Theodor Litolff

Johann Theodor Leonhard Louis Litolff , born as Johann Theodor Leonhard Louis Meyer (born March 18, 1839 in Braunschweig , † March 10, 1912 there ) was an important German music publisher .

life and work

Theodor Meyer was the only child of the music publisher Gottfried Martin Meyer and his first wife AF Bornecke. His father had opened a book and music store in Braunschweig on June 1, 1828. In 1846, when Theodor Meyer was seven years old, his father and his second wife Julie, b. Zimmer, managed the company alone for the next four years.

In 1851 Meyer's widow married the then famous British composer and pianist Henry Litolff , a friend of her late husband. Henry Litolff took over the publishing house, renamed it Henry Litolffs Verlag (in which the Litolff Collection appeared) and expanded rapidly in the following years. In 1859 the marriage was divorced, in 1860 Henry Litolff adopted the stepson of his divorced wife, who from then on bore the family name Litolff. Henry Litolff had already accepted the 14-year-old Theodor into the company on April 17, 1853 and finally handed it over to him completely on January 1, 1860, in order to leave Braunschweig that same year and settle permanently in Paris .

Under the direction of Theodor Litolff, the publishing house located on Wollmarkt 13 ( completely destroyed in World War II) was expanded very successfully, branches in Paris and New York already existed, so that the publishing house finally achieved world renown. For his entrepreneurial achievement, Litolff was appointed to the council of commerce in 1908 . He was also the holder of the Brunswick Order of Henry the Lion and the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle .

After Theodor Litolff died in 1912, his only son Richard (December 4, 1868– December 26, 1937) took over together with his mother Hedwig, nee. Meyer, the publishing business.

literature

Niels Holger Blume: Theodor Litolff. In: Working group other history , Reinhard Bein (ed.): Braunschweiger personalities of the 20th century. Volume 2, döringDRUCK, Braunschweig 2014, ISBN 978-3-925268-49-6 , pp. 152–155.
NN: Fifty years of the Litolff Collection. House chronicle from Henry Litolff's publishing house. Albert Limbach, Braunschweig 1914.
Mechthild Wiswe : Litolff, Henry Charles. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 385 .
Mechthild Wiswe : Litolff, Johann Theodor Leonhard Louis. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 385-386 .
Willi Wöhler: Litolff Verlag u. Collection. In: Luitgard Camerer , Manfred Garzmann , Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (eds.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 , p. 146 .

Web links

Information about the Litolff company at imslp.org (in English)

Individual evidence

^ Mechthild Wiswe: Litolff, Johann Theodor Leonhard Louis. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries. P. 385.
^ Mechthild Wiswe: Litolff, Henry Charles. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries. P. 385.
^ NN: Fifty Years of the Litolff Collection. House chronicle from Henry Litolff's publishing house. P. 8.
↑ ^a ^b Ursula Wolff: Economy and social situation in the Duchy of Braunschweig from the end of the first industrialization phase to the beginning of the 20th century. In: Jörg Leuschner , Karl Heinrich Kaufhold , Claudia Märtl (Hrsg.): The economic and social history of the Braunschweigisches Land from the Middle Ages to the present. Volume 3: Modern Times. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-487-13598-4 , p. 202.
^ NN: Fifty Years of the Litolff Collection. House chronicle from Henry Litolff's publishing house. P. 22.
^ NN: Fifty Years of the Litolff Collection. House chronicle from Henry Litolff's publishing house. P. 48.
^ Information on the Litolff publishing house
^ NN: Fifty Years of the Litolff Collection. House chronicle from Henry Litolff's publishing house. P. 55.

personal data
SURNAME	Litolff, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Meyer, Theodor (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German music publisher
DATE OF BIRTH	March 18, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH	Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH	March 10, 1912
Place of death	Braunschweig

[1] Mechthild Wiswe: Litolff, Johann Theodor Leonhard Louis. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries. P. 385.

[2] Mechthild Wiswe: Litolff, Henry Charles. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries. P. 385.

[Litolff8-3] NN: Fifty Years of the Litolff Collection. House chronicle from Henry Litolff's publishing house. P. 8.

[Wolff202-4] Ursula Wolff: Economy and social situation in the Duchy of Braunschweig from the end of the first industrialization phase to the beginning of the 20th century. In: Jörg Leuschner , Karl Heinrich Kaufhold , Claudia Märtl (Hrsg.): The economic and social history of the Braunschweigisches Land from the Middle Ages to the present. Volume 3: Modern Times. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-487-13598-4 , p. 202.

[5] NN: Fifty Years of the Litolff Collection. House chronicle from Henry Litolff's publishing house. P. 22.

[6] NN: Fifty Years of the Litolff Collection. House chronicle from Henry Litolff's publishing house. P. 48.

[7] Information on the Litolff publishing house

[8] NN: Fifty Years of the Litolff Collection. House chronicle from Henry Litolff's publishing house. P. 55.