G. Henle Verlag is a German music publishing house specialising in

Urtext edition An urtext edition of a work of classical music is a printed version intended to reproduce the original intention of the composer as exactly as possible, without any added or changed material. Other kinds of editions distinct from urtext are facs ...

s of classical music. The catalogue includes works by composers from different epochs periods, in particular composers from the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

to the early twentieth century whose works are no longer subject to copyright. In addition to sheet music, G. Henle Publishers also produces scholarly complete editions, books, reference works, and journals. Since 1995, Henle the range also includes pocket scores (17 x 24 cm). In 2016 Henle began offering the Urtext editions in digital format in an app for iOS and Android tablets ("Henle Library").

History

The publishing house G. Henle Verlag was founded on 20 October 1948 by Günter Henle with the permission of the US military government. The publishing house initially had offices in

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Under the direction of its founder, scholarly readings of musical sources and, based on this work, the editing, production and distribution of

s constituted the objective of the company from the very beginnings. The typical blue book cover, which is still used today, was chosen at that time, as was the design of the title font, created by Joseph Lehnacker (1895–1965). In 2000 the logo and title design were fundamentally modernised by communication designer Rolf Müller (1940–2015). From the start, Günter Henle attached great importance to 'clear and precise engraving, a balanced arrangement of the pages, legible type-faces and aesthetically pleasing typesetting of the word parts. For several decades,

music engraving Music engraving is the art of drawing music notation at high quality for the purpose of mechanical reproduction. The term ''music copying'' is almost equivalent—though ''music engraving'' implies a higher degree of skill and quality, usually f ...

was commissioned to the Universitätsdruckerei H. Stürtz (

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

), later other engravers in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

contributed. Towards the end of the 1990s, computer typesetting replaced manual engraving. Nearly all of the original engraving plates produces by the engraving workshops are still to be found in the publisher's archives. Because of Günter Henle's involvement in large-scale industry, the publishing house was initially ridiculed as a 'Klöckner music factory', Klöckner being a mass producer of steel and metal products. But it quickly developed to become an important German music publisher. The first publications to appear were Urtext editions of

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

's piano sonatas in two volumes, edited by Walther Lampe, and

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

's Impromptus and Moments Musicaux, edited by Günter Henle and

Walter Gieseking Walter Wilhelm Gieseking (5 November 1895 – 26 October 1956) was a French-born German pianist and composer. Gieseking was renowned for his subtle touch, pedaling, and dynamic control—particularly in the music of Debussy and Ravel; he made inte ...

. The founder of the publishing maintained close contacts and friendships with Gieseking and numerous important musicians of his time, including

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Bra ...

Erich Kleiber Erich Kleiber (5 August 1890 – 27 January 1956) was an Austrian, later Argentine, conductor, known for his interpretations of the classics and as an advocate of new music. Kleiber was born in Vienna, and after studying at the Prague Conservato ...

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...

Igor Oistrakh Igor Davidovich Oistrakh (russian: И́горь Дави́дович О́йстрах; uk, Ігор Давидович Ойстрах 27 April 1931 – 14 August 2021) was a Soviet and Russian violinist. He was described by ''Encyclopædia Brita ...

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist.

and

Rudolf Serkin Rudolf Serkin (28 March 1903 – 8 May 1991) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century. Early life, childhood debut, and education Serkin was born in t ...

