bought out The Salvation Army Brass Instrument Factory in North London. They continued for some years to manufacture instruments with The Salvation Army name and crest on them such as The Bandmaster cornets.[11]

Boosey & Hawkes' musical instruments division was gradually scaled down from the mid-1970s as it became less viable to have such an extensive range of products. Various lines were outsourced and sold off. By the time of the closure of the Edgware factory in 2001, brass instruments were the only thriving part of the instrument range. Production was moved to Watford, Hertfordshire, and the instruments rebranded Besson.[12]

It took nearly 20 years for Boosey & Hawkes to regain the leading position in the international music scene that it has today.[8] It claims to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world.[13]

In 1996 the company acquired Bote & Bock; in 2001, it acquired Anton J. Benjamin, including the N. Simrock catalog.[14]

The company today edit

In 2001, Boosey & Hawkes was put up for sale after accounting irregularities were discovered in its Chicago instrument-distribution business, leading to £13m worth of sales being written off, a plummeting share price, and the company's near-bankruptcy.[15] It was eventually bought by venture capitalists HgCapital in 2003 for £40 million.[16]

On 11 February 2003, Boosey & Hawkes sold its musical instrument division, which included clarinet maker Buffet Crampon and guitar manufacturer Höfner, to The Music Group, a company formed by rescue buyout specialists Rutland Fund Management, for £33.2 million.[17] An archive of musical instruments manufactured or collected by the company throughout its history was passed to the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, South London.[12]

In September 2005 the company was again offered for sale by HgCapital which announced that it was seeking between £60 and £80 million.[18] One of the interested buyers was Elevation Partners, a private equity firm which counts U2 lead singer Bono as a partner and managing director.[19] Despite offers of about £115 million from a number of parties, the sale was later cancelled in November 2005.[20] In April 2008, Boosey & Hawkes was bought by the Dutch owned Imagem which was subsequently itself acquired by the American based Concord.[21] Concord later purchased Hans Sikorski in 2019, adding the German classical publisher to sit alongside Boosey & Hawkes.[22]

Today, partly due to the foresight or business acumen of Ralph Hawkes, the company controls the copyrights in major 20th-century music.[13] It also publishes many prominent contemporary composers and the company's New York branch has developed its own catalogue emphasising the works of American composers.[2]

295 Regent Street, which was the home of Boosey & Company since 1874 and of Boosey & Hawkes' publishing business and music shop from 1930, was finally given up by the company in 2005 which then relocated to Aldwych House.[4] Boosey & Hawkes Music Shop claims to have the UK's largest selection of printed music from all publishers, and operates a worldwide mail order service.[23]

The company had a major division, BooseyMedia, that commissioned and produced music for radio, television and advertising jingles, and the administration of copyrights owned by media companies. This was split into commercial synchronisation and production music departments,[24] both under the Imagem name. The production library was sold in 2016.

In North America, Boosey & Hawkes' print sales catalogue is distributed by the Hal Leonard Corporation.

Boosey & Hawkes launched its Online Scores service in 2011, allowing customers to view full scores of works in its catalogue.[25] In January 2017, British Library acquired the archive of Boosey & Hawkes.[26]

