The Theodore Presser Company is an American music publishing and

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

company located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, formerly

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania King of Prussia (also referred to as KOP) is a census-designated place in Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 22,028. The community took its unusual name in the 18th ...

, and originally based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuing music publisher in the United States. It has been owned by Carl Fischer Music since 2004.

History

Theodore Presser

Theodore Presser was born July 3, 1848, in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, to German emigrant Christian Presser and Caroline Dietz. As a young man, he worked in an iron foundry helping to mold cannon balls for the army during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. This activity proved too strenuous for his young physique, and at 16, he began selling tickets for the Strokosch Opera Company in Pittsburgh. In 1864, he began working as a clerk at C.C. Mellor's music store in Pittsburgh. He eventually achieved the position of sheet-music department manager. Presser began his musical studies at 19 by learning to play the piano. At 20, he began studies music at

Mt. Union College The University of Mount Union is a private university in Alliance, Ohio. Founded in 1846, the university was affiliated with the Methodist Church until the spring of 2019. In the fall of 2020, Mount Union had an enrollment of 1,958 undergraduate ...

, where he stayed for a year, and then worked as a piano teacher at Ohio Northern University for two years. Further studies were completed at Miami Conservatory of Music, the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Hu ...

, and the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany under

Reinecke Reinecke is a surname. Notable people with the name include * Carl Reinecke (1824–1910), German composer, pianist and conductor * Edwin Reinecke (1924– 2016), former Lieutenant Governor of California * Hans-Peter Reinecke, actor * Hermann Rein ...

, Jadassoh, and Zwintscher. His late start in learning to play the piano handicapped his technique. Theodore Presser's house in Lynchburg, Va

He is credited as the founder of the Department of Music at

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium ...

, where he taught 1876–1878. While there, he founded the Music Teachers National Association. His studies in Germany lasted from 1878 to 1880. He then became director of music at Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia. In October 1883, while working at Hollins, he began publication of '' The Etude'' music magazine with only $250 in cash. The immediate success of his new magazine prompted him to seek larger publishing facilities in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1884. Presser died in Philadelphia on October 28, 1925. He married Helen Louise Curran (1890; d. 1905) and Elise Houston (1908; d. 1922). He is interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

The Presser Company

Presser's need for music content within ''The Etude'' resulted in his establishment as a dealer and publisher. Following the purchase of the

John Church Company The John Church Company Building is a historic commercial building in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Designed by one of Cincinnati's most prominent architects, it was home to one of the country's leading vendors of sheet music and musi ...

in 1930, the Theodore Presser Company acquired the Oliver Ditson Company in 1931. Through this acquisition, Presser traces its origins to 1783, when Batelle's Book Store (later the Oliver Ditson Company), began a music-publishing business in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1972, the Theodore Presser Company acquired Elkan-Vogel and its locally represented agencies (including Hamelle et cie.,

Henry Lemoine Henry Lemoine (21 October 1786 – 18 May 1854) was a French music publisher, composer, and piano teacher. Life Lemoine was born in Paris, where he was a pupil of Anton Reicha, a composer and piano teacher. In 1816 he took over his father An ...

et cie., and others), making the Theodore Presser Company a major distributor of

French music ''French music'' may refer to: * Music of France, music of the French people in France ''French music'' may also refer to the music of French-speaking countries: *Music of Quebec, music of the French-Canadians in Canada, most often Québécois or ...

in the United States. On August 31, 2004, Presser closed its retail music stores in both King of Prussia and Center City Philadelphia. The company now focuses primarily on publishing and distribution activities from its headquarters. In 2017, Presser acquired Columbia Music Company, founded by Sophocles Papas. In addition to its own catalog, Presser represents the music of more than 70 U.S. and foreign publishers, including

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-base ...

, Peermusic Classical,

Éditions Alphonse Leduc The Éditions Alphonse Leduc company is a prominent French music publishing house specializing in classical music. It was created in Paris in 1841. Since January 2014, Leduc is part of the Wise Music Group (formerly the Music Sales Group). His ...

