Ricordi

Contents

History

Giovanni Ricordi (1785-1853)
Cover
Cover
Giulio Ricordi (1840-1912)
Cover 1906
Tosca poster
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Modern cover

Ricordi means Italian opera. "As primary publisher of the operas of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi, and almost every other Italian composer who achieved even a modest amount of fame, Ricordi’s career followed and helped to shape the institutions of Italian opera." (RIPM entry)

Casa Ricordi was founded in 1808 by violinist Giovanni Ricordi (1785-1853). In 1825, Ricordi purchased the complete musical archives of the La Scala opera house and in 1839 he acquired copyright interest in Giuseppe Verdi's music that marked the beginnings of a long working relationship. During the 1840s, the firm grew to become the largest music publisher in southern Europe. In 1842 the company commenced publishing the musical journal the Gazzetta Musicale di Milano (1842-1902).

The firm continued to grow after the founder's death in 1853, under the Ricordi dynasty. It acquired F. Lucca at Verdi's behest in 1888. Until 1919, when outside management was appointed, four successive generations of the Ricordi family were at the helm of the company. The most notable personality was Giulio Ricordi (1840-1912) who was closely involved in nurturing the operatic career of composer Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). Giulio Ricordi's interests also extended to composing, art, design and painting. Under him, the company issued the series of opera advertising posters (The Ricordi Portfolio, 1914) that became extremely popular throughout Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and remain so to this day.

Despite severe damage from aerial bombardment in World War II, the Ricordi archives and collections survived largely intact thanks to the management's foresight in having them safely stored away from Milan. Following reconstruction after the war, Ricordi was converted to a limited corporation by the family in 1952 and in 1956 it became a publicly traded company. In 1994, Ricordi was acquired by the German conglomerate BMG's Music Publishing division.

In 2007 BMG then sold its entire music publishing business (including, in additon to Ricordi, Durand-Salabert-Eschig and Editio Musica Budapest) to the record label Universal Music Publishing Group (no relation to Universal Edition Vienna). Universal Music Publishing Group, formerly MCA, founded in the 1920s holds many copyrights including Strangers in the Night.

Composers published by Ricordi during their lifetimes


Editions

  • Antonio Vivaldi: Le Opere di Antonio Vivaldi (1947-1963)
Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi. Direzione Artistica di Gian Francesco Malipiero (32 Volumes in 400 books)
  • L'Arte Musicale in Italia
  • Beethoven: Piano Sonatas. Edited by Alfredo Casella, 1920.
  • Haydn: Piano sonatas. Edited by Guiseppe Buonamici, before 1914.
  • I grandi classici per i giovani pianisti (The Classics for Young Pianists)
  • Coleccion didactica de obras maestras

Dating Ricordi publications

Imprints


  • Giovanni (or Gio., or G.) Ricordi (1808-1853)
  • Tito di Gio. (sometimes simply Tito) Ricordi (1853-1859)
  • Tito di Gio. Ricordi, or R. Stabilimento Ricordi (1860-1888)
  • R. Stabilimento Tito di Gio. Ricordi e Francesca Lucca di Ricordi & C. (1888-1897)
  • G. Ricordi & C. (1898-present)

Known addresses, overseas offices and agencies, dates


Italy

  • Milano (Milan)
1108 Contrada S. Margherita (1808)
4068 Contrada di PescariaVecchia (1809-1812)
1065 Contrada S. Margherita (1812-1816)
1118 Contrada S. Margherita (1816-1821)
1148 Contrada S. Margherita (1821-1828)
1635 Via Ciovasso (1828-1838)
1720 Contrada degli Omenoni (1838-ca.1865)
1 Via Omenoni (1867-ca.1880?)
27-29-31 Galleria Vittorio Emanuele (1875-ca.1888)
21 Viale di Porte Vittoria (1884-ca.1889?)
9 S. Margherita (1889-1910)
Viale Campania (1910)
2 Via Berchet (1910-present)
  • Firenze (Florence)
Ricordi e Grua (1824)
Ricordi, Pozza e C. (1824-1828)
Ricordi e Compagno (1828-ca.1840)
G. Ricordi e S. Jouhaud (1840-1860)
Succursale Ricordi (1865-1871)
  • Torino (Turin)
Giudici e Strada (ca.1835-ca.1860)
  • Napoli (Naples)
Pietro Clausetti (agent: 1846-1864)
Ricordi e Clausetti (1864-1892), simply Ricordi thereafter
  • Roma (Rome) - Branch office (from 1871)
  • Palermo - Branch office (from 1888)
  • Genova (Genoa) - Branch office (from 1953)