Parodies edit

The company was lampooned by The Goon Show as "Goosy and Borks" in their episode, "Lurgy Strikes Britain", as well as by musical parodist Peter Schickele who named one of the friends of fictional composer P.D.Q. Bach Jonathan "Boozey" Hawkes, and claimed him as a vital link in the chain whereby manuscripts of PDQ Bach's works had survived.[27] Somewhat more recondite was the punning reference delivered in one of Gerard Hoffnung's parody concerts: "If Boosey's will Hawk it, Schott's will Tippett" (from Punkt Contrapunkt at Hoffnung Interplanetary Music Festival with John Amis, Royal Festival Hall, 21 and 22 November 1958)[28][vague]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ . Boosey & Hawkes. Archived from the original on 30 November 2005. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h D[avid] J[ames] Blaikley; William C. Smith; Peter Ward Jones. "Boosey & Hawkes". In L. Macy (ed.). . Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 14 June 2007.
  3. ^ Simon Burrows (2000). French Exile Journalism and European Politics, 1792–1814. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-0-86193-249-8.
  4. ^ a b c d "Staff Contacts: London – Rest of the World". Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  5. ^ The shop moved to 28 Holles Street in 1816: "Staff Contacts: London – Rest of the World". Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  6. ^ a b c d Suzy Jagger (20 March 2003). . The Times. London. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011.
  7. ^ Johann Nicolaus Forkel; Banker Stephenson (transl.) (1820). Life of J. S. Bach; with a Critical View of His Compositions ... Translated from the German. [by Stephenson.] London: T. Boosey & Co. This was a translation from the German of Johann Nicolaus Forkel (1802). Ueber J. S. Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke: Für patriotische Verehrer echter musikalischer Kunst ... Mit Bachs Bildniss und Kupfartafeln. Leipzig: Hoffmeister und Kühnel. OCLC 243456252.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Helen Wallace (26 April 2007). . The Daily Telegraph (Review). London. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011.
  9. ^ Haltrecht, Montague (1975). The Quiet Showman : Sir David Webster and the Royal Opera House. London: Collins. p. 51. ISBN 0-00-211163-2.
  10. ^ "Leslie Boosey Award". Royal Philharmonic Society. Retrieved 25 May 2007.
  11. ^ Army Instrument Making – A Short History by William H. Scarlett, 25 June 2011, at sahpa.blogspot.co.uk Accessed 4 March 2017
  12. ^ a b Wyse, Pascal (26 January 2007). "Test Your Strength". The Guardian.
  13. ^ a b Minch, John. . Boosey & Hawkes. Archived from the original on 13 May 2007. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
  14. ^ "Boosey & Hawkes: The home of contemporary music".
  15. ^ Osborne, Alistair (21 March 2001). "Bad Vibes from Chicago Shake Boosey & Hawkes". The Daily Telegraph.[permanent dead link] Osborne, Alistair (21 March 2001). "Chicago Blues for Boosey". The Daily Telegraph.[permanent dead link]
  16. ^ . Boosey & Hawkes. 21 November 2003. Archived from the original on 28 November 2005. Retrieved 29 May 2007. Higgins, Charlotte (25 November 2003). "Buyout Saves Music Publisher Boosey's Independence". The Guardian.
  17. ^ Fagan, Mary (24 August 2002). "Boosey Nears Sale of Instruments Division". The Daily Telegraph.[permanent dead link] Osborne, Alistair (11 February 2003). "Boosey Plucks £33.2m for Instruments". The Daily Telegraph.[permanent dead link] Wray, Richard (12 February 2003). "Boosey & Hawkes Sells Instruments Arm for £33.2m". The Guardian.
  18. ^ Wachman, Richard (18 September 2005). "Boosey & Hawkes Up for Sale as Owner Seeks Quick £80m". The Observer.
  19. ^ Hopkins, Nic (19 October 2005). "Rock Meets Rachmaninov as Bono Firm Eyes Boosey & Hawkes". The Times. London.
  20. ^ Dennis, Guy (19 November 2005). "Boosey & Hawkes Rebuffs Bono as Sale is Cancelled". The Daily Telegraph.[dead link]
  21. ^ Sisario, Ben (2 June 2017). "Concord Bicycle Music Adds to Its Catalog, Acquiring Imagem Music Group". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  22. ^ "Concord acquires historic classical music publisher Sikorski". Music Business Worldwide. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  23. ^ . Boosey & Hawkes. Archived from the original on 23 December 2006. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
  24. ^ . Imagem Production Music. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011.
  25. ^ "Boosey & Hawkes puts scores online". The Strad. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
  26. ^ "British Library acquires Boosey & Hawkes archive - Rhinegold". Rhinegold. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  27. ^ Programme notes for the Cantata: "Blaues Gras" (Bluegrass Cantata), S. 6 String For Tenor, Bass, Bluegrass Band, and Orchestra- P.D.Q. Bach. Edited by Prof. Peter Schickele. At presser.com Accessed 4 March 2017
  28. ^ Hoffnung's Music Festivals, CD reissue, liner notes, EMI Records No. CMS 7633022, 1989

