Talk:Boosey & Hawkes

Boosey & Hawkes
Hi, well done on all the work you are doing for this page, I have been doing a little research myself intending to do an article on Boosey & Co. Are you certain that John Boosey's lending library was a music lending library as the references I found to it don't mention music? Thanks Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 00:38, 25 May 2007 (UTC)


 * You're welcome. Please do add to the article, and write a proper introductory paragraph for it if you'd like to do so. I got the information on John Boosey's music lending library from the newspaper article, so I can't really say how accurate that is. By the way, you don't happen to live in London, do you? A photograph of the Boosey & Hawkes Music Shop at 295 Regent Street would be great for illustrating the article. Cheers, Jacklee 00:47, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

John Adams
The link to John Adams should be edited. It takes you to the President John Adams, which has no relation to the contemporary composer John Adams, which is the reason his name appears on the Boosey and Hawkes page. Either take the John Adams president link off the website, or create a John Adams contemporary composer page. Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 198.111.178.4 (talk • contribs).


 * He already has an article here John Adams (composer) (if you look at the top of the John Adams page there is a disambiguation page which lists him. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel). 09:49, 31 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for pointing that out. I've put in a link to "John Adams (composer)". Cheers, Jacklee 09:52, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Hello hello non profit no publicity Wikipedia
Good business for Boosey and Hawkes !!! Signed : a naughty non-profit french day-dreamer  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tiglou (talk • contribs) 19:35, 26 September 2007 (UTC)


 * If you feel you can improve the article, or create or improve articles on other major music publishing companies for balance, please do! Cheers, Jacklee 21:39, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Dear Jacklee

I sure won't, too much to do. I was just a bit surprised to find this B and H page, while Wikipedia is so careful (peeky) about copyrights, publicity, and all that stuff... What about a Wikipage about GM or Renault ? user:tiglou


 * The article used to be a stub, but I read an interesting piece about the history of Boosey & Hawkes in a newspaper and thought it would be good to update the Wikipedia article based on the information found there. One thing led to another, and I ended up doing a general update of the article. I don't think the article is biased; I took pains to ensure that it is balanced and that facts and assertions are backed up by references. Cheers, Jacklee 16:30, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
 * By the way, there are articles on both "General Motors" and "Renault", both of which look more extensive than the one on Boosey & Hawkes. Cheers, Jacklee 14:56, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

OK, you're right about GM and Renault. I should have checked, so sure I was about the non-profit no-business publicity Wiki official policy... The B and H Story is quite something, like the one of all major european music houses (Durand with Debussy and Ravel, Ricordi with Verdi and Puccini, Bärenreiter, Breitkopf, etc...) By the way, your article is very interesting and well done. Cheers, Signed : French Tiglou —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tiglou (talk • contribs) 19:47, 2 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks :-). What sort of articles do you generally work on? Cheers, Jacklee 22:06, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Regardless of the following [now previous &mdash; JackLee 14:10, 17 March 2008 (UTC)] comment, their business is purveying art: classical music, sometimes at its very finest, so they should be exempt from corporate restrictions. Music Publishers have an essential role in the history of classical music, and we need to know more about the behind-the-scenes action.

Not mentioned is the fact that for several years, Carl Fischer was the majority stockholder. I worked at the New York office in 1984-85, a key transitional period, from the presidency of Stuart Pope to the short-lived tenure of Dr. Jerome Bunke, to the direct administration by Tony Fell and Janice Susskind of the London office.

The executives of the New York office were responsible for the taking over of the Leonard Bernstein catalog from his Amberson Enterprises, in my experience. Tony Fell visited from London for a few days every few month. Located in the same building on W. 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan, they maintained close relations, Boosey being heavily involved with publishing Bernstein's concert music and Amberson handling more of his popular and less-known music. There was debate if it was appropriate for Boosey to handle all of it. I knew Sylvia Goldstein, the corporate attorney and vice-president to be the driving force behind the acquisition of Amberson. At that time, Bernstein was about the fourth-highest royalty/fee earning composer, the first being no other than Bela Bartok (about $45,000) due to the popularity of Concerto for Orchestra, and his Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, which was frequently choreographed and staged by dance companies for hefty grand rights fees. Next came Richard Strauss ($40,000), then Aaron Copland ($38,000) and I think Bernstein was next, bringing in around $32,000), followed by Ginastera at about $28,0000, almost entirely due to the frequent performances of his Harp Concerto, mostly by virtuosa Heidi Lehwalder. I remember these figures (not as well as I used to) because they were so impressive, and I had access to the files due to my copyright and contracts work.

Because the company was in serious financial straits, enough to lead to my being laid off later on, they were concerned about the royalty incomes, as that was their bread-and-butter, and the Strauss operas were starting to enter the public domain, and Bartok would soon follow. There were no great earners among their younger composers, the most successful probably being Steven Reich and David del Tredici. They were not finding any new great talents, either, for some reason. They were concerned for quality at the time, to some degree, anyway. It was proposed that they move the New York office to a cheaper location, perhaps even to Farmingdale, Long Island, where the rental library and editorial offices were. That was not a popular notion. Thus, the acquisition of Amberson was crucial in their remaining at the 57th Street location, and it was decided by Carl Fischer, the majority share holder that they remain, after London had decided to leave to save money. It was later arranged by Fischer for the rental library to relocate to their cavernous building on Astor Place, and the executive offices moved to their current location. Working there was a fascinating experience. Baron D. Z. (talk) 00:55, 17 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Interesting! The article could do with more information on recent events. Is any of what you mentioned available in published form – in newspaper articles or books, for instance – that could be referenced in the article? &mdash; Cheers, Jack Lee  –talk– 14:10, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070513171819/http://www.boosey.com/pages/corporate/ to http://www.boosey.com/pages/corporate/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20051128005204/http://www.boosey.com/pages/corporate/saledetail.asp to http://www.boosey.com/pages/corporate/saledetail.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061223015313/http://www.boosey.com/pages/corporate/overview/wealthofmusic.asp to http://www.boosey.com/pages/corporate/overview/wealthofmusic.asp
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