. Today, the publishing catalogue comprises around 1500 Urtext editions and some 750 scholarly publications, making it the world's leading publisher of Urtext music editions. In 1955, the staff relocated to a newly acquired publishing house at Schongauer Strasse 24; 23 years later, in 1978, the publishing house acquired its present offices at Forstenrieder Allee 122 in Munich. The following year (1979), Günter Henle died, leading to the closure of the Duisburg offices and the expansion of the Munich subsidiary. In 1993, an upper floor was added to the building; in 2005 the ground floor was modernised. The first managing director of the publishing house, alongside Günter Henle, was Friedrich Joseph Schaefer (1907–1981). He was succeeded in 1969 by Martin Bente (born 1936), first as commercial manager in the Munich branch, then from 1979 as managing director and head of publishing. In 2000, Wolf-Dieter Seiffert (born 1959) was appointed managing director and head of publishing. He had been chief editor or editor of the publishing house since 1990. The academic editing department plays a central role at the Henle publishing house. All Urtext editions are subject to strict scholarly and aesthetic criteria with regard to source and text criticism, correctness, beauty and user-friendly presentation of the music (pagination, fingerings etc.), as well as in terms of the stringency and comprehensibility of the prefaces and the critical apparatus. The following musicologists with doctorates have shaped or continue to shape the Urtext profile of the publishing house: Ewald Zimmermann (1910–1998), from 1953–1975 (also director of the Duisburg publishing office) (see also); Ernst Herttrich (born 1942) from 1970 to 1990; Ernst-Günter Heinemann (born 1945) from 1978 to 2010; Wolf-Dieter Seiffert (born 1959) from 1990 to 2000; Norbert Gertsch (born 1967) since 1997 (from 2009 at the same time deputy head of publishing and programme director); Norbert Müllemann (born 1976) since 2008 (chief editor since 2017). In 1972 Günter Henle founded Günter Henle Stiftung München he Günter Henle Foundation, Munich which later became the owner of the publishing house. The Foundation was initially chaired by Henle himself and, after his death, by Walter Keim (1979–1981); he was followed by Anne Liese Henle, wife of Günter Henle (1981–1994) and C. Peter Henle (born 1938), son of Günter and Anne Liese Henle from 1994 to 2016. Since 2016 Felix Henle (born 1968), son of C. Peter Henle, has been Chairman of the Board of the Foundation. With the founding of the Joseph Haydn Institute in Cologne in 1955, in which Günter Henle played a decisive role, the Henle publishing house expanded beyond its Urtext editions to include the publication of other important scholarly complete editions and scholarly publications in book form. In 1981, when the publishing house appeared at the first German Music Fair in Tokyo, Japan, G. Henle USA Inc. was also founded in North America, initially as a joint venture based in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Missouri. From 1985, this sales office was continued as a sole subsidiary of the Munich parent company. Holger A. Siems (born 1942) became managing director, having been the sales manager of the publishing house since 1976. This branch was closed in 2007. Since then, G. Henle Verlag has been represented exclusively on the North American market by the Hal Leonard Corporation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The publishing house also presented itself in China when it attended the first International Book Fair in Beijing in 1986. In 1995, it granted its first licence for sheet music production to the Chinese state publisher People’s Music Publishing House in Beijing. To this day, numerous Urtext editions of G. Henle Verlag for the Chinese market are published under licence with this partner firm, as well as with the Shanghai Music Publishing House. G. Henle Verlag is preparing a printed history of the publishing house for the anniversary year 2023.

Henle Publications

Urtext Editions

The heart of the G. Henle Verlag catalogue are the Urtext (original text) editions: musicologically researched, accurate musical texts for practising musicians, they contain an explanatory apparatus expounding on the sources consulted (

autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Inter ...

s, copies, early printed editions) and on the readings chosen (‘Critical Report’). The Urtext programme covers almost the entire range of important piano music and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

for smaller orchestrations, complete piano works by

J. S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

, Chopin,

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

, W. A. Mozart,

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

; in addition, numerous other selected piano works for two or four hands (including Dvořák, Granados, Grieg,

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...

Rachmaninov Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of ...

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

Reger Reger is a German surname, derived from the Middle High German ''reiger'', meaning "heron", likely referring to a tall thin person.''Dictionary of American Family Names''"Reger Family History" Oxford University Press, 2013. Retrieved on 16 January ...

Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conse ...

, Scarlatti,

Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...

and many more), as well as organ works and the entire standard repertoire for chamber music ensemble. In addition, there are complete editions of Beethoven’s and Haydn’s Lieder, and the principal

song cycles A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle, of individually complete songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarel ...

of Robert Schumann. Urtext editions in small pocket format (the ‘Studien-Edition’ series), and several

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, Old master print, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from ...

editions of composers’ manuscripts, are also a part of the Henle catalogue.

Level of difficulty

The entire repertoire of G. Henle Verlag for piano solo (author: Rolf Koenen), violin (Ernst Schliephake) and flute (András Adorján) has been classified in difficulty levels from 1–9. Easy (1–3), Medium (4–6), Difficult (7–9). For example, the Prelude in C major from ''

The Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, ''clavier'', meaning keyboard, referred to a variety of in ...

'' I has been classified as "moderately easy" (grade 2 out of 9), and the ''

Toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuo ...

'', Op. 7 by Robert Schumann as "very difficult" (9 out of 9). This classification is intended to make it easier to find suitable pieces for a particular level of ability.

