Michel-Charles Le Cène

Michel-Charles Le Cène (* around 1684 in Honfleur , France , † April 29, 1743 in Amsterdam ) was a Franco-Dutch printer and music publisher .

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Le Cène came from a French Huguenot family who found refuge in the Netherlands after the Edict of Nantes was repealed . In 1716 he married Françoise Roger (1694–1723), the daughter of the well-known Amsterdam publisher Estienne Roger (1665 / 66–1722), and joined his father-in-law's company. In 1720 at the latest, he founded his own printing and publishing company. When Roger and his two successors (his younger daughter Jeanne and her employee Gerrit Drinkman) died within a few months in 1722/23, Le Cène bought the Roger company and in the following years brought numerous new editions under the name "Estienne Roger & Le Cène" older prints out; New releases, on the other hand, only had his own name.

The main focus of the printing and publishing activities of both Rogers and Le Cènes were music . In the 20 years of his management, Le Cène published almost 100 new publications, including works by dall'Abaco , Geminiani , Handel , Locatelli (with whom he was friends), Quantz , Tartini and Telemann . Because of their careful and tasteful design, his prints (like the Rogers) were valued throughout Europe. Representations in England, Germany, Belgium and France ensured widespread use.

After Le Cène's death in 1743, the company was taken over by the bookseller E.-J. de la Coste, who, apart from a list of the works published by Roger and Le Cène, no longer published any reprints and in 1746 sold the company on to Antoine Chareau, a former employee of Le Cène. Two years later the company was finally dissolved.

literature

• Samuel F. Pogue and Rudolf A. Rasch: Art. "Roger, Estienne". In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , second edition, ed. By Stanley Sadie, London / New York 2001, vol. 21.