My Favorite Sources
for Sheet Music

Copyright 1997-2005, 2007, 2009 by Ronald B. Standler


Table of Contents

  1. Retail Stores for Sheet Music

  2. Music Publishers in Germany/Austria

  3. Agents in the USA for German/Austrian Publishers

  4. Reprints of German Publishers

1.   Retail Stores for Sheet Music

Austria

My favorite store for ordering printed classical music is:
Musikhaus Doblinger
Dorotheergasse 10
A-1010 Wien
Doblinger can be reached by telefax from the USA by dialing 011 - 43 - 1 - 515 - 0351.

Switzerland

The largest classical music store in Zürich, Switzerland is
Jecklin
Rämistrasse 30
CH-8024 Zürich 1

USA

A well-known store in the USA for classical sheet music was Joseph Patelson Music House in New York City.   For many years, Patelson had no website, but they began a website in the year 2007.   Sadly, in April 2009, the Patelson Music House announced it was going out of business, after 70 years across the street from Carnegie Hall, unable to compete from free or cheap downloads from websites.

Frank Music Company in New York City.

Yesterday Service in Cambridge, Massachusetts (across the river from Boston)

Hutchins & Rea music for Klavier or strings, in Atlanta, Georgia

Luck's Music Library sales and rental of orchestral music, in Michigan

2.   Music Publishers in
Germany and Austria

There are three major publishers of classical instrumental music: (1) Breitkopf & Härtel, (2) Peters, and (3) Bärenreiter.   Because my favorite composers — J.S. Bach, Händel, Haydn, W.A. Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert — are all from German-speaking countries, so also is the following list of music publishers.

Bärenreiter

Bärenreiter
Heinrich-Schütz-Allee 35
D-34131 Kassel
Recently, Bärenreiter published new critical editions of the collected works of J.S. Bach (1954-2007), Händel (1993-2007), W.A. Mozart (1956-2007), and Schubert (1967-2007), amongst other composers.

Breitkopf & Härtel

Breitkopf & Härtel
Walkmühlstrasse 52
D-65195 Wiesbaden
During the years 1850 to 1900, Breitkopf published the hardbound collected editions of all of the then known works of J.S. Bach, Haydn, W.A. Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, among others. These old volumes can be found in libraries of universities with a music school.

Henle

G. Henle Verlag
Forstenrieder Allee 122
D-81476 München
Henle publishes good editions of works for solo Klavier and chamber music.

Peters

C.F. Peters Musikverlag
Kennedyallee 101
D-60596 Frankfurt am Main

Schott

Schott
Weihergarten 5
D-55116 Mainz
Since the late-1950s, Schott publishes the well-known Eulenberg miniature scores of orchestral compositions.

Universal Edition

Universal Edition AG
Karlsplatz 6
A-1010 Wien
Universal Edition publishes the Wiener-Urtext editions for solo Klavier, which include scholarly comments by musicologists who prepared the edition.   Urtext is actually a generic German word, and other music publishers (e.g., Bärenreiter, Henle, etc.) also publish Urtext editions.

Universal Edition publishes the Philharmonia miniature scores.

3. Agents in the USA

European American Music Distributors, has an office in New York City and is the agent in the USA for sheet music publishers: Bärenreiter, Schott, Universal Edition, and others.

Breitkopf & Härtel is distributed in the USA by G. Schirmer.

Henle is distributed in the USA by Hal Leonard.

C.F. Peters has an office in New York City.

4. Reprints of German Publishers
Available Only in the USA

Dover Publications has republished in inexpensive paperback volumes some of the old editions from either Breitkopf & Härtel or Peters.   Dover's Beethoven Symphonies is republished from the Litolff edition.
Dover Publications, Inc.
31 East Second St.
Mineola, NY 11501

Dover online ordering


Kalmus sells orchestral music in the USA:
Edwin F. Kalmus, Inc.
P.O. Box 5011
Boca Raton, FL 33431-5011

During 1941-46, the U.S. Government seized copyrights that belonged to German corporations or German citizens and sold that property to American corporations or citizens. Kalmus bought the rights to publish and sell printed music that was originally published by Breitkopf & Härtel and by C.F. Peters, amongst other German publishers. Such "rights" are recognized only in the USA, which is why Kalmus can only sell in the USA. I often ordered from Kalmus during 1969 to 1988, because of their low prices, but stopped when I learned about the U.S. Government's sale of German copyrights. I emphasize that Kalmus behaved legally, and only took advantage of a business opportunity offered by the U.S. Government. Any wrongfulness is solely the responsibility of the U.S. Government, who appropriated private property belonging to corporations and citizens of an enemy government. In recent years, Kalmus has been publishing their own editions of some music, which are not tainted by the incident with German copyrights.

 


This document is posted at     http://www.rbs0.com/music.htm
created 15 Feb 1997, revised 28 Nov 2009

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