Chappell & Co. was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

company that published music and manufactured

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

s. Founded by pianist Samuel Chappell, the company was one of the leading music publishers and piano manufacturers in Britain until 1980 when Chappell sold its retail activities to concentrate solely on music publishing. After some previous acquisitions by other companies, the ''Chappell'' brand name is currently owned by

Warner Chappell Music Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalog consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 150,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries. ...

, part of

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

, which acquired it for $200 million in 1987.Warner Reportedly Will Acquire Chappell : $200-Million Deal Would Merge 2 of 3 Biggest U.S. Music Publishers
by KATHRYN HARRIS on ''Los Angeles Times'', 12 May 1987

History

Chappell & Co. was founded in 1811 by Samuel Chappell (–1834) in partnership with music professors Francis Tatton Latour and

Johann Baptist Cramer Johann (sometimes John) Baptist Cramer (24 February 1771 – 16 April 1858) was an English pianist, composer and music publisher of German origin, born in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the son of Wilhelm Cramer, a famous London violinist and con ...

. Cramer was also a well-known London composer, teacher and pianist. The firm's premises included large showrooms for pianos and other musical instruments (for sale or hire) and sheet music on several floors and became a prominent landmark on

Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...

. Chappell was active in forming the

Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a membe ...

. The firm's reputation grew fast, and in 1819,

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

wrote to a colleague regarding a piece that he wished to publish, "Potter says that Chappell in Bond Street is now one of the best publishers." Chappell died in 1834, and his oldest son William Chappell (1809–1888) took over, managing the firm on behalf of his widowed mother, Emily Chappell ''née'' Patey. Around 1843, William left to join Cramer & Co. and later to found the

Percy Society The Percy Society was a British text publication society. It was founded in 1840 and collapsed in 1852. The Society was a scholarly collective, aimed at publishing limited-edition books of rare poems and songs. The president was Lady Braybrooke, ...

and the Musical Antiquarian Society. His younger brother Thomas Patey Chappell (1819–1902) then took charge. Originally concentrating on music publishing and concert promotion, the firm started manufacturing pianos in the 1840s. Thomas extended the publishing business of Chappell & Co. and focused the publishing company on

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

, a specialty that is still important to the success of Chappell today. The firm promoted concerts, operas and other events that might create a market for music sales. Thomas conceived of and sponsored the Monday and Saturday Popular Concerts at

St James Hall St. James's Hall was a concert hall in London that opened on 25 March 1858, designed by architect and artist Owen Jones, who had decorated the interior of the Crystal Palace. It was situated between the Quadrant in Regent Street and Piccadilly, ...

(1859), which was partly owned by the family. The concerts were successfully managed by a younger brother, Samuel Arthur Chappell until they came to an end in 1901. One of Tom Chappell's successes was the publication of the

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

operas and other music of

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

, as well as, earlier,

Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

's ''Faust'', Balfe's ''

The Bohemian Girl ''The Bohemian Girl'' is an English language Romantic opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Miguel de Cervantes' tale, ''La gitanilla''. The best-known aria from the piece is "I D ...

''. He was also one of the original directors of the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

and one of the original governors of the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. Thomas died in 1902. Thomas was of the founding members of the Music Publishers Association and became the Association's first Chairman and held the office between 1881 and 1900. William Boosey wrote: During the 20th century, Chappell became one of the leading music publishers and piano manufacturers in Britain. The firm was bought by brothers Louis Dreyfus and

Max Dreyfus Max Dreyfus (April 1, 1874 – May 12, 1964) was a German-born American music publisher, arranger and songwriter. Between the 1910s and 1950s he encouraged and published the work of many of the writers of the so-called Great American Songbook ...

in 1926. On 15 May 1964, three days after the death of Max Dreyfus in the United States, the London building was destroyed by fire but was subsequently rebuilt. However, Louis Dreyfus, who was in London at the time, was devastated by the loss of the company and its archives. By the late 1970s, the firm had become a worldwide music publishing leader famous for publishing musical theatre works, including

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their musical ...

. In 1970, Chappell sold its publishing division to PolyGram for £20 million. In 1980, Chappell sold its retail activities to concentrate solely on music publishing. Its premises on London's Bond Street were bought by Kemble Pianos, a large distributor of

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

pianos, who operated the music store under the name of

Chappell of Bond Street Yamaha Music London is an English musical instrument and sheet music retail store owned and operated by Yamaha Music Europe GmbH's UK branch. It is located on Soho's Wardour Street, and the majority of the building has Grade II Listed status. ...

. The Chappell & Co. publishing business was later acquired by PolyGram. In 1975, Chappell acquired the American music publisher

Hill & Range Hill & Range (originally "Hill and Range Songs, Inc.") is a music publishing company which was particularly responsible for much of the country music produced in the 1950s and 1960s, and had control over the material recorded by Elvis Presley over ...

. In 1984, PolyGram sold off Chappell to a group of investors (which included

Freddy Bienstock Freddy Bienstock (April 24, 1923 – September 20, 2009) was a Swiss-American music publisher who built his career in music by being the person responsible for soliciting and selecting songs for Elvis Presley's early albums and films. Early life B ...

). The investors sold the company in 1987 to

Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC (doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warner ...

for $200 million, which merged its music publishing firms to form

. It is currently owned by

after Time Warner spun off its music business in 2004. Production music library of Chappell (Chappell Recording Music Library) went separately to

Zomba Group of Companies Zomba may refer to: Places Hungary * Zomba, Hungary, village Malawi * Zomba, Malawi, city * Zomba District * Zomba Massif, mountain * Roman Catholic Diocese of Zomba * Zomba (meteorite), see Meteorite fall A meteorite fall, also called a ...

, which was later acquired by

Bertelsmann Music Group Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music c ...

and made a part of BMG-Zomba Production Music. It is currently owned by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

after Bertelsmann sold its music publishing business in 2007.

Bibliography

* Boosey, William
''Fifty years of music''
London: Ernest Benn Limited (1931) * Husk, William Henry; Cranmer, Margaret; Jones, Peter Ward; and Snell, Kenneth R. "Chappell"
''Grove Music Online''
(subscription required). ed. L. Macy. Retrieved on 7 March 2007.

References

External links

Chappell of Bond Street
store that commercialises Chappell pianos {{DEFAULTSORT:Chappell and Co Sheet music publishing companies Piano manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Musical instrument manufacturing companies based in London Publishing companies based in London 1811 establishments in England 1987 disestablishments in England British companies established in 1811 Music publishing companies of the United Kingdom Publishing companies established in 1811 Manufacturing companies established in 1811 1970 mergers and acquisitions 1984 mergers and acquisitions 1987 mergers and acquisitions Publishing companies disestablished in 1987 British companies disestablished in 1987