A quarter of a millennium of European music history

In 1770, the young engraver and clarinettist Bernhard Schott founded a publishing house in Mainz, where the company headquarters are still located today in a listed classicist building dating from 1792. The 19th century saw the first heyday of B. Schott's sons, when the 9th Symphony and the Missa solemnis important late works by Beethoven could be published. In the second half of the century, the collaboration with Richard Wagner was formative - and costly due to the enormous financial investment in his stage works Die Meistersinger, The Ring of the Nibelung and Parsifal.

"The thicker the workers, the thinner the stretcher becomes."

Early caricature by Willy Strecker on Richard Wagner's immense advance payment and fee claims against Ludwig Strecker senior

Franz Schott, the grandson of the company founder, died in 1874. He bequeathed a share of the publishing house to Ludwig Strecker, who joined the company as a trainee and later took over the management. With Peter Hanser-Strecker as managing partner, Schott Music is still a family business today. It is one of the leading music and media publishers for classical and contemporary music and brings together more than twenty music publishers under its roof. Around 150 people are employed internationally in the editorial, production and distribution departments.

The program includes performance and teaching literature, Urtext editions, teaching methods, six specialist journals, choral music and jazz, study scores, complete editions, music books and CDs, supplemented by digital products such as music apps, e-books and e-scores. Schott also lends out performance material for almost 10,000 concert and stage works worldwide.

The publishing history in stages
Short texts, pictures and musical examples arranged around a timeline invite you on a journey through time, allowing you to follow the musical, cultural and social development of the publishing house over a quarter of a millennium.
www.250-joy-of-music.com