Further reading edit

Articles edit

  • Mortimer, C. G. (1938–1939). "Leading Music Publishers : Boosey & Hawkes Ltd". Musical Opinion. 62. Luton, Bedfordshire: 181–190. ISSN 0027-4623. 02.
  • "The Music Publisher of Tradition : The Booseys : Thomas and John; The Hawkes : William Henry and Oliver". Musical Opinion. 65. Luton, Bedfordshire: 68. 1941–1942. ISSN 0027-4623. 02.
  • "Boosey & Hawkes Settle with Disney". The Daily Telegraph. 21 March 2001.[dead link]
  • Aldrick, Philip (1 May 2001). "Boosey in Talks with Lenders after Account Irregularities". The Daily Telegraph.[dead link]
  • Fagan, Mary (7 October 2001). "Boosey & Hawkes Faces £50m Bid". The Daily Telegraph.
  • Aldrick, Philip (13 February 2002). "Steinway Quits Boosey Auction". The Daily Telegraph.
  • Parkinson, Gary (25 February 2002). "Equity Groups Make a Play for Boosey". The Daily Telegraph.[dead link]
  • Osborne, Alistair (30 April 2002). "Boosey & Hawkes in Sale Talks". The Daily Telegraph.[dead link]
  • Jay, Adam (27 May 2003). "Boosey Stands Firm on EMI Deal". The Daily Telegraph.[dead link]
  • Jay, Adam (11 September 2003). "Final Notes Sound in Boosey Sale Opera". The Daily Telegraph.
  • Jay, Adam (10 September 2003). "Fresh Bidder Chimes in on Boosey Sale". The Daily Telegraph.
  • Lawson, Annie (10 September 2003). "Boosey Trumpets £40m Buyout". The Guardian.
  • Osborne, Alistair (17 September 2003). "Boosey Prepared for Trio of Suitors". The Daily Telegraph.
  • Osborne, Alistair (4 October 2003). "Hg Offer Tops Boosey Buyout". The Daily Telegraph.
  • Milmo, Dan (23 November 2004). "La Donna e mobile? Key in a Classic Ringtone". The Guardian.
  • Hopkins, Nic (20 September 2005). "Clamour of Interest in £130m Sale of Boosey". The Times. London.
  • Jagger, Suzy (20 March 2003). . The Times. London. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011.
  • Wallace, Helen (26 April 2007). . Review. The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011.
  • Blaikley, D. J. (David James); William C. Smith & Peter Ward Jones. "Boosey & Hawkes". Grove Music Online (L. Macy, ed.). Retrieved 14 June 2007.

Books edit

  • Boosey, William (1931). Fifty Years of Music. London: Ernest Benn. OCLC 1150185.
  • Wallace, Helen (2007). Boosey & Hawkes: The Publishing Story. London: Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0-85162-514-0.

External links edit

  •   Media related to Boosey & Hawkes at Wikimedia Commons
  • Official website

51°30′47″N 0°06′58″W / 51.513°N 0.116°W / 51.513; -0.116

April 10, 2024
boosey, hawkes, boosey, redirects, here, locality, australia, boosey, victoria, british, music, publisher, purported, largest, specialist, classical, music, publisher, world, until, 2003, also, major, manufacturer, brass, string, woodwind, musical, instruments. Boosey redirects here For the locality in Australia see Boosey Victoria Boosey amp Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world Until 2003 it was also a major manufacturer of brass string and woodwind musical instruments Boosey amp HawkesParent companyConcordPredecessorBoosey amp CompanyHawkes amp SonFounded1930 94 years ago 1930 FounderLeslie BooseyRalph HawkesCountry of originUnited KingdomHeadquarters locationAldwych LondonKey peopleJohn MinchJanis Susskind OBEOfficial websitewww wbr boosey wbr comFormed in 1930 through the merger of two well established British music businesses Boosey amp Hawkes controls the copyright to much major 20th century music including works by Leonard Bernstein Benjamin Britten Aaron Copland Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky It also publishes many prominent contemporary composers including John Adams Karl Jenkins James MacMillan Mark Anthony Turnage and Steve Reich With subsidiaries in Berlin and New York the company also sells sheet music via its online shop Contents 1 History 1 1 Pre merger 1 2 Post merger 2 The company today 3 Parodies 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 6 1 Articles 6 2 Books 7 External linksHistory editPre merger edit Boosey amp Hawkes was founded in 1930 through the merger of two respected music companies Boosey amp Company and Hawkes amp Son 1 The Boosey family was of Franco Flemish origin 2 Boosey amp Company traces its roots back to John Boosey a bookseller in London in the 1760s 1770s 3 His son Thomas continued the business at 4 Old Bond Street 4 5 and from 1819 the bookshop was called Boosey amp Sons or T amp T Boosey nbsp A drawing of a euphonium manufactured by Boosey amp Co in 1878Thomas Boosey s son also named Thomas 1794 1795 1871 set up a separate musical branch of the company known as T Boosey amp Co and in the latter part of the 19th century Boosey amp Company It initially imported foreign music but soon began publishing in England the works of composers such as Johann Nepomuk Hummel Saverio Mercadante Ferdinand Ries and Gioachino Rossini and subsequently important operas by Bellini Donizetti and Verdi Elgar and Vaughan Williams were among its later signings 6 It also produced books among its first publications was an English translation of Johann Nikolaus Forkel s book Life of J S Bach 1820 7 The company was seriously affected by the House of Lords decision in Boosey v Jeffreys 1854 which deprived English publishers of many of their foreign copyrights 2 Boosey amp Company diversified into manufacturing woodwind instruments in 1851 collaborating in 1856 with flautist R S Pratten 1846 1936 to develop new designs for flutes It bought over the business of Henry Distin in 1868 allowing it to begin making brass instruments Among its achievements was the widely acclaimed design for compensating valves developed by David James Blaikley in 1874 2 The company also commenced production of string instruments 6 The company capitalised on the increasing popularity of the ballad by focusing its publishing activities on them To promote sales John Boosey c 1832 1893 son of Thomas Jr established the London Ballad Concerts in 1867 at St James s Hall and later at Queen s Hall when it opened in 1893 Clara Butt John Sims Reeves and Charles W Clark performed at these concerts and their successes included Arthur Sullivan s The Lost Chord 1877 and Stephen Adams The Holy City The company began emphasising educational music from about the end of the 19th century 2 In 1874 Boosey amp Company moved into offices at 295 Regent Street 4 where the business was to stay for the next 131 years In 1892 Boosey amp Company opened an office in New York which still exists today 6 The business eventually owned half of Regent Street and at the time of the merger was managed by Leslie Boosey 1887 1979 8 Hawkes amp Son initially Riviere amp Hawkes 2 a rival to Boosey amp Company was founded in 1865 by William Henry Hawkes selling orchestral sheet music The company also made musical instruments and spare parts such as clarinet reeds and by 1925 Hawkes had set up an instrument factory in Edgware North London 6 The business which was particularly known for brass and military band music 2 was eventually inherited by Ralph Hawkes 1898 1950 Post merger edit Leslie Boosey and Ralph Hawkes met in the 1920s when they were on the Board of the Performing Right Society saw an opportunity to combine their businesses and formed Boosey amp Hawkes in October 1930 8 Hawkes amp Son moved from its office in Denman Street to join the Boosey staff at 295 Regent Street 4 The 1938 Anschluss the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi regime led to the Nazification of Viennese publishing house Universal Edition Boosey amp Hawkes seized the opportunity to sign up composers Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly