Mechetti, Carlo
Mechetti Pietro, *20 April 1777 Lucca, †25 July 1850 Vienna, Austrian music publisher of Italian descent, Carlo’s nephew. Adopted by him, from 1807, he was his official partner in the Carlo Mechetti e Nipote music publishing house. In 1811, after the death of his uncle, Pietro Mechetti, the sole heir, registered the company as Pietro Mechetti qdm Carlo. In 1818, he took over the disbanded publishing house of J. Traeg, P. Cappi and J. Eder along with the publishing rights to the sonatas Op. 10 and 13 by L. v. Beethoven. After the death of Pietro Mechetti, the publishing house was run by the widow Therese (1788–28 July 1855) under the name Pietro Mechettis sel. Witwe. After her death, the publishing rights were taken over by A. Diabelli, and later his successor C.A. Spina.
The Mechetti company prospered, competing with publishers such as Haslinger and Diabelli, and implemented an ambitious publishing programme, publishing, among others, the first editions of works by Beethoven, as well as F. Mendelssohn, I. Moscheles, C. