Ricordi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ricordi is a music publisher in Italy ( Casa Ricordi ) with branches in Germany ( G. Ricordi & Co. Bühnen- und Musikverlag GmbH in Berlin and Munich) and London ( G. Ricordi & Co. Ltd. ), founded in 1808 by the violinist Giovanni Ricordi (1785-1853) in Milan . Ricordi publishes among other things the works of the most important Italian opera composers, such as B. Giuseppe Verdi , Gioachino Rossini or Giacomo Puccini .

history

In the 18th century there was hardly any need to reproduce sheet music, as only new, original compositions were in demand. Hardly any music was performed again. That changed rapidly in the 19th century, when more and more lay people played the great opera arias and other compositions at home on the piano.

Now grades were in demand, as much as possible and inexpensive. Giovanni Ricordi was one of the first to recognize this new trend of time. He signed contracts with opera houses and orchestras, approached the composers and promised generous royalties. So far, they have usually not received anything for the re-performance of their works. He founded the publishing house G. Ricordi & Co. , which soon sold the works of the most important Italian composers, including Rossini , Donizetti , Bellini , Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini .

In 1825 Ricordi acquired the entire archive of the La Scala theater in Milan . In 1830 he signed the copyright contract with Giuseppe Verdi, a momentous decision for the publisher's future. Casa Ricordi quickly became a market leader and, after taking over important competitors, also dominated the market. Above all with Verdi, but also with the Italian rights to Wagner and other important international composers, the publisher achieved large sales. Ricordi founded the important music magazine Gazzetta Musicale di Milano in 1842 and supported the music industry on a large scale.

When Giovanni Ricordi died in 1853, his son Tito Ricordi took over the management of the publishing house. From 1864 the music publisher expanded first to Naples , 1865 to Florence , 1871 to Rome , 1878 to London , and in 1888 to Palermo and Paris . Important representatives of the French grand opera , such as Massenet, now belonged to him . After Tito Ricordi's death in 1888, his son Giulio Ricordi took over the management of the publishing house. In 1901 Ricordi opened a branch in Munich, which moved to Berlin in 2013.

1883 to 1915 Ricordi published the Biblioteca di rarità musicali .

In 1956 the company, which had been run as a family business for generations, was transformed into a public company. From 1994 to 2006 Ricordi Musikverlage belonged to Bertelsmann AG, and since 2007 they have been part of the Universal Music Publishing group belonging to Vivendi . The publishing archive remained with Bertelsmann. It goes back more than 200 years and with its more than 5,000 scores (including original manuscripts by Verdi and Puccini) and 15,000 letters is one of the most important music archives in the world.

The Ricordi music publisher's repertoire today includes critical editions by Vincenzo Bellini , Gaetano Donizetti , Gioachino Rossini , Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini . Ricordi also represents composers such as Luigi Nono , Edgar Varèse , Gérard Grisey , Olga Neuwirth , Heiner Goebbels , Enno Poppe and Luca Francesconi .

literature

Web links