Auguste Durand

Marie-Auguste Massacrié-Durand (18 July 1830 – 31 May 1909) was a French organist, publisher, and composer of classical music.

Durand was born in Paris and studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Cesar Franck and Camille Saint-Saëns. He started as an organist in 1849 in Saint-Ambroise, then at St. Genevieve, St. Roch and St. Vincent de Paul (1862–74).

Together with Louis Schoenewerk and other sponsors, Durand founded the company Durand-Schoenewerk & Cie. in December 1869 and acquired the important catalogue of Paris music publisher Gustave Flaxland (1821–1895), which had grown from approximately 1,200 titles in 1847 to 1,400 titles in 1869. This included the French rights to the early Wagner operas.

Following a dispute, the company dissolved on 18 March 1885 and was sold at auction in May 1896. Auguste Durand and Louis Schoenewerk bought the firm in its entirety, and they reconstituted the company with Durand's son Jacques (1865–1928).

In November 1891, Jacques replaced Schoenewerk and the name changed to A. Durand & fils. Jacques assumed control of the company in 1909 when his father died, and brought in his cousin Gaston Choisnel (d. 1921) as a partner.

Durand became an expert in the publication of works by French composers including Victorin de Joncières, Edouard Lalo, Jules Massenet, Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns, Maurice Ravel, Albert Roussel and Paul Dukas. The company also published the French editions of Tannhäuser, The Flying Dutchman and Lohengrin by Richard Wagner and many editions of old masters including, in particular, a complete critical edition of Rameau edited under the initial direction of Saint-Saëns.

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