and also rescued Universal s Jewish staff who later played an important role in developing the company One such employee in particular Ernst Roth facilitated the signing of Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky and was instrumental in the production of Strauss s Vier letzte Lieder Four Last Songs 1948 premiered 1950 and Stravinsky s The Rake s Progress premiered 1951 8 Another significant figure from Vienna who occupied an editorial role was composer Arnold Schoenberg s pupil Erwin Stein and after the war the composer Leopold Spinner a pupil of Anton Webern was also on the editorial staff Stein was instrumental in founding the modern music journal Tempo in 1939 2 which began as Boosey amp Hawkes own newsletter but later became a more independent publication By the time World War II broke out in 1939 Boosey amp Hawkes had also signed Benjamin Britten and Aaron Copland It was Ralph Hawkes who championed Britten when he was still relatively unknown often against the rest of the board of directors until the premiere on 7 June 1945 of Peter Grimes which was a critical and popular success Sheet music sales soared during the War enabling Boosey amp Hawkes to buy Editions Russes which held the rights to the most valuable works of Prokofiev Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky The company also purchased the lease of the Royal Opera House in London in 1944 9 rescuing it from becoming a permanent dance hall and providing a venue for world class ballet and opera in the capital 8 By 1950 Boosey amp Hawkes was a leading international music company with an extensive catalogue of serious composers and offices in Bonn Johannesburg New York Paris Toronto and Sydney However from the late 1940s strains had begun to appear in the relationship between Leslie Boosey and Ralph Hawkes and this led to factions supporting each man forming in the company It was discovered that Hawkes had borrowed capital of 100 000 during the war without the permission of the exchange control authorities and Boosey was forced to clear up the situation at great personal cost Hawkes secretly wanted to buy out the music publishing side of the business and manage it from New York leaving Boosey in London with the musical instrument business which Hawkes found dull However he died suddenly on 8 September 1950 and representation of his faction was taken over by his flamboyant but unreliable brother Geoffrey who spent much of the company s money on ventures such as the manufacture of mouth organs and ovens which failed Geoffrey Hawkes also sold shares in the company to fund his philandering to the point that the company was forced to go public to raise cash Leslie Boosey allowed Geoffrey his turn as chairman but within two years the profitable company was on the brink of insolvency and Geoffrey Hawkes died of leukaemia in 1961 8 nbsp Distinctive brown cover of a Hawkes Pocket Score Shostakovich s Violin Concerto No 1During these difficult years Boosey was supported by his trusted managing director Ernst Roth However Roth later regarded the Boosey family as ineffectual and parochial In the early 1960s Roth forced Boosey s sons Anthony and Simon out of the company and prevented his youngest son Nigel from even joining allegedly at the behest of Benjamin Britten Roth and Boosey also had differences over Britten s influence over the company Roth regarded Britten as a gifted local musician rather than a true genius like Roth s friends Strauss and Stravinsky Boosey realised how valuable Britten was to the company and agreed to Britten s request to divide the company into instruments and publishing However Britten humiliated Boosey by preventing him from chairing the music publishing board Boosey had established at Britten s request In 1963 Britten also managed to get Boosey amp Hawkes to employ Donald Mitchell to find new young composers for the company Angered by the sway Britten had over Boosey Roth fired Mitchell within a year Mitchell later set up Faber Music for book publisher Faber and Faber with the assistance of Britten and the blessing of T S Eliot 8 Boosey retired from the company in 1964 and died without an obituary in 1979 Although he had been awarded with the Legion d honneur by France his achievements were mostly unrecognised in the UK However a large number of composers and their estates continue to benefit from his pioneering work in rights and royalty collection 8 In addition every two years the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Performing Right Society honour individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the furtherance of contemporary music in Britain with the Leslie Boosey Award The award is given to those who work backstage such as administrators broadcasters educationalists programmers publishers and representatives from the recording industry 10 Some time during the late 1960s or early 1970s Boosey amp Hawkes bought out The Salvation Army Brass Instrument Factory in North London They continued for some years to manufacture instruments with The Salvation Army name and crest on them such as The Bandmaster cornets 11 Boosey amp Hawkes musical instruments division was gradually scaled down from the mid 1970s as it became less viable to have such an extensive range of products Various