ÉDITIONS ALPHONSE LEDUC
 

Éditions Alphonse Leduc is a family business that has been passed down from father to son over five generations.

The family comes from Arnay-le-Duc in Burgundy and its first musician was Antoine Girard, a violinist who left his father's weaving shop to turn his attention to art. His son Charles Girard, who was born in Arnay-le-Duc in 1754, moved to Nantes and was the first full-time musician. The Girards were a large family and its Nantes branch added Leduc to its name, taken from its place of origin Arnay- le-Duc. From then on all of the Girards of this branch were known as Girard-Leduc, and often, for the sake of simplification in business, just Leduc.

   
Alphonse Leduc, teacher, composer, flute, guitar and bassoon virtuoso and student of Reicha in Paris, was born in Nantes in 1804 and died in Paris in 1868. He transfered his publishing house from Nantes to Paris in 1841.    
His son, Alphonse-Charles Leduc (Paris 1844-1892), created the important instrumental teaching collections which became the company's speciality and have been constantly expanded ever since.    
Alphonse-Charles's son, Alphonse Émile Leduc (1878-1951), continued the teaching collections, developed the company's school edtitions and published several important symphonic composers.    
His sons, Claude-Alphonse (1910-1995) and Gilbert Leduc (1911-1985), who entered the business in 1928, managed and further expanded Éditions A. Leduc from 1951 to 1985.    
           
           
           

 
TODAY
           
The fifth generation is represented by François Leduc (Claude's son) and Basile Crichton (the nephew of Claude and Gilbert Leduc), who have been the managers of the company since 1985, assisted by their respective brothers, Jean Leduc et Michel Crichton.

 

   
       
Basile Crichton   François Leduc      
       
    Michel Crichton Jean Leduc    
           
           

Éditions A. Leduc have absorbed a number of publishing companies during their existence, in recent years B.G., Bornemann, C.Y., Gras, Hamelle, Heugel, Hortensia, King, Notissimo and Ouvrières . They are exclusive agents in France for: Anton J. Benjamin (hire), Carl Fischer (hire), Dilia (hire), Joaquín Rodrigo (sales), E.P.T.C. (Editions & Productions Théatrales Chappell) (hire), F.M.T. (hire), Hug, Foetisch, Pelikan (sales), Lido Mélodies (sales), Marine Handler (hire), M.E.L. (Musique en ligne) (hire), Mercury (hire), Misterioso (sales), Moeck (hire), Pan Educational Music (sales), P.W.M. (hire), Schott Musik International (hire), Schirmer, A.M.P. (sales), Sikorski (sales), Sonzogno (hire), Southern Music Co. (sales and hire), Suvini-Zerboni (Sugar Music) (hire), Theodore Presser (sales and hire), Touch of Brass (sales), U.M.P. (sales and hire), Virgo (sales), Warner Chappell Music France (hire), Zen-On (sales and hire) ;

They are non-exclusive in France for P.W.M. (sales) and Suvini-Zerboni (sales) and non-exclusive worldwide for U.M.P. (sales) (except U.K. and U.S.A.)

Through Diffusion BIM , A. Leduc also distribute internationally the brass music of all publishers worldwide.

The history of the publishing house HEUGEL dates back to 1839 when Jacques Léopold Heugel became the associate of the music publisher Jean Antoine Meisonier. They acquired a periodical, Le Ménestrel, which have been founded in 1833 and was issued until 1940. Their association ended in 1842 when Heugel took over sole control. Léopold Heugel was succeeded on his death in 1833 by his son Henri, since when the company remained in the family until it was bought by Leduc in 1980.

The Heugel catalogue includes all musical genres, both French and international, in particular opera and operetta (Jules Massenet, Ambroise Thomas, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Édouard Lalo, Léo Delibes, Jacques Offenbach, etc.). Since 1920 Heugel has published much modern music, including that of Reynaldo Hahn, Joseph Canteloube, Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, André Jolivet, and, closer to us, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Betsy Jolas, Gilbert Amy. Le Pupitre, a collection of early music was started in 1967, whose critical editions are highly respected by musicologists all over the world.

HAMELLE was founded in 1877 by Julien Hamelle who had taken over the catalogue of Maho, a company founded in 1851. Julien Hamelle directed the firm until his death in 1917, when he was succeeded by his son Georges-Edgard. The catalogue, acquired and now distributed by Éditions Leduc, includes an important collection of piano music. Hamelle also published works of Édouard Lalo, Vincent d'Indy, Gabriel Pierné, Camille Saint-Saëns, Charles-Marie Widor, and in particular of Gabriel Fauré (Requiem, Élégie, Pavane, as well as the famous Mélodies etc.).

Alphonse Leduc and its subsidiary company Heugel have taken control of the well-known American music publishing and distribution company King Music, thus becoming a group of international scope.

The Publishers