Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf (2 March 1695 in Clausthal, now

Clausthal-Zellerfeld Clausthal-Zellerfeld () is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The town hosts the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort is locate ...

– 26 March 1777 in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

) was a German printer and publisher, and founder of the publisher that became

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel () is a German Music publisher, music publishing house. Founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf, it is the world's oldest music publisher. Overview The catalogue contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works ...

. In 1714 he moved to Leipzig and worked for one year in a print shop. After working for several months in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, and three years in

Halle, Saxony-Anhalt Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (), is the second largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is the sixth-most populous city in the area of former East Germany after (East) Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Magdeburg as well as t ...

, he returned to Leipzig in 1718, married Sophia Maria Müller and inherited an existing print shop, established in 1664, which he rescued from the brink of economic ruin. He began publishing with the 1723 printing of a manual of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf (Leipzig, 23 November 1719 – 28 January 1794, Leipzig) was a German music publisher and typographer. Biography Breitkopf was the son of the publisher Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf, founder of the publishing hou ...

in 1745. He maintained the publishing side of the business until his death, however his son became a partner in 1762.

References

* 1695 births 1777 deaths 18th-century German publishers (people) German music publishers (people) {{publish-bio-stub