G. Henle Verlag

Current design for Urtext Editions (since 1999)

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 and Munich.[4] Under the direction of its founder, scholarly readings of musical sources and, based on this work, the editing, production and distribution of Urtext editions[5] constituted the objective of the company from the very beginnings.[6] 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).[7] In 2000 the logo and title design were fundamentally modernised by communication designer Rolf Müller (1940–2015).[8]

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.[7] For several decades, music engraving was commissioned to the Universitätsdruckerei H. Stürtz[9] (Würzburg), later other engravers in Leipzig and Darmstadt 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',[7] 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's piano sonatas in two volumes, edited by Walther Lampe,[10] and Franz Schubert's Impromptus and Moments Musicaux, edited by Günter Henle and Walter Gieseking.[11] The founder of the publishing maintained close contacts and friendships with Gieseking and numerous important musicians of his time, including Claudio Arrau, Erich Kleiber, Yehudi Menuhin, Igor Oistrakh, Arthur Rubinstein and Rudolf Serkin. 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 to 1975 (also director of the Duisburg publishing office)[12] (see also);[13] Ernst Herttrich[14] (born 1942) from 1970 to 1990; Ernst-Günter Heinemann[15] (born 1945) from 1978 to 2010; Wolf-Dieter Seiffert (born 1959) from 1990 to 2000; Norbert Gertsch[16] (born 1967) since 1997 (from 2009 at the same time deputy head of publishing and programme director); Norbert Müllemann[17] (born 1976) since 2008 (chief editor since 2017).

In 1972 Günter Henle founded Günter Henle Stiftung München [the Günter Henle Foundation, Munich],[18] 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 1981–1994 by Anne Liese Henle, wife of Günter Henle, and then C. Peter Henle (born 1938), son of Günter and Anne Liese Henle from 1994 to 2016. Since 2016 Felix Henle[19] (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,[20] 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, 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.[21]

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[22] 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.[23]

G. Henle Verlag is preparing a printed history of the publishing house for the anniversary year 2023.

• Günter Henle: Three spheres, a life in politics, business, and music. Chicago, 1971.
• Günter Henle: Verlegerischer Dienst an der Musik. 25 Jahre G. Henle Verlag. Munich, 1973.
• Martin Bente (Editor): Musik, Edition, Interpretation. Gedenkschrift Günther Henle. Munich, 1980.
• Wolf-Dieter Seiffert: Urtext. Ein historischer Überblick samt Begriffsdefinition.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to G. Henle Verlag.

• The official website and online catalogue of G. Henle Verlag: www.henle.com
• Website of Henle Library (app): www.henle-library.com
• Dr. Wolf-Dieter Seiffert Interview NAMM Oral History Library
• Holger Siems Interview NAMM Oral History Library (2006)