Heugel

The French music publishing house of Heugel was founded on 1 January 1839 in Paris by Jacques-Léopold Heugel (1 March 1815 – 12 November 1883) and Jean-Antoine Meissonnier (1783–1857). Heugel was born in La Rochelle and was active as a music teacher in Nantes before he came to Paris. The company branded initially as "A. Meissonnier et J. L. Heugel". Until 1974, the seat of the company was at 2bis, rue Vivienne. After four years, Meissonnier sold his share to Heugel to concentrate on his own business, which was brought to success by his son, Jean-Racine Meissonnier. From then on, the company added "Au Ménestrel" to its name, alluding to the weekly music journal Le Ménestrel, which was founded in 1833 by Joseph Hippolyte L'Henry at the same address and that had been taken over by Heugel and Meissonnier. Le Ménestrel provided a convenient publicising forum for the music publishing business, also including, for a time, music supplements for the journal's subscribers. It was published by Heugel and his successors until 1940, with only a short interruption during World War I.

After Meissonnier's departure, Heugel ran the company on his own for eight years, joined in July 1850 by Aimé Iweins d'Hennin, and the company was rebranded "Heugel et Cie.". In its first years, the company focused on pedagogical works, romances, collections of dance music and the series "Les Clavecinistes" that was edited by Amédée de Méreaux. It also bought the rights to works originally published by other companies, such as Le Désert by Félicien David (originally with Léon Escudier). This was followed by new works, mainly operas, by composers such as Jacques Offenbach, Ambroise Thomas, and Léo Delibes, which proved very successful. In 1863, d'Hennin sold his share at three times the price he paid twelve years before. Heugel prudently continued the business, and also became a strong advocate for copyright issues as one of the first administrators of SACEM. For his services to French music, Heugel was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in August 1870.