, and

Bärenreiter Bärenreiter (Bärenreiter-Verlag) is a German classical music publishing house based in Kassel. The firm was founded by Karl Vötterle (1903–1975) in Augsburg in 1923, and moved to Kassel in 1927, where it still has its headquarters; it also ...

Presser Foundation

The publishing company that Presser founded was so successful that in 1906, Presser was able to express his appreciation to those who made this success possible by establishing the Presser Home for Retired Music Teachers located on West Johnson Street in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia. His

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

zeal is continued to this day through his foresight in forming the Presser Foundation in 1916, nine years before his death. Each year, the Presser Foundation awards scholarships, grants, and funds specifically to further the cause of music and music education in America.

Composers published by Theodore Presser

* Samuel Adler * William Albright *

Martin Amlin Martin Amlin (born June 12, 1953) is an American composer and pianist. He was born in Dallas, Texas.Martin Aml ...

Daniel Asia Daniel Asia (born June 27, 1953) is an American composer. He was born in Seattle, Washington, in the United States of America. Biography He received a B.A. degree from Hampshire College and a M.M. from the Yale School of Music. His major teacher ...

P.D.Q. Bach P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer invented by the American musical satirist Peter Schickele, who developed a five-decade-long career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines ...

Seymour Barab Seymour Barab (January 9, 1921 – June 28, 2014) was an American composer of opera, songs and instrumental and chamber music, as well as a cellist, organist and pianist. He was best known for his fairy tale operas for young audiences, such as ' ...

Irwin Bazelon Irwin Bazelon (June 4, 1922 in Evanston, Illinois – August 2, 1995) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Contemporary American composer Irwin Bazelon's music is known for its interesting rhythms and its emphasis on th ...

Warren Benson Warren Benson (January 26, 1924 – October 6, 2005) was an American composer. His compositions consist mostly of music for wind instruments and percussion. His most notable piece is titled ''The Leaves Are Falling''. Biography Benson was born in ...

Chester Biscardi Chester Biscardi (b. Kenosha, Wisconsin, Kenosha, Wisconsin, October 19, 1948; nicknamed Chet) is an Italian American composer and educator. He received a B.A. degree in English literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1970); he stu ...

* William Bolcom *

Victoria Bond Victoria Ellen Bond (born 6 May 1945) is an American conductor and composer in New York City. Early life Victoria Bond was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of operatic bass and medical doctor Philip Bond (a vocalist with the New York ...

Louis Calabro Louis Calabro (November 1, 1926 – October 21, 1991) was an Italian American orchestral composer. Calabro studied piano and composition at Juilliard School of Music. Vincent Persichetti was his principal teacher there. Louis Calabro was a mu ...

Ronald Caltabiano Ronald Caltabiano (born December 7, 1959) is an American arts administrator and composer of contemporary classical music, with his music showing elements of modernism and romanticism. He holds B.M., M.M., and D.M.A. degrees from the Juilliard Scho ...

* Chen Yi *

Valerie Coleman Valerie Coleman is an American composer and flutist as well as the creator of the wind quintet Imani Winds. Coleman is a distinguished artist of the century who was named Performance Today's 2020 Classical Woman of the year and was listed as “ ...

Ruth Crawford Ruth Crawford Seeger (born Ruth Porter Crawford; July 3, 1901 – November 18, 1953) was an American composer and folk music specialist. Her music was a prominent exponent of the emerging modernist aesthetic and she became a central member of a g ...

* Daniel Dorff * John Downey *

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of ...

* Donald Erb *

Eric Ewazen Eric Ewazen (; born March 1, 1954, Cleveland, Ohio) is an American composer and teacher. Biography Ewazen studied composition under Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, and Eugene Kurtz at the Eas ...

David Felder David Felder (born November 27, 1953) is an American composer and academic who was a SUNY Distinguished Professor at the University at Buffalo until his retirement in 2022. He was also the director of both the June in Buffalo Festival and the Rob ...

