The Early Years

The Schott publishing house was founded by Bernhard Schott (1748 - 1809) in Mainz in 1770, the year of Beethoven’s birth.  The building, dated and now under a preservation order, is still the company’s head office.  At the time of the foundation of the publishing house, Mainz boasted a flourishing cultural life and a busy court chapel.  In 1780 Bernhard Schott was awarded the ’privilegium exclusivum’ together with the title of ’Court music engraver’.  This meant that within the boundaries of the electorate of Mainz no third party was allowed to re-engrave or sell the works produced by him.  Schott was one of the first publishers to use the printing technique of lithography, which meant that his editions were soon being printed and distributed on a wide scale.

The publishing house rapidly became established beyond the national borders of Germany.  As early as 1823 Schott founded a branch in Antwerp,  followed by Brussels in 1839 and further offices in musical centres such as Leipzig, London, Paris and Vienna.  From the very beginning, it was its commitment to contemporary music that earned the publishing house its international reputation.  Initially, the publishing programme included works by composers from the Mannheim School such as Carl Stamitz and Georg Joseph Vogle, as well as virtuoso ballroom music and comic operas.  The publication of the piano scores and first editions of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni and Die Entführung aus dem Serail were among the highlights of the publishing house’s early history.  They were soon followed by major late works of Ludwig van Beethoven, including  the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis and the last two string quartets.

Illustration:
Decree of 1780, in which Bernhard Schott was awarded the "Privilegium exclusivum" and the title of  "Court Music Engraver". (Autograph)