Heinrich Philipp Bossler also written Boßler �bɔslɐ (22 July 1744,

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

– 8 September 1812,

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 renowned

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of the intellectu ...

and

impresario An impresario (from Italian ''impresa'', 'an enterprise or undertaking') is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, Play (theatre), plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film producer, film or ...

. Among other things, he achieved his importance as a publisher of original

compositions Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

by the Viennese classics.

Family

Bossler was born as the son of Friedrich Jacob Bossler (1717 – 1793), a

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

air gun maker for the landgraves of

Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt () was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse among the four sons of Landgrave Philip I. ...

, and a Schultheiss's daughter, Catharina Justina Fischer (1717 – 1772) from

Braubach Braubach () is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km southeast of Koblenz. Braubach has assorted medieval architecture intact, including ...

. His grandfather Johann Peter Bossler (1689 – 1742) is documented as a court

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very ...

of the Hessian

landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

s since 1715 and founded the Darmstadt branch of the Bossler family from southern

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

. Heinrich Philipp thus descended from a gunsmith family belonging to the hunting history of Hesse-Darmstadt, whose air rifles can be found in all the renowned gun collections of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Heinrich Philipp Boßler was a second cousin of the

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Friedrich Maximilian Klinger Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger (17 February 1752 – 9 March 1831) was a German dramatist and novelist. His play ''Sturm und Drang'' (1776) gave its name to the Sturm und Drang artistic epoch. He was a childhood friend of Johann Wolfgang vo ...

. Klinger's paternal grandmother and Boßler's paternal grandfather Johann Peter Boßler were siblings.

Significance

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 ...

published his first compositions at the age of 12 in the ''Blumenlese für Klavierliebhaber'', published by Heinrich Philipp Boßler. The music dealer Boßler also published well-known first and early prints by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart. The compositions of

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

were treated with special distinction in Bossler's publishing house. As impresario of the successful star virtuoso on the glass harmonica

Marianne Kirchgessner Harmonica 1. Marianne Antonia Kirchgessner, also Mariana Kirchgessner, Kirchgäßner, (5 June 1769 in Bruchsal, Holy Roman Empire, – 9 December 1808), was a German glass harmonica player. She was blind from eye disease caused by smallpox when ...

, Bossler undertook extensive concert tours throughout Europe and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Around 1779 he invented a machine to simplify music printing, which caused a sensation and enjoyed high acclaim. The publishing house subsequently founded by Heinrich Philipp Bossler in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

in 1780 was one of the most important music publishers of the time. Heinrich Philipp Bossler was considered a pioneer in the field of

music journalism Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary o ...

. In addition, his invention of a music printing press for fast, inexpensive and precise printing of sheet music was highly respected. His publishing works belong to the realm of German cultural treasures and are marked by

musicological Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

relevance. Heinrich Philipp Bossler refused to publish

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

s. This characteristic made his music publishing house almost unique by the standards of the time. Bossler also gained importance as the impresario of

Music Journals

* ''Blumenlese für Klavierliebhaber. Eine musikalische Wochenschrift'' * ''Bibliothek der Grazien. Eine Monatsschrift für Liebhaberinnen und Freunde des Gesangs und Klaviers'' * ''Musikalische Korrespondenz der Teutschen Filharmonischen Gesellschaft''

Publisher

* ''Elementarbuch der Tonkunst zum Unterricht beim Klavier für Lehrende und Lernende''

Bibliography in English language

* Hans-Martin Plesske,
Bossler, Heinrich Philipp Carl
'', at:

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

, 2001.

Bibliography in German language

* Hubert Unverricht, ''Haydn und Bossler'', at: Festskrift Jens Peter Larsen – 14.VI.1902 – 14.VI.1972. Herausgegeben von Nils Schiørring, Kopenhagen 1972, p. 285–300. *

Joshua Rifkin Joshua Rifkin (born April 22, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist. He is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer, he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestre Revueltas; ...

, ''Ein Haydn-Zitat bei Bossler'', at: Haydn-Studien Bd. IV, Heft 1, Köln Mai 1976, p. 55–56. * Hans Schneider, ''Der Musikverleger Heinrich Philipp Bossler 1744–1812. Mit bibliographischen Übersichten und einem Anhang Mariane Kirchgeßner und Boßler'', Tutzing 1985, ISBN 3-7952-0500-X. * Hans Schneider, ''Die musikalische Welt des jungen Beethoven – Beethovens Verleger Heinrich Philipp Boßler'', Bonn 2001, ISBN 3-88188-064-X. * Günther Grünsteudel, ''„Der König liebt seine Kompositionen ausserordentlich...“''. Rosetti und Bossler in Berlin 1792, at: ''Rosetti-Forum'', issue 6, 2005, p. 23–32
Digitalisat
PDF; 47 kB). * Harald Hassler, ''Bossler, Heinrich Philipp'', at: Musiklexikon in vier Bänden, 2nd updated and expanded edition, Vol. 2 ''–'' A to E, Stuttgart 2005, p. 325. * Bill Oswald, ''Bossler, Heinrich Philipp'', at: ''Stadtlexikon Darmstadt'', Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8062-1930-3, p. 96

.

References

1744 births 1812 deaths German music publishers (people) German musicologists 18th-century German engravers 18th-century German male artists German impresarios People from Darmstadt {{DEFAULTSORT:Bossler, Heinrich Philipp