Horneman & Erslev

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History

From the article in Grove by Dan Fog^[1]:

Danish firm of music publishers and dealers (1846-1879). It was established in Copenhagen in January 1846 by the composers Emil Horneman (1809–1870) and Emil Erslev (1817–1882), succeeding the firm of Horneman & de Meza (founded 1844). In 1859 Horneman left the company, which continued under Erslev. In the 1860s some editions show the firm as Horneman & Erslev (Emil Erslev), others as Emil Erslev (Horneman & Erslev). On 20 April 1869 it was taken over by the composer and musicologist S.A.E. Hagen (1842–1927), who continued publishing under the name of Horneman & Erslev but was ultimately absorbed by Wilhelm Hansen in June 1879.

The company held a central position in Copenhagen’s music life. Each person Horneman, Erslev and Hagen had his own interest:

• Horneman was a fertile and popular composer who after leaving Erslev managed the music publishing house of Chr. E. Horneman, owned by his son, the composer C.F.E. Horneman, a friend and publisher of Grieg. This had been founded in 1861 and issued a number of periodicals including Musikalske Nyheder (1861–75) and Nordiske Musikblade (1872–75).
• Erslev was not only an esteemed composer, but also a respected performer; he co-founded the Students’ Choral Society (which his son-in-law Niels Gade conducted).
• For his part, S.A.E. Hagen was a composer, but is better known for his comprehensive and valuable collections of notes on Danish music history (MS in the Royal Library, Copenhagen).

The number of works published exceeds 1150. Plate numbers were used from 1850. Important music periodicals, edited in sequence by Horneman, Erslev and Hagen, include Musikalsk museum (31 vols., 1847–79; songs and piano music), with numerous first printings of noted compositions, and Album for sang (9 vols., 1867–77; songs), also including original editions of Scandinavian music. A large and important music hire library with excellent printed catalogues (1847, 1850–54, 1856, 1860) survives in the State Library at Århus.

Editions

Imprints, Addresses, Agencies^[2]

Imprints

• Horneman & de Meza (1844–1846)
• Horneman & Erslev (1846–1860)
• Horneman & Erslev or Horneman & Erslev (Emil Erslev) (1860–1866)
• Horneman & Erslev or Emil Erslev (Horneman & Erslev) (1866–1869)
• Horneman & Erslev or Horneman & Erslev (S. A. E. Hagen) (1869–1879)

Addresses

All addresses are in Copenhagen, Denmark:

• Holmens Kanal 259 (1844–1845)
• Amagertorv 3 (1845–1860)
• Amagertorv 6 (1860–1879) - same address as before, but house numbers changed in Copenhagen in 1860

Plate Numbers

Plate numbers were introduced around 1850, starting with plate number 200. Earlier publications that were originally issued without plate numbers sometimes received numbers below 200 in later reprints. However, plate numbers below 200 were not assigned chronologically. The year of first publication can therefore be estimated based on the plate numbers^[2]:

IMSLP Entries

Show publications by type/instrument/language/composer

Catalogues

• 1852:
  • Horneman & Erslevʼs Forlags-Catalog over Musikalier, Lithographier o.s.v. udkomne indtil 1ste Juli 1852. Kjöbenhavn: Berlingske Bogtrykkeri, 1852. 30 pages. Online available in publisher catalogues.

For further research, the page Research Sources for Denmark contains links to catalogues from other Danish publishers.

Sources Consulted

[1]

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie. (New York and London: Macmillan Publications, 1980).

[2]

Dan Fog. Musikhandel og Nodetryk i Danmark efter 1750. II: Nodetryk efter 1750. (København: Dan Fog Musikforlag, 1984), 182.

Links

• Scores published by Horneman & Erslev