Schirmer, Gustav

Schirmer, (Friedrich) Gustav (Emil)

(1829–93) music publisher; born in Königsee, Germany. Emigrating to America with his family in 1840, he worked in various New York City music-publishing firms before acquiring his own in 1861; in 1866 he renamed it G. Schirmer and it went on to become one of the great international music publishers. A musician himself, he was noted for promoting American musicians while also publishing the new European composers of his day such as Wagner and Tchaikovsky; he gave generously to help Wagner build his Festspielhaus in Bayreuth.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.