Estienne Roger

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Title page from 1711
From 1709, Roger lived and worked on the Singel, not far from this tower
Frontispiece and title of Constantin de Renneville's L'Inquisition Françoise , published by Roger in 1715

Estienne Roger , on his editions often also Étienne Roger (* 1664 or 1665 in Caen , France , † July 7, 1722 in Amsterdam ), was a Franco-Dutch printer and publisher .

Live and act

Roger came from a French Huguenot family. After the Edict of Nantes was repealed in 1685, the family fled to Amsterdam , where Roger learned the printing trade. In 1691 he married Marie-Suzanne de Magneville (around 1671-1712). By 1697 he worked for Antoine Pointel for three and a half years and for a year in the bookstore of Jean-Louis de Lorme, after which he set up his own printer in the Kalverstraat .

The focus of his publishing work was history books, grammars, encyclopedias and, above all, music . Between 1696 and 1722 he published over 500 printed music, including works by dall'Abaco , Albicastro , Albinoni , Bassani , Bonporti , Bustijn , Caldara , Corelli , Pepusch , Scarlatti , Somis , Torelli , Valentini , Veracini and Vivaldi . A part of it had previously appeared with other publishers (e.g. Sala in Venice or Ballard in Paris) and was merely reprinted by Roger, but this was common practice at the time due to the lack of copyright protection; Roger himself also had to accept unauthorized reprints of his editions, e. B. by Pierre Mortier in Amsterdam or John Walsh in London. From 1708 until his death in 1711, Mortier brought out numerous publications by Rogers at higher prices, but with "fewer errors". Then Roger bought Mortier's estate from the widow.

Roger's editorial care and tasteful design were valued across Europe. Composers such as Vivaldi and Albinoni, who initially published their works in their home country and then got to know the superior quality of Roger's reprints, offered their new collections to Roger for printing from around 1710. Business relationships with publishers in Rotterdam , Brussels , Liège , Paris , Cologne , Leipzig , Halle , Berlin , Hamburg and London ensured widespread use, so that the connection with Roger was also financially more lucrative for the Italian composer than selling through local publishers. From 1712, all printing plates were numbered.

Roger's ability to reach the European public is also evident in publications such as the French Inquisition Constantin de Rennevilles in 1715, which he published. Translations into English and German appeared that same year; Readers in London and Nuremberg have to have the original publication in their hands within a few weeks in order to be able to translate it.

In 1716, Roger's daughter Françoise (1694–1723) married the printer Michel-Charles Le Cène , who worked on the company's non-musical publications over the next few years before setting up his own printing company in 1720. Also in 1716, Roger appointed his second daughter Jeanne (1701–1722) as his successor in his will; for the remaining six years until his death, his editions appeared under her name.

Jeanne Roger only survived her father by five months. Since she did not feel sufficiently supported by her sister Françoise in the serious illness that led to her early death, she did not leave the company to her and her brother-in-law Le Cène, but to her employee Gerrit Drinkman. When he died a few months later, Le Cène was able to acquire the company. Until 1743 he continued his father-in-law's music publishing work with almost 100 new publications and numerous reprints of older works.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Isabella Henriëtte van Eeghen: De Amsterdamse boekhandel 1680-1725. Deel 4: Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven NW, papierhandel, drukkerijen en boekverkopers in het algemeen (1967), p. 68.
  2. ^ Rudolf Rasch: The Music Publishing House of Estienne Roger and Michel-Charles Le Cène 1696-1743. Part Two: Catalogs in Facsimile (2012).
  3. ^ Isabella Henriëtte van Eeghen: De Amsterdamse boekhandel 1680-1725. Deel 4: Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven NW, papierhandel, drukkerijen en boekverkopers in het algemeen (1967), p. 74.
  4. ↑ Rudolf Rasch (Ed.): Music Publishing in Europe 1600–1900. Concepts and Issues, Bibliography (2005), p. 29.
  5. ^ Rudolf A. Rasch: The Music Publishing House of Estienne Roger and Michel-Charles Le Cène 1696-1743. Preface (2012), p. 5.
personal data
SURNAME Roger, Estienne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roger, Etienne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Franco-Dutch printer and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH 1665 or 1666
PLACE OF BIRTH Caen , France
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1722
Place of death Amsterdam