Special musicological publications and series

Complete Editions

* ''Joseph Haydn Works'', ed. Joseph Haydn-Institut Köln. Munich, since 1958ff. Musicological complete edition of Joseph Haydn's works.The edition, which is planned for 111 volumes, comprises 34 series. The edition is close to being completed. * ''Ludwig van Beethoven: Works. Complete edition'', ed. Beethoven-Archiv Bonn. Munich, since1961 (publications released by Beethoven-Hauses Bonn). The edition is planned for 56 volumes. Three quarters of these have been published so far. * ''Johannes Brahms. New Edition of the Complete Works'', ed. Johannes Brahms Gesamtausgabe, Munich, in conjunction with the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien. Munich, since 1996.Historical-critical new edition of the complete compositional works of Johannes Brahms, with editorial management in Kiel. The edition is planned for 65 volumes in 10 series. * ''Béla Bartók. BBCCE (Béla Bartók Complete Critical Edition)'', Munich (G. Henle Verlag) and Budapest (Editio Musica Budapest Zeneműkiadó), ed. Bartók-Archives of the Hungarian Academy of the Sciences. Since 2017. The edition is planned for 48 volumes and is trilingual (English, German, Hungarian; critical reports and footnotes in English only).

Musicological books and series

= Ludwig van Beethoven

= * ''Ludwig van Beethoven. Correspondence''. Complete edition, ed.

Sieghard Brandenburg Sieghard Brandenburg (21 January 1938 – 18 December 2015) was a German musicologist, who stood out especially as a Beethoven researcher. Life Born in Bad Frankenhausen, Brandenburg studied music (main subject oboe), musicology and mathematics ...

, Munich 1996–1998. Volumes 1–6 cover letters from 1783 to 1827, volume 7 the index. Volume 8 (documents, subject index) is in preparation. * ''Beethoven aus der Sicht seiner Zeitgenossen eethoven as seen by his contemporaries', ed.

Klaus Martin Kopitz Klaus Martin Kopitz (born January 29, 1955, Stendal) is a German composer and musicologist. He became known in particular with his album ''Mia Brentano's Hidden Sea. 20 songs for 2 pianos''. In the US, it was 2018 on the annual "Want List" of t ...

and

Rainer Cadenbach Rainer Cadenbach (1 July 1944 – 22 May 2008) was a German musicologist and University professor. Life Born in near Kassel, Cadenbach studierte German (with Benno von Wiese and Rudolf Schützeichel), philosophy (with Hans Wagner and Hariolf ...

, 2 vol., Munich 2009. * ''Ludwig van Beethoven. Thematic Bibliographical Catalogue of Works'', ed. by Kurt Dorfmüller, Norbert Gertsch and Julia Ronge with the additional support of Gertraut Haberkamp and the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, revised and significantly expanded new edition of the Catalogue of Works by Georg Kinsky and Hans Halm, Munich 2014.

= Johannes Brahms

= * ''Johannes Brahms. Thematic Biliographical Catalogue of Works'', ed. Margit L. McCorkle after conjunctual preparatory work with Donald McCorkle, Munich1984.

= Joseph Haydn

= * ''Haydn-Studies''. Publications of the Joseph Haydn-Instituts Köln, since 1965. The journal is published irregularly.

= Max Reger

= * ''Max Reger Catalogue of Works'', ed. Susanne Popp for the Max-Reger-Institut in collaboration with Alexander Becker, Christopher Grafschmidt, Jürgen Schaarwächter and Stefanie Steiner, Munich 2011.

= Robert Schumann

= * ''Robert Schumann. Thematic Biliographical Catalogue of Works'', ed. Margit L. McCorkle, Munich 2003.

= Other publications

= * ''Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM)'', ed. under the patronage of the International Society of Musicology and the

International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres The International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML), also known as ''Association Internationale des Bibliothèques, Archives et Centres de Documentation Musicaux'' (AIBM) and ''Internationale Vereinigung der ...

, Series B. Munich since 1960. RISM is a worldwide catalogue of musical, manuscript and printed sources preserved in all countries up to the year 1800 and beyond. The G. Henle Verlag publishes the systematically conceived Series B.. * ''The Legacy of German Music,'' ed. by Musikgeschichtliche Kommission e.V., Munich. Since 1964. * ''Kataloge Bayerischer Musiksammlungen atalogue of Bavarian Music Collections', ed. by Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek, München, since1971. * ''Scholarly Compilations, books and periodical

'

References

External links

*The official website and online catalogue of G. Henle Verlag:
www.henle.com
*Website of Henle Library (app)
www.henle-library.comDr. Wolf-Dieter Seiffert Interview
NAMM Oral History Library
Holger Siems Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2006) {{Authority control Sheet music publishing companies, Henle Verlag, G. Henle Verlag, G. Publishing companies established in 1948