Chappell & Co.
Chappell & Co.
Chappell & Co., London music publishers, concert agents, and piano manufacturers, founded in 1810 by Samuel Chappell, J.B. Cramer (the pianist), and ET. Latour. Cramer retired in 1819, Latour in 1826, and S. Chappell died in 1834, when his son William (1809–88) became the head of the firm. In 1840 he established the Musical Antiquarian Soc, for which he ed. Dowland’s songs; he also ed. and publ. A Collection of National English Airs (two vols., 1838–39), later enl. as Popular Music of the Olden Time (two vols., 1855–59; rev. by H.E. Wooldridge and publ, in two vols., 1893); he left an unfinished History of Music (vol. I, London, 1874). His brothers, Thomas Patey (1819–1902) and S. Arthur (1834–1904), were respectively the founder and manager of the Monday and Saturday Popular Concerts. In 1897 the partnership became a limited company, and Thomas was succeeded by his son, T. Stanley (d. 1933), as board chairman; later, William Boosey became managing director. In 1929 the firm was acquired by Louis Dreyfus. The American branch, under the direction of Max Dreyfus, brother of Louis, publ. the songs and musical comedies of Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, and other popular composers.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire