Harmonia Mundi is a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

that specializes in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

(on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

PIAS Entertainment Group PIAS is a Belgian corporation that specialises in independent music recording, licensing, distribution, sales, and marketing. The company was founded in 1982 by Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot in Brussels, Belgium,. Website] Play It Again, SamDiffe ...

, which is itself 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, ...

as of October 2024. Its Latin name ''harmonia mundi'' translates as "harmony of the world".

History

In the 1950s, two music entrepreneurs, Frenchman

Bernard Coutaz Bernard Coutaz (30 December 1922 – 26 February 2010) was a French musical publisher, founder of the Harmonia Mundi label. Coutaz was born into a working-class family in Saint-Auban-sur-l'Ouvèze and studied at the Salesians of Don Bosco, but wa ...

and German Rudolf Ruby, met by chance on a train journey and started a friendship based on their musical interests. They formed a business relationship and set up two classical music record labels, both named ''Harmonia Mundi''. Coutaz's Harmonia Mundi (France) was founded in Saint-Michel-de-Provence, France, in 1958, and around the same time, Rudolf Ruby set up

Deutsche Harmonia Mundi Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (founded 1958) is a German classical music record label. It was founded by Rudolf Ruby and based in Freiburg, Breisgau. The company was acquired by BMG Music in 1992 and is now part of Sony Music Entertainment. Ruby had Alf ...

. The two labels shared similar aims and specialised in recordings of

Early Early may refer to: Places in the United States * Early, Iowa, a city * Early, Texas, a city * Early Branch, a stream in Missouri * Early County, Georgia * Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort Music * Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...

and

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...

, with an emphasis on scholarly,

historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

and high-quality sound and production values. They also shared the ''Harmonia Mundi '' name for commercial reasons and collaborated for many years, sharing artists, material and distribution, and competing successfully with classical labels such as

Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre (commonly referred to as L'Oiseau-Lyre) is a French music publishing company and a classical music record label that specialises in Early music, Early and Baroque music. It was founded in 1932 as a publisher of scholar ...

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

and

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

Archiv Produktion Archiv Produktion is a classical music record label of German origin. It originated in 1948 as a classical label for the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft (DGG), and in 1958 Archiv was established as a subsidiary of DGG, specialising in recordin ...

. The association between the two labels began to loosen after Deutsche Harmonia Mundi partnered with

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

and then with

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. In 1989

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 ...

(BMG) took over the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's distribution. Ruby retired in 1992 and Coutaz tried unsuccessfully to buy the German record label and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi was wholly acquired by BMG. BMG is part of

Sony Classical Records Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by ...

. Coutaz's Harmonia Mundi continued as an independent label for many years. In 1986 Harmonia Mundi (France) moved to

Arles Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...

, France. Harmonia Mundi (US) is a branch of Harmonia Mundi (France). There are also operations in the United Kingdom and in Spain. The label was acquired by

in September 2015. In November 2022,

purchased 49% stake in PIAS Group">[PIAS(including Harmonia Mundi).

Catalogue

Noted artists and ensembles who have recorded with Harmonia Mundi have included Maya Youssef, René Jacobs, Dominique Visse">René_Jacobs.html" ;"title="Maya Youssef, Maya Youssef, René Jacobs, Dominique Visse, William Christie (musician)">William Christie, Alfred Deller">René Jacobs">Maya Youssef, René Jacobs, Dominique Visse, William Christie (musician)">William Christie, Alfred Deller, Andreas Scholl, Philippe Herreweghe, Maurice Steger, Alexander Melnikov (pianist), Alexander Melnikov, Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Kent Nagano, Samuel Hasselhorn, Raphaël Pichon, Amandine Beyer,

Freiburger Barockorchester Freiburger Barockorchester (Freiburg Baroque Orchestra) is a German Baroque orchestra founded in 1987, with the mission statement: "to enliven the world of Baroque music with new sounds". History The orchestra is based in Freiburg im Breisgau. ...

les Siècles Les Siècles is a French symphony orchestra founded in 2003 by François-Xavier Roth, with ambition to put works from the 17th to 21st centuries into today's perspective. The musicians of the orchestra play each repertoire on the historical instru ...

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin A German Akademie is a school or college, trade school or another educational institution. The word Akademie (unlike the words Gymnasium or Universität) is not protected by law, and any school or college may choose to call itself Akademie. A Som ...

and Collegium Vocale. Harmonia Mundi also issues recordings under a number of subsidiary labels such as Ambronay, Discograph, Le Chant du Monde and World Village.

Awards

Harmonia Mundi has received several accolades for its specialist recordings, including Label of the Year 2003 in the

Gramophone Classical Music Awards The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. The British awards are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy ...

; Best Opera Recording for René Jacobs' recording of ''

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...

'' at the

2005 Grammy Awards The 47th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2005, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording of the year beginning from October 1, 2003, through September 30, 2004. They were hosted by Queen La ...

; and Label of the Year 2006 at the Midem Classical Awards.

References

External links

Official website

World Village Records
* {{Authority control French companies established in 1958 Arles Companies based in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Classical music record labels Early music record labels IFPI members French jazz record labels Record labels established in 1958