lines were outsourced and sold off By the time of the closure of the Edgware factory in 2001 brass instruments were the only thriving part of the instrument range Production was moved to Watford Hertfordshire and the instruments rebranded Besson 12 It took nearly 20 years for Boosey amp Hawkes to regain the leading position in the international music scene that it has today 8 It claims to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world 13 In 1996 the company acquired Bote amp Bock in 2001 it acquired Anton J Benjamin including the N Simrock catalog 14 The company today editIn 2001 Boosey amp Hawkes was put up for sale after accounting irregularities were discovered in its Chicago instrument distribution business leading to 13m worth of sales being written off a plummeting share price and the company s near bankruptcy 15 It was eventually bought by venture capitalists HgCapital in 2003 for 40 million 16 On 11 February 2003 Boosey amp Hawkes sold its musical instrument division which included clarinet maker Buffet Crampon and guitar manufacturer Hofner to The Music Group a company formed by rescue buyout specialists Rutland Fund Management for 33 2 million 17 An archive of musical instruments manufactured or collected by the company throughout its history was passed to the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill South London 12 In September 2005 the company was again offered for sale by HgCapital which announced that it was seeking between 60 and 80 million 18 One of the interested buyers was Elevation Partners a private equity firm which counts U2 lead singer Bono as a partner and managing director 19 Despite offers of about 115 million from a number of parties the sale was later cancelled in November 2005 20 In April 2008 Boosey amp Hawkes was bought by the Dutch owned Imagem which was subsequently itself acquired by the American based Concord 21 Concord later purchased Hans Sikorski in 2019 adding the German classical publisher to sit alongside Boosey amp Hawkes 22 Today partly due to the foresight or business acumen of Ralph Hawkes the company controls the copyrights in major 20th century music 13 It also publishes many prominent contemporary composers and the company s New York branch has developed its own catalogue emphasising the works of American composers 2 295 Regent Street which was the home of Boosey amp Company since 1874 and of Boosey amp Hawkes publishing business and music shop from 1930 was finally given up by the company in 2005 which then relocated to Aldwych House 4 Boosey amp Hawkes Music Shop claims to have the UK s largest selection of printed music from all publishers and operates a worldwide mail order service 23 The company had a major division BooseyMedia that commissioned and produced music for radio television and advertising jingles and the administration of copyrights owned by media companies This was split into commercial synchronisation and production music departments 24 both under the Imagem name The production library was sold in 2016 In North America Boosey amp Hawkes print sales catalogue is distributed by the Hal Leonard Corporation Boosey amp Hawkes launched its Online Scores service in 2011 allowing customers to view full scores of works in its catalogue 25 In January 2017 British Library acquired the archive of Boosey amp Hawkes 26 Parodies editThe company was lampooned by The Goon Show as Goosy and Borks in their episode Lurgy Strikes Britain as well as by musical parodist Peter Schickele who named one of the friends of fictional composer P D Q Bach Jonathan Boozey Hawkes and claimed him as a vital link in the chain whereby manuscripts of PDQ Bach s works had survived 27 Somewhat more recondite was the punning reference delivered in one of Gerard Hoffnung s parody concerts If Boosey s will Hawk it Schott s will Tippett from Punkt Contrapunkt at Hoffnung Interplanetary Music Festival with John Amis Royal Festival Hall 21 and 22 November 1958 28 vague See also edit nbsp Companies portalList of companies based in LondonReferences edit An Historical Note Boosey amp Hawkes Archived from the original on 30 November 2005 Retrieved 24 May 2007 a b c d e f g h D avid J ames Blaikley William C Smith Peter Ward Jones Boosey amp Hawkes In L Macy ed Grove Music Online Archived from the original on 16 May 2008 Retrieved 14 June 2007 Simon Burrows 2000 French Exile Journalism and European Politics 1792 1814 Woodbridge Suffolk Boydell amp Brewer Ltd ISBN 978 0 86193 249 8 a b c d Staff Contacts London Rest of the World Boosey amp Hawkes Retrieved 10 October 2007 The shop moved to 28 Holles Street in 1816 Staff Contacts London Rest of the World Boosey amp Hawkes Retrieved 10 October 2007 a b c d Suzy Jagger 20 March 2003 Instrumental role in music making The Times London Archived from the original on 12 June 2011 Johann Nicolaus Forkel Banker Stephenson transl 1820 Life of J S Bach with a Critical View of His Compositions Translated from the German by Stephenson London T Boosey amp Co This was a translation from the German of Johann Nicolaus Forkel 1802 Ueber J S Bachs Leben Kunst und Kunstwerke Fur patriotische Verehrer echter musikalischer Kunst Mit Bachs Bildniss und Kupfartafeln Leipzig Hoffmeister und Kuhnel OCLC 243456252 a b c d e f g h Helen Wallace 26 April 