Image Archive - Schott Music (EN)

Bernhard Schott who founded the company in 1770.

Bernhard Schott’s certificate of graduation as a clarinetist in the Royal Artillery Regiment, Strasbourg.

The first publication: On the title page of the cantata “Der Tod Jesu” by Georg Anton Kreusser, Bernhard Schott confidently describes himself as a “court music engraver”.

Awarded “Privilegium exclusivum”, Bernhard Schott becomes the only permitted publisher of sheet music in the Electorate of Mainz.

Under Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, Archbishop and Prince-Elector of Mainz from 1774, fine arts and music flourished. (portrait artist unknown).

Piano reduction of “Le nozze di Figaro” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The young Ludwig van Beethoven (oil painting by an unknown artist, mid-19th century)

The Weihergarten main building, Schott Music’s headquarters, in an undated drawing that documents the original design from 1791.

Siege and fire of Mainz, 1793

In 1806 Bernhard Schott acquired “Sandhoff” near Mainz to produce paper. However, this development never proceeded. (map from 1755).

The painting by the well-known portrait painter Benjamin Orth, who had studied in Mainz portrays the three Schott brothers who inherited the publishing house after Bernhard Schott’s death.

Industrialisation gains momentum. The modern “Schnellpresse” printing press is introduced around 1810.

First publication bearing publisher house’s new name “B. Schott’s Söhne”

Letter from Beethoven to the his publisher, 1824.

Title page of the first edition of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony

Paper making in the early 19th century

Letter from Richard Wagner to the publishers, 1830

Foundation agreement of the Schott branch in Brussels

Andreas Schott

Johann Joseph Schott

Engraving book from 1846

Peter Schott in 1855

Franz Schott at the age of 21 in a lithograph by A. Selb (1832)

Betty Schott, from a wealthy background, is painted here in oil by Benjamin Orth.

James Schott

Peter Schott

This room in the Weihergarten (Schott Music’s headquarters) is known today as the Wagner Saal. Richard Wagner read from his text for “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” here.

Villa Wagner on the Rhine, drawing 1862

“The thicker the workers, the thinner the Strecker”: early caricature by Willy Strecker of Richard Wagner’s immense advance and fee claims against Ludwig Strecker.

Franz Schott, grandson of the founder, is a successful publisher, mayor of Mainz for several years, and a generous patron of the arts.

From the end of the 19th century, Schott London was based at 157-159 Regent Street.

The Schott music shop (second house from the right) on the Frankfurt Zeil around 1870.

Richard Wagner’s first handwritten text draft for “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”

Peter Schott, grandson of Bernhard Schott, spends most of his life in Belgium. He resided initially at the Schott location in Antwerp before moving to the premises in Brussels.

Ludwig Strecker, 1875

Richard Wagner had a very close relationship with Franz and Betty Schott and even dedicated a short piano piece to Betty.

Schott’s premises in London, the “Wagner House” was located on the luxurious and fashionable Regent Street.

Ludwig Strecker and his wife, 1882

Portrait of Richard Wagner in the year of his death, 1883. (painting by Franz von Lenbach)

“Per mare et terras” (by land and sea) is Schott’s motto, alluding to the internationality of the publisher. The graphic artist Peter Halm incorporated it with the “Mainzer Rad” from the city’s coat of arms to create this new Schott vignette in 1885.

Ludwig Strecker against a landscape backdrop in a photo from the 1880s.

One of the few Schott-Sydney publications, the Wurnuga waltz (“Wurnuga” is an Aboriginal word for “Pardon”) with its magnificent cover (around 1885).

Schott Brussels edition of “Die Silberquelle” by Franz Bendel, 1989

Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera “Hansel and Gretel”, premiered in Weimar in 1893, and quickly became one of the most popular repertoire pieces (complete piano reduction with text, 1894).

Peter Schott. runs the Brussels and Paris branches until they were sold in 1889 and 1892, respectively.

Signet: Schott in London, Mainz, Brussels and Paris (1906)

Schott London moves to new premises at 48 Great Marlborough Street in 1908. The shop, Schott Music London, and the publishing house above, can still be found here today.

Distinguished customers and employees at Schott in London’s Regent Street shop (around 1904; fourth from right, standing: Willy Strecker).

Publishing house at the Weihergarten, around 1909

The early Edition Schott logo

It must go on: While the First World War is raging on the front, Schott continues to engrave music publications (the engraver by B. Schott’s sons in 1915).

The Weihergarten in 1919

Willy Strecker as a draftsman (1920)

Ludwig Strecker and Willy Strecker, 1920

A full-page advert in the “Börsenblatt for the German book trade” dated December 1, 1913, Schott advertises the new “Edition Schott Single Edition”.

Schott logo in the early 20th century

Weihergarten, 1933

Book binders, 1937

Soldier song book, 1938

Ludwig Strecker unexpectedly inherits the company. As a 22-year-old, after hurriedly completing his studies, he joins the publishing house on January 2, 1875.