Meisel Music is a German independent

music publishing 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 intellectua ...

group based in Berlin.

History

The company was originally founded in 1926 by the award-winning German operetta and film composer Will Meisel as Edition Meisel & Co. GmbH. The company experienced early success with victories in the German song contest in 1931 and 1932. In 1933 the Meisel catalog, composed almost entirely of songs by Jewish composers and lyricists, was decimated in the wake of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's new dictatorship, with only seven titles remaining. Edition Meisel & Co. published works by artists such as Walter Kollo, Fred Raymond and Gerhard Winkler. Will Meisel continued to grow the business by actively promoting the publisher's titles with dance orchestra musicians at all major venues, and involving the company in pop festivals and the theater community. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the company's offices were twice destroyed by bombs and rebuilt, with the company eventually establishing new offices at Wittelsbacherstrasse 18 in West Berlin in 1946. In 1960, Will Meisel's sons Peter and Thomas (1940–2014), joined the company and founded Edition Intro Meisel, and Will Meisel withdrew from the publishing house in 1962. Under Peter and Thomas' leadership, very successful titles from German pop music were published, including titles by Christian Bruhn,

Frank Farian Franz Reuther (18 July 1941 – 23 January 2024), known professionally as Frank Farian, was a German record producer and singer who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the pop band No Mercy, and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequent ...

(including all titles by

Boney M. Boney M. is a German reggae, funk and disco music group founded in 1974. It achieved popularity during the disco era in the second half of the 1970s. The band was created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary song ...

), Gunter Gabriel and

Drafi Deutscher Drafi Franz Richard Deutscher (9 May 1946 – 9 June 2006) was a German singer and songwriter of Sinti origin. Biography Early life and career Deutscher was born in Charlottenburg, in the western zone of Berlin, Germany. Between 1964 and 1966 ...

. The Meisel brothers also focused on producing and recording, and established the

Hansa Tonstudio Hansa Tonstudio is a recording studio located in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Germany. The studio, famous for its Meistersaal recording hall, is situated approximately 150 metres from the former Berlin Wall, giving rise to its former nickna ...

recording studios and

Hansa Records Hansa Records (also known as Hansa, Hansa Musik Produktion or Hansa International) was a record label based in Berlin, Germany founded in 1962. History In the early 1960s, brothers Peter and Thomas Meisel, grandchildren of Will Meisel, who was th ...

. In 1984, Peter Meisel sold his shares of the company to Will Meisel. In 1985, after a decline in sales both domestically and internationally, Hansa Records was purchased 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 ...

, who merged them with several other labels like Ariola-Eurodisc to form BMG Berlin Musik GmbH/ BMG-Ariola. The Meisel Music group later established the Monopol label, through which works by Helga Hahnemann, Max Raabe and the Palastorchester and the Schöneberg Boys' Choir have been published. In 1998, Sven Meisel (1966–2016) became the third generation managing director of the Meisel music publishers, a position he held until his death on January 6, 2016. He was succeeded by his wife, Kirsten.

References

{{reflist Companies established in 1926 Music publishing companies of Germany Sheet music publishing companies Opera publishing companies Companies based in Berlin Publishing companies established in the 1920s

History

See also

References