* Carlos Gardels * Ricky Ian Gordon * Adolphus Hailstork * Iain Hamilton * Donald Harris *

Michael Hersch Michael Nathaniel Hersch (born June 25, 1971) is an American composer and pianist. Biography Early life and musical education Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Reston, Virginia, Hersch was introduced to classical music at the age of 18 ...

Lejaren Hiller Lejaren Arthur Hiller Jr. (February 23, 1924, New York City – January 26, 1994, Buffalo, New York)Lejaren Hi ...

* Katherine Hoover *

Huang Ruo Huang Ruo (黃若, born 1976) is a Chinese-born composer, pianist and vocalist who now lives in the United States. Biography Born on Hainan Island off the southern coast of China in 1976, Huang was taught piano and composition from the age o ...

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...

* Stephen Jaffe *

Robert Jager Robert Edward Jager (born August 25, 1939) is an American composer, music theorist and a conductor. Life Jager was born in Binghamton, New York on August 25, 1939. From 1962 to 1965 he was arranger/composer for the US-Navy Armed Forces School ...

* Martin Kennedy *

Earl Kim Earl Kim (1920–1998; née Eul Kim) was an American composer, and music pedagogue. He was of Korean–descent. Early life, education, and training Kim was born on January 6, 1920 in Dinuba, California, to immigrant Korean parents. He began p ...

* William Kraft * Ezra Laderman * Henri Lazarof *

David Leisner David Leisner is a classical guitarist, composer, and teacher at the Manhattan School of Music. He previously also taught at the New England Conservatory. Prior to being disabled by focal dystonia Focal dystonia, or focal task specific dystonia, ...

Gerald Levinson Gerald Charles Levinson (born June 22, 1951 in Westport, Connecticut, Westport, Connecticut) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Life At university, he studied with George Crumb, Richard Wernick, and George Rochberg. After ...

Peter Scott Lewis Peter Scott Lewis (born August 31, 1953 in San Rafael, California) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Career Lewis's works have been commissioned and/or performed by the Rotterdam Philharmonic; Princeton Symphony Orchestra; ...

Lowell Liebermann Lowell Liebermann (born February 22, 1961 in New York City) is an American composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career At the age of sixteen, Liebermann performed at Carnegie Hall, playing his Piano Sonata, op. 1. He studied at the Juilliar ...

Philip Maneval Philip Maneval (born 1956) is an American composer and arts administrator. As a composer, Maneval has written more than 35 solo, chamber music and orchestral works which have been played by groups including the Chicago String Quartet and Miami ...

James Matheson Sir James Nicolas Sutherland Matheson, 1st Baronet, FRS (17 November 179631 December 1878), was a Scottish Tai-Pan. Born in Shiness, Lairg, Sutherland, Scotland, he was the son of Captain Donald Matheson. He attended Edinburgh's Royal High Sch ...

* William Mayer *

John Melby John Melby (born 1941) is an American composer. Life and work John Melby is most widely known for his numerous compositions for computer-synthesized sounds, particularly in combination with live acoustic instruments. In addition to electronic mu ...

Robert Moevs Robert Walter Moevs (2 December 1920 – 10 December 2007) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was known for his highly Chromaticism, chromatic music. Career Moevs was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and served in the Unite ...

Robert Muczynski Robert Muczynski (March 19, 1929 – May 25, 2010) was a Polish-American composer. Muczynski studied piano with Walter Knupfer and composition with Alexander Tcherepnin at DePaul University in Chicago, where he received both his Bachelor of M ...

* Jeffrey Mumford *

Jeff Nichols Jeff Nichols (born December 7, 1978) is an American film director and screenwriter from Little Rock, Arkansas. He studied filmmaking at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Nichols is most known for his films ''Take Shelter'' (20 ...

Carter Pann Carter Pann (born February 21, 1972 in La Grange, Illinois) is an American composer. He studied composition and piano at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. His ...

