Making History
Making History
Embedded Files
Contemporary Accounts
Contemporary Accounts
The name Arthur P. Schmidt appears frequently in American music publications from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, often in connection with public performances of the music he had published and—occasionally—as a subject of interest in his own right. Here is a selective yet growing collection of such articles:
Boston Musical Herald (1890)
The Musical Courier (1901)
Musical America (1921)
“Arthur P. Schmidt Is Dead.” The Diapason 12, no. 7 (June 1, 1921): 16.
Dunham, Henry Morton. The Life of a Musician Woven into a Strand of History of the New England Conservatory of Music. New York: Richmond Borough, 1931. See pages 63, 66–69.
Fisher, William Arms. One Hundred and Fifty Years of Music Publishing in the United States: An Historical Sketch with Special Reference to the Pioneer Publisher, Oliver Ditson Company, Inc. Boston: Ditson, 1933. Reprint. St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1977. See pages 118–120.
Foote, Arthur. Arthur Foote, 1853–1937: An Autobiography. Norwood, MA: Plimpton, 1946. See pages 51–52.
Foote, Arthur. “Schimdt, Arthur Paul.” Dictionary of American Biography 16. Edited by Dumas Malone. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935. See page 440.
Freese, Myron V. “The Boston Publishers’ ‘Who’s Who’.” Jacobs’ Orchestra Monthly and The Cadenza 16, no. 5 (May 1925): 8–10 and 23.
Hale, Philip. “Arthur P. Schmidt.” Boston Herald (May 7, 1921): 12.
“The Late A. P. Schmidt.” New York Times (May 22, 1921).
Mason, Daniel Gregory. “Hall-Marks of Musical Snobs.” Arts & Decoration 13, no. 3 (Aug. 1920): 156.
“Publisher Schmidt Presented with Loving Cup.” Musical Courier 72, no. 7 (Feb. 17, 1916): 26.
“Tribute Paid to Arthur P. Schmidt.” The Musical Courier 79, no. 1 (July 3, 1919): 31.
In the Archives
In the Archives
Woman’s Work in Music: A List of Compositions by American Women (Boston: Arthur P. Schmidt, [1901]), in A. P. Schmidt Company Archives, 1869–1958 (Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.), box 506, music catalogs: subjects, folder 1.
The A. P. Schmidt Company Archives, housed at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., is one of the most important resources for studying American art music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Spanning 1869 to 1958, the collection includes thousands of items: music manuscripts (many in the composers’ own hand), publication catalogs, business and financial records, correspondence with leading musicians, and rare photographs from Schmidt's personal collection. These materials illuminate Schmidt’s approach to publishing the music of American composers, the financial obstacles he faced, and the professional networks through which he influenced the international music trade. Highlights include autograph scores of the major works Schmidt brought to press as well as letters from composers such as Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and George Whitefield Chadwick.
The Birch Tree Group, Ltd., Archive is housed at the Eastman School of Music’s Sibley Music Library in Rochester, New York. The collection contains documents and related materials from the period following Schmidt’s retirement in 1916 through the firm’s eventual sale and dissolution half a century later.
Historical Studies
Historical Studies
The five scholarly studies that directly address Schmidt's life and work are joined by many others that provide tantalizing glimpses of the music publisher through his interactions with American composers.
Arthur P. Schmidt, Music Publisher and Champion of American Women Composers
Arthur P. Schmidt, Music Publisher and Champion of American Women Composers
Block, Adrienne Fried. “Arthur P. Schmidt, Music Publisher and Champion of American Women Composers.” In The Musical Woman: An International Perspective. Volume II: 1984–1985. Edited by Judith Lang Zaimont, Catherine Overhauser, and Jane Gottlieb. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1987. Pages 145–176.
Edward MacDowell, Arthur P. Schmidt, and the Shakespeare Overtures of Joachim Raff
Edward MacDowell, Arthur P. Schmidt, and the Shakespeare Overtures of Joachim Raff
Bomberger, E. Douglas. “Edward MacDowell, Arthur P. Schmidt, and the Shakespeare Overtures of Joachim Raff: A Case Study in Nineteenth-Century Music Publishing.” Notes 54, no. 1 (Sept. 1997): 11–26. https://doi.org/10.2307/899930.
Arthur P. Schmidt: The Publisher and His American Composers
Arthur P. Schmidt: The Publisher and His American Composers
Cipolla, Wilma Reid. “Arthur P. Schmidt: The Publisher and His American Composers.” In Vistas of American Music: Essays and Compositions in Honor of William K. Kearns. Edited by Susan L. Porter and John Graziano. Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 1999. Pages 267–81.
Marketing the American Song in Edwardian London
Marketing the American Song in Edwardian London
Cipolla, Wilma Reid. “Marketing the American Song in Edwardian London.” American Music 8, no. 1 (Spring 1990): 84–94. https://doi.org/10.2307/3051937.
The Immigrant Journey of Arthur P. Schmidt
The Immigrant Journey of Arthur P. Schmidt
Strykowski, Derek R. “The Immigrant Journey of Arthur P. Schmidt: Tracing a Nineteenth-Century Music Publisher’s Social and Cultural Capital from Hamburg to Boston.” American Music 41, no. 4 (Winter 2023): 453–75. https://doi.org/10.5406/19452349.41.4.02.
Ayars, Christine Merrick. Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston, 1640 to 1936. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1937. Reprint. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1969. See pages 38–41.
Block, Adrienne Fried. Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: The Life and Work of an American Composer, 1867–1944. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Block, Adrienne Fried. “Why Amy Beach Succeeded as a Composer: The Early Years.” Current Musicology 36 (1983): 41–59. See pages 54–55.
Bomberger, E. Douglas, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.
Bomberger, E. Douglas. MacDowell. The Master Musicians. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Buchanan, Elizabeth Moore. “The Anthems and Service Music of Amy Beach Published by the Arthur P. Schmidt Company.” MA Thesis. The American University, 1996.
Cipolla, Wilma Reid. A Catalog of the Works of Arthur Foote, 1853–1937. Detroit: College Music Society, 1980. See pages ix–xi.
Cipolla, Wilma Reid. “Schmidt, Arthur P(aul).” Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Cipolla, Wilma Reid. “Schmidt, Arthur P(aul).” In Music Printing and Publishing. Edited by D. W. Krummel and Stanley Sadie. New York: Norton, 1990. See pages 413–14.
Dichter, Harry, and Elliott Shapiro. Handbook of Early American Sheet Music, 1768–1889. New York: Bowker, 1941. Reprint. New York: Dover, 1977. See page 231.
Faucett, Bill F. “Amy Beach and Her Publishers.” In The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach. Edited by E. Douglas Bomberger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.
Faucett, Bill F. George Whitefield Chadwick: The Life and Music of the Pride of New England. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2012.
Hisama, Ellie M. Gendering Musical Modernism: The Music of Ruth Crawford, Marion Bauer, and Miriam Gideon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. See page 5.
McCabe, Maryann. Mabel Daniels : An American Composer in Transition. New York: Routledge, 2018. See pages 92–94, 97–99.
Sonneck, O. G. Catalogue of First Editions of Edward MacDowell. Washington: Library of Congress, 1917. Reprint. New York: Arno, 1971.
Stewart, Nancy Louise. “The Solo Piano Music of Marion Bauer.” Dissertation. University of Cincinnati, 1990. See pages 12–22.
Tawa, Nicholas E. Arthur Foote: A Musician in the Frame of Time and Place. Composers of North America Series, No. 22. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1997. See pages 113–14.
Tawa, Nicholas E. From Psalm to Symphony: A History of Music in New England. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001. See pages 126–27.
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