Chappell & Co.
| Industry | Music |
|---|---|
| Fate | Bought by Warner Bros. |
| Successor | Warner/Chappell Music |
| Founded | 1810 |
| Defunct | 1987 |
| Headquarters | London, England |
| Products | Sheet music, pianos |
Chappell & Co. was an English company that published music and manufactured pianos.
It was founded in 1810 by Samuel Chappell (c.1782–1834) in partnership with music professors Francis Tatton Latour and Johann Baptist Cramer. Cramer was also a well-known London composer, teacher and pianist. The firm's premises included large showrooms for pianos and other musical instruments (for sale or hire) and sheet music on several floors and became a prominent landmark on Bond Street. Chappell was active in forming the Philharmonic Society. The firm's reputation grew fast, and in 1819, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote to a colleague regarding a piece that he wished to publish, "Potter says that Chappell in Bond Street is now one of the best publishers." Chappell died in 1834, and his oldest son William Chappell (1809–1888) took over, managing the firm on behalf of his widowed mother, Emily Chappell née Patey. Around 1843, William left to join Cramer & Co. and later to found the Percy Society and the Musical Antiquarian Society. His younger brother Thomas Patey Chappell (1819–1902) then took charge. Originally concentrating on music publishing and concert promotion, the firm started manufacturing pianos in the 1840s.
Thomas extended the publishing business of Chappell & Co. and focused the publishing company on musical theatre, a specialty that is still important to the success of Chappell today. The firm promoted concerts, operas and other events that might create a market for music sales. Thomas conceived of and sponsored the Monday and Saturday Popular Concerts at St James Hall (1859), which was partly owned by the family. The concerts were successfully managed by a younger brother, Samuel Arthur Chappell, until they came to an end in 1901. One of Tom Chappell's successes was the publication of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas and other music of Arthur Sullivan, as well as, earlier, Gounod's Faust, Balfe's The Bohemian Girl. He was also one of the original directors of the Royal College of Music and one of the original governors of the Royal Albert Hall. Thomas died in 1902. Thomas was of the founding members of the Music Publishers Association and became the Association's first Chairman and held the office between 1881 and 1900. William Boosey wrote,
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