2007 Musical marriage that soared and soured The Daily Telegraph Review London Archived from the original on 4 June 2011 Haltrecht Montague 1975 The Quiet Showman Sir David Webster and the Royal Opera House London Collins p 51 ISBN 0 00 211163 2 Leslie Boosey Award Royal Philharmonic Society Retrieved 25 May 2007 Army Instrument Making A Short History by William H Scarlett 25 June 2011 at sahpa blogspot co uk Accessed 4 March 2017 a b Wyse Pascal 26 January 2007 Test Your Strength The Guardian a b Minch John Welcome to our World of Music Boosey amp Hawkes Archived from the original on 13 May 2007 Retrieved 24 May 2007 Boosey amp Hawkes The home of contemporary music Osborne Alistair 21 March 2001 Bad Vibes from Chicago Shake Boosey amp Hawkes The Daily Telegraph permanent dead link Osborne Alistair 21 March 2001 Chicago Blues for Boosey The Daily Telegraph permanent dead link Boosey amp Hawkes Stays Independent Boosey amp Hawkes 21 November 2003 Archived from the original on 28 November 2005 Retrieved 29 May 2007 Higgins Charlotte 25 November 2003 Buyout Saves Music Publisher Boosey s Independence The Guardian Fagan Mary 24 August 2002 Boosey Nears Sale of Instruments Division The Daily Telegraph permanent dead link Osborne Alistair 11 February 2003 Boosey Plucks 33 2m for Instruments The Daily Telegraph permanent dead link Wray Richard 12 February 2003 Boosey amp Hawkes Sells Instruments Arm for 33 2m The Guardian Wachman Richard 18 September 2005 Boosey amp Hawkes Up for Sale as Owner Seeks Quick 80m The Observer Hopkins Nic 19 October 2005 Rock Meets Rachmaninov as Bono Firm Eyes Boosey amp Hawkes The Times London Dennis Guy 19 November 2005 Boosey amp Hawkes Rebuffs Bono as Sale is Cancelled The Daily Telegraph dead link Sisario Ben 2 June 2017 Concord Bicycle Music Adds to Its Catalog Acquiring Imagem Music Group The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 18 February 2020 Concord acquires historic classical music publisher Sikorski Music Business Worldwide 13 June 2019 Retrieved 18 February 2020 A Wealth of Music Boosey amp Hawkes Archived from the original on 23 December 2006 Retrieved 24 May 2007 Introducing Imagem Production Music featuring the voice of Matt Berry Imagem Production Music Archived from the original on 13 July 2011 Boosey amp Hawkes puts scores online The Strad Archived from the original on 13 September 2012 Retrieved 27 December 2011 British Library acquires Boosey amp Hawkes archive Rhinegold Rhinegold Retrieved 8 November 2017 Programme notes for the Cantata Blaues Gras Bluegrass Cantata S 6 String For Tenor Bass Bluegrass Band and Orchestra P D Q Bach Edited by Prof Peter Schickele At presser com Accessed 4 March 2017 Hoffnung s Music Festivals CD reissue liner notes EMI Records No CMS 7633022 1989Further reading editArticles edit Mortimer C G 1938 1939 Leading Music Publishers Boosey amp Hawkes Ltd Musical Opinion 62 Luton Bedfordshire 181 190 ISSN 0027 4623 02 The Music Publisher of Tradition The Booseys Thomas and John The Hawkes William Henry and Oliver Musical Opinion 65 Luton Bedfordshire 68 1941 1942 ISSN 0027 4623 02 Boosey amp Hawkes Settle with Disney The Daily Telegraph 21 March 2001 dead link Aldrick Philip 1 May 2001 Boosey in Talks with Lenders after Account Irregularities The Daily Telegraph dead link Fagan Mary 7 October 2001 Boosey amp Hawkes Faces 50m Bid The Daily Telegraph Aldrick Philip 13 February 2002 Steinway Quits Boosey Auction The Daily Telegraph Parkinson Gary 25 February 2002 Equity Groups Make a Play for Boosey The Daily Telegraph dead link Osborne Alistair 30 April 2002 Boosey amp Hawkes in Sale Talks The Daily Telegraph dead link Jay Adam 27 May 2003 Boosey Stands Firm on EMI Deal The Daily Telegraph dead link Jay Adam 11 September 2003 Final Notes Sound in Boosey Sale Opera The Daily Telegraph Jay Adam 10 September 2003 Fresh Bidder Chimes in on Boosey Sale The Daily Telegraph Lawson Annie 10 September 2003 Boosey Trumpets 40m Buyout The Guardian Osborne Alistair 17 September 2003 Boosey Prepared for Trio of Suitors The Daily Telegraph Osborne Alistair 4 October 2003 Hg Offer Tops Boosey Buyout The Daily Telegraph Milmo Dan 23 November 2004 La Donna e mobile Key in a Classic Ringtone The Guardian Hopkins Nic 20 September 2005 Clamour of Interest in 130m Sale of Boosey The Times London Jagger Suzy 20 March 2003 Instrumental Role in Music Making The Times London Archived from the original on 12 June 2011 Wallace Helen 26 April 2007 Musical Marriage that Soared and Soured Review The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 4 June 2011 Blaikley D J David James William C Smith amp Peter Ward Jones Boosey amp Hawkes Grove Music Online L Macy ed Retrieved 14 June 2007 Books edit Boosey William 1931 Fifty Years of Music London Ernest Benn OCLC 1150185 Wallace Helen 2007 Boosey amp Hawkes The Publishing Story London Boosey amp Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd ISBN 978 0 85162 514 0 External links edit nbsp Media related to Boosey amp Hawkes at Wikimedia Commons Official website 51 30 47 N 0 06 58 W 51 513 N 0 116 W 51 513 0 116 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Boosey 26 Hawkes amp oldid 1204595080, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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