Thomas Pasatieri Thomas Pasatieri (born October 20, 1945) is an American opera composer. Life and career Pasatieri was born in New York City, United States. He began composing at age 10 and, as a teenager, studied with Nadia Boulanger. He entered the Juilliard S ...

* George Perle *

Vincent Persichetti Vincent Ludwig Persichetti (June 6, 1915 – August 14, 1987) was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, he was known for his integration of various new ideas in musical composition into his own wo ...

Marta Ptaszynska Marta Ptaszyńska (born 29 July 1943) is a Polish composer, percussionist and professor of music at the University of Chicago. She has been described by the Polish Music Center of the University of Southern California as "one of the best known Poli ...

Shulamit Ran Shulamit Ran ( he, שולמית רן; born October 21, 1949, in Tel Aviv, Israel) is an Israeli-American composer. She moved from Israel to New York City at 14, as a scholarship student at the Mannes College of Music. Her Symphony (1990) won her th ...

Behzad Ranjbaran Behzad Ranjbaran ( fa, بهزاد رنجبران; born 1955, in Tehran, Iran) is a Persian composer, known for his virtuosic concertos and colorful orchestral music. Ranjbaran's music draws from his cultural roots, incorporating Persian musical mo ...

Jay Reise Jay Reise (born 1950) is an American composer. Biography Reise spent his childhood surrounded by classical music and jazz, but began his composition studies with Jimmy Giuffre and Hugh Hartwell in 1970. After graduating at Hamilton College in 1 ...

George Rochberg George Rochberg (July 5, 1918May 29, 2005) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Long a serial composer, Rochberg abandoned the practice following the death of his teenage son in 1964; he claimed this compositional technique ...

Bernard Rogers Bernard Rogers (4 February 1893 – 24 May 1968) was an American composer. His best known work is ''The Passion'', an oratorio written in 1942. Life and career Rogers was born in New York City. He studied with Arthur Farwell, Ernest Bloc ...

Carl Ruggles Carl Ruggles (born Charles Sprague Ruggles; March 11, 1876 – October 24, 1971) was an American composer, painter and teacher. His pieces employed " dissonant counterpoint", a term coined by fellow composer and musicologist Charles Seeger to ...

* Peter Schickele *

Gary Schocker Gary Schocker (born October 18, 1959) is an American flutist, composer, and pianist who has performed with the New York Philharmonic (at age 15, in a nationally televised Young People's Concert), the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphon ...

* William Schuman *

Amy Scurria Amy Scurria (born September 24, 1973) is an American composer. Biography Amy Scurria was born into a military family and showed an early interest in music, memorizing the piano assignments of her sister Jackie. At age 11 she took lessons under t ...

Sophie Seipt Sophie Seipt, also seen as Sophie Seibt (1812-1889), was a German composer and arranger who wrote several pieces for cello and piano. Seipt was born in Cologne. Little is known about her education. Her music has been recorded commercially by Kalei ...

* Roger Sessions *

Ralph Shapey Ralph Shapey (12 March 1921 – 13 June 2002) was an American composer and conductor. Biography Shapey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago, where he taught ...

Louise Siddall Louise Siddall (27 January 1879 - 8 December 1935) was an American composer, organist, and music educator. Siddall was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Ellen and Henry A. Siddall. Her father was a member of the North Carolina 26th Regime ...

Netty Simons Netty Simons (née Rothenberg) (b. 26 October 1913, d. 1 April 1994) was an American pianist, music editor, music educator and composer. Biography Netty Simons was born in New York City and studied music at Third Street Music School. She graduated ...

Nellie Bangs Skelton Cornelia (“Nellie”) Pomeroy Bangs Skelton DePue (August 8, 1855 - November 23, 1911) was an American composer, pianist, singer and vocal coach who toured the United States as a pianist. She published and performed as Nellie Bangs Skelton. Skelt ...

Hale Smith Hale Smith (June 29, 1925 – November 24, 2009) was an American composer, arranger, and pianist.De Lerma, Dominique-Rene"African Heritage Symphonic Series" Liner note essay. Cedille CDR061. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he learned pian ...

Julia Frances Smith Julia Frances Smith ( January 25, 1905 – April 18, 1989) was an American composer, pianist, and author on musicology. Life and career She was born in Denton, Texas. She graduated from University of North Texas College of Music (1930) and the ...

Louise Spizizen Louise Fleur Meyers Schlesinger Spizizen (August 24, 1928 - July 2, 2010) was an American composer, critic, harpsichordist/pianist, and singer. She is best remembered today for her research and controversial claim that pianist Johana Harris actually ...

Louise E. Stairs Louise E. Simpson Stairs (March 24, 1892 - November 1975) was an American composer, organist, and pianist, who sometimes published under the pseudonym Sidney Forrest. She composed several cantatas, as well as piano and vocal works for children. St ...

Steven Stucky Steven Edward Stucky (November 7, 1949 − February 14, 2016) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer. Life and career Stucky was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. At age 9, he moved with his family to Abilene, Texas, where, as a teenager, he ...

Robert Suderburg Robert Charles Suderburg (28 January 1936 in Spencer, Iowa – 22 April 2013 in Williamstown, Massachusetts) was an American composer, conductor, and pianist. Biography The son of a jazz trombonist, Suderburg studied composition with Paul Fetle ...

Francis Thorne Francis Thorne (June 23, 1922 – March 7, 2017) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and grandson of the writer Gustav Kobbé. Life Francis Burritt Thorne, Jr. was born in Bay Shore, New York. His father was a ragtime pianist ...

George Tsontakis George Tsontakis (born Astoria, Queens, New York City, October 24, 1951) is an American composer and conductor. Early life and education He was born in New York City, and is of Greek descent. Tsontakis studied composition with Hugo Weisgall and ...

* J. Lilian Vandevere * Cecile Vashaw *

Marion Verhaalen Marion Verhaalen (9 December 1930 – 16 March 2020) was an American composer, music educator, musicologist, and nun who published books about Latin American composers and music. Verhaalen was born in Milwaukee, the fifth child of Carl and Aǵnes ...

* Hazel Volkart *

Marion Vree Marion Frances Wyma Vree-Brown (18 July 1920 – 10 April 2012) was an American composer/arranger and music educator. Vree was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Peter and Mina (Westrate) Wyma. She studied music at the University of Southern Cali ...

Melinda Wagner Melinda Jane Wagner (born 1957 in Philadelphia) is a US composer, and winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in music. Her undergraduate degree is from Hamilton College. She received her graduates degrees from University of Chicago and University of P ...

Caroline Holme Walker Caroline Holme Walker (June 14, 1863 – January 19, 1955) was an American composer, pianist, and teacher who transcribed bird songs into standard musical notation. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Walker studied with Anna Strothotte, James Nor ...

* David Ward-Steinman *

Mabel Madison Watson Mabel Madison Watson (December 16, 1872 – September 12, 1952) was an American composer who taught piano and violin students. She was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to James Madison Watson and Emma Hopper Watson. Her father wrote several school tex ...

Alliene Brandon Webb Alliene Gibbons Brandon Webb (January 2, 1910 – November 1965) was an American composer, singer, and teacher who was born in Palestine, Texas, to Blanche and George Thomas Brandon. She married Robert Barron Webb in 1934. Webb completed a B.A. de ...

* Hugo Weisgall * Dan Welcher * Richard Wernick * Roger Zare * Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

References

External links

Theodore Presser Company (Official Site)The Presser FoundationComplete Listing of Composers Published by Theodore PresserComplete listing of Music Publishers Affiliated with Theodore PresserCarl Fischer Music
* (publisher page) {{Authority control Music publishing companies of the United States Companies based in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Sheet music publishing companies United States National Medal of Arts recipients Publishing companies established in 1883 1883 establishments in Pennsylvania