Schlesinger, Heinrich
Schlesinger, Adolph Martin, *4 October 1769 Sülz (Silesia), †11 October 1838 Berlin, German music publisher. Before 1795, he traded in musical items and maps and also ran a book rental shop. Before 1800, he worked in the publishing houses of H.G. Nägeli and N. Simrock. In 1810, he opened a shop called Adolph Martin Schlesinger’sche Buch- und Musikalienhandlung. In 1811, he began to publish works by Berlin composers; in 1812, he made contact with J.G. Loewe, F. Mendelssohn, G. Spontini and C.M. von Weber, which he was the main publisher of from 1814. Entrepreneurship, energy and commercial sense of A.M. Schlesinger and the favourable economic conditions of Prussia meant that the company developed rapidly and played a dominant role in northern Germany. For the publication of Sammlung preussischer Armeemärsche, A.M. Schlesinger obtained the support of the Prussian royal court. The trip of his son Maurice to Vienna in 1819 contributed to the publication of numerous works by L. van Beethoven in 1819–22 and 1827, simultaneously in Berlin and Paris. In 1823, the publishing house was moved to new premises at Unter den Linden 34, which became the central point of musical life in Berlin. In 1830, the company published St Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach for the first time; by 1836 over 2,000 titles were published. There were also magazines: “Berliner allgemeinemusikalische Zeitung” (ed. A.B. Marx, 1824–30), “Freimüthiger” (1825–35), “Berliner Conversations-Blätt” (1827–38). After the death of A.M. Schlesinger, his estate and publishing house were inherited by his wife Philippine (1768–1852), but in 1844 his son Heinrich became the sole owner of the company.
Literature: Adolph Martin Schlesinger, Robert Lienau. Berlin 1810–1960. 150 Jahre Musikuerlag, ed. R. Elvers, Berlin 1960.