England

  • London
Grua e Ricordi (1824-1828)
Branch office (from 1867)

France

  • Paris
François Blanchet (1841-1858)
Bureau Central de Musique (1843-1854)
Leon Escudier (1854-1881)
Branch office (from 1887)

Germany

  • Leipzig - Branch office (1901-1945)
  • Munich - Branch office (from ca.1955)

Argentina

  • Buenos Aires - Branch office (from 1904)

USA

  • New York - Branch office (from 1911)

Brazil

  • Sao Paolo - Branch office (from 1927)

Switzerland

  • Basel - Lörrach - Branch office (from 1949)

Canada

  • Toronto - Branch office (from 1954)

Australia

  • Sydney - Branch office (from 1956)

Mexico

  • Mexico City - Branch office (from 1958)

Edition numbers

  • Edition R1544: Wissmer (Pierre), 2nd symphony (1951), published (Paris: Ricordi) 1955

Plate numbers


Note: Ricordi plate numbers were assigned in a regular ascending order for the most part. The list below gives ranges of numbers and corresponding year dates. Ricordi issued a plate number when a work was assigned to an engraver, so any given plate number could have taken more than a year to actually appear in print. The large jump in plate numbers in 1890 was due to the acquisition of the the complete catalogue of the Milian publisher F. Lucca the previous year. The letters that often appear before and after the number itself are a designation of the individual house engraver and the table location a given title (or section) was assigned to.

1  (1808)
2-100  (1809-11)
101-131  (1812)
132-150  (1813)
151-176  (1814)
177-200  (1815)
201-247  (1816)
248-300  (1817)
301-436  (1818)
437-652  (1819)
653-1116  (1821)
1117-1418  (1822)
1419-1802  (1823)
1803-2138  (1824)
2139-2347  (1825)
2348-2777  (1826)
2778-3310  (1827)
3311-3987  (1828)
3988-4235  (1829)
4236-4835  (1830)
4836-5288  (1831)
5289-5911  (1832)
5912-7331  (1833)
7332-7865  (1834)
7866-9009  (1835)
9010-9862  (1836)
9863-10094  (1837)
10095-10621  (1838)
10622-11839  (1839)
11840-12848  (1840)
12849-13375  (1841)
13376-14309  (1842)
14310-15902  (1843)
15903-16973  (1844)
16974-17957  (1845)

17958-19371  (1846)
19372-20235  (1847)
20236-21146  (1848)
21147-22271  (1849)
22272-23053  (1850)
23054-24012  (1851)
24013-24880  (1852)
24881-26131  (1853)
26132-27780  (1854)
27781-28568  (1855)
28569-29234  (1856)
29235-30180  (1857)
30181-30833  (1858)
30834-31287  (1859)
31288-32826  (1860)
32827-33822  (1861)
33823-34843  (1862-63)
34844-36831  (1864)
36832-39479  (1865)
39480-40478  (1866)
40479-40874  (1867)
40875-41258  (1868)
41259-41743  (1869)
41744-42157  (1870)
42158-42477  (1871)
42478-42861  (1872)
42862-43628  (1873)
43629-44104  (1874)
44105-44359  (1875)
44360-44913  (1876)
44914-45640  (1877)
45641-46089  (1878)
46090-46755  (1879)
46756-47140  (1880)
47141-47816  (1881)

47817-48477  (1882)
48478-49036  (1883)
49037-49554  (1884)
49555-50361  (1885)
50362-51072  (1886)
51073-52297  (1887)
52298-53376  (1888)
53377-54178  (1889)
54179-54989  (1890)
54990-94972  (1891)
94973-95642  (1892)
95643-96463  (1893)
96464-97560  (1894)
97561-98302  (1895)
98303-100312  (1896)
100313-100937  (1897)
100938-102268  (1898)
102269-103521  (1899)
103522-103590  (1900)
103591-104717  (1901)
104718-107880  (1902)
107881-108878  (1903)
108879-110000  (1904)
110001-111016  (1905)
111017-111360  (1906)
111361-112178  (1907)
112179-112412  (1908)
112413-113160  (1909)
113161-113491  (1910)
113492-114218  (1911)
114219-114516  (1912)
114517-114897  (1913)
114898-115060  (1914)
115061-115489  (1915)
115490-116866  (1916)


Regular Issues

Plate Composer Work Year
000302 Diabelli Grand Cello Sonata, Op.92 (parts) 1817
000310 Diabelli Variazioni sopra un tema favorito, Op.57 1817
010983 Herz Variations brillantes on Bellini's 'La Sonnambula', Op.105 1839
023614 Giorgetti String Quartet No.2, Op.30 (score) 1852
036966-67 Beethoven Piano Sonatas. (ed. Luca Fumagalli) 1868
041811 Mattei Non è ver 1870
044192 Gottschalk Scherzo Romantique, Op.73 1875
044528 Martucci Mazurka di Concerto, Op.4 1876
044540 Martucci Scherzo, Op.23 1876
042113 Castoldi, C. Don Carlo, opera di G. Verdi : capriccio per pianoforte ed harmonium, Op.6 1871
096788 Becucci Tesoro Mio, Op.228 1894
098049 Monti Petite Methode for Mandolin, Op.245 1895
109205 Tavan Fantaisie sur 'Tosca' 1903
111481 Tavan Grande fantaisie sur 'Madame Butterfly' 1906
111942 McEwen String Quartet No.4 1908
112480 La Tombelle La fausse enchanteresse 1908
112713 Pick-Mangiagalli Sirventese (vn part, piano, ed. by Ševčík) 1908
115961 Tavan 2 Grandes fantaisies sur 'La bohème' (no.1) 1917
116742 Casella Pupazzetti, Op.27 1916
116836 Casella Sonatina, Op.28 1917
116839 Casella Barcarola, Op.15 1918
117017 Casella Toccata, Op.6 1918
117034 Zanella Scherzo-studio, Op.59 1917
117295 Casella A Notte Alta, Op.30 1918
117488-89 Zanella 2 Poemetti, Op.65 1919
117948 Anzoletti Concerto, Op.30 (vn, pno reduction) 1920
118477 Castelnuovo-Tedesco Cantico, Op.19 1921
118258 Setaccioli Clarinet Sonata, Op.31 (score&part) 1921
118705 Mariotti A Ferrara (score) 1922
119404 Pizzetti Cello Sonata (sc&pt) 1923
120172 Pick-Mangiagalli 2 Lunaires, Op.33 (No.2, Danse d'Olaf) 1916
121612 Puccini Sister Angelica (English version) 1930
122970 Casella Introduzione, aria e toccata per orchestra, Op.55 (score) 1934
123095 Labroca Stabat mater : per soprano, coro a quattro voci miste e orchestra (klav.aus. by comp.) 1934
124683 Dallapiccola Volo di notte (v.s., red. by Ricc. Nielsen) 1940
128585 Zafred Wind Quintet (parts) 1952
128863 Bettinelli, B. Sinfonia breve (fs) 1958
129165 Zafred Viola concerto (red. va/pf) 1957?
129293 Gagnebin Piano concerto (red. 2 pianos) 1957
129643 Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No.2, W247, 250-252, 254, 568, 569 1949
129830 Zafred Symphony No.6 (full score) 1960
129923 Zafred Piano Concerto (red. by Amisano) 1960
130818 Zafred Elegia in tre tempi (viola & orch, red. viola & pf) 1965
131648 Maderna Grande aulodia (score) 1970
131960 Maderna Aura (1972) per orchestra (ristampa) (large sc.) 1974
131987 Maderna Venetian journal (da Boswell) (tenor, tape, orch.) (score) 1973
138496 Sciarrino String Quartet No.7 (sc&pts) 1999
138787 Sciarrino 2 Arie notturne dal campo (voice & string quartet) 2001


Plate Composer Work Year
E.R. 101-102 Philipp Etudes techniques pour servir à l'enseignement supérieur du piano 1919
E.R. 828 Bach Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 (piano tr. by Tagliapietra) 1927
E.R. 975 Anzoletti 12 Studies, Op.125 1929
E.R. 1817 Bach Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543 (piano tr. by Tagliapietra) 1936
E.R. 2413 Rossini La Danza 1982(?)


Plate Composer Work Year
N.Y. 1555 Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No.4, W264, 424 (arr. for orchestra) 1953
N.Y. 1945 Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No.3, W388 1953
Plate Composer Work Year
De Benedictis Crepúsculo 1963
BR-2832 De Benedictis Miragem 1964
BR-2891 Barbosa Estudos brasileiros para piano 1965
Barbosa Estudos brasileiros para acordeon 1955

IMSLP Entries

Plate #Full PlateComposerWorkIMSLP #Full YearYear

See Also

Authority control

  • VIAF (Ricordi (Firm))
  • VIAF (Ricordi, Giovanni, -1853)