Boosey & Hawkes: The Publishing Story
A History of the Music Publishing Company
Boosey & Hawkes is one of the premiere music publishing companies in the world today. It publishes the classical, jazz, opera and serious music catalogues of revered composers.
History of Boosey & Hawkes
Founded as Boosey & Sons by John Boosey in the late 1700s, the company originated as a lending library with most of their earnings from the sale of sheet music. In 1816, Boosey’s grandson Thomas, Jr. founded Boosey & Company and expanded it to include scores and works by Rossini and Hummel, Donizetti and Verdi.
The company later diversifed by venturing into wind and brass instrument manufacturing. However, the launch of the 1867 London Ballad Concerts, (of which Boosey presented the artists and published the music they were singing) allowed Boosey to build the foundations of a serious music catalogue that proved to be the most lucrative aspect of the company’s investments for several decades.
Nephews William and Arthur guided the company through the ballad boom after which Leslie Boosey took over and remained Chairman of the company until 1964.
Founded by Williams Hawkes in 1865 as Hawkes & Son, the company became prosperous by representing music for military bands. Hawkes had been the State Trumpeter to Queen Victoria and after retirement, teamed with French bandmaster Jules Riviere. They provided sheet music for reed and brass bands, manufactured instruments, fittings, and reeds for military bands.
William’s son, Oliver, later succeeded in publishing pieces for educational bands and orchestral arrangements. Their commercial hits included The Glow Worm, Venus on Earth, Valse September and In The Shadow.
In 1920, Geoffrey and Ralph Hawkes inherited the firm from their father, Oliver, taking on the responsibilities of music publishing and instrument manufacturing. Ralph acquired the catalogue of Winthrop Rogers, whose list included works by John Ireland. They were also involved with music for film and were viewed as a ‘junior company from tin pan alley.'
The Merger of Boosey & Hawkes
In 1924 cinemas were employing union musicians, all playing live from sheet music. After the arrival in 1929 of The Jazz Singer, the first talkie, cinemas adopted mechanically produced music and within months, a major segment of the film music market had evaporated.
With Hot Jazz on the rise and edging out the emotional balladeers, the sales of sheet music fell drastically. Boosey’s concerts were reduced as Europeans enjoyed big band jazz and broadcasts of the London Radio Dance Band on the BBC. When the BBC decided to prevent “plugging,” Ralph Hawkes joined the Performing Rights Society (PRS) board and successfully fought what would have prevented any acknowledgment of a composer or their works over the air.
It was at PRS where he met Leslie Boosey. The two men assessed their strengths and realized a merger would be best for their companies. After six months of negotiations, Boosey & Hawkes was formed in October 1930.
What is a Music Publisher?
Boosey & Hawkes represents the song catalogues of classical, jazz and serious music composers for placement in films, sheet music, recordings, radio, and live performances. Under the aegis of Leslie Boosey and Ralph Hawkes, the company became one of the premiere music publishing companies in the world.
Today the company represents the catalogues of such respected classical composers as Bartok, Strauss, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofieff, Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, and Leonard Bernstein.
Jazz artists such as the Pulitzer Prize winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D'Rivera, pianists Andrew Hill, Chick Corea, and David Benoit have their catalogues under the careful support of respected song representatives.
Steve Reich the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, has enjoyed great success as a result of his affiliation with Boosey & Hawkes , while composer John Adams has seen his operas performed consistently as well as having been termed ‘America’s unofficial composer laureate.’
Suggested reading: Boosey & Hawkes: The Publishing Story by Helen Wallace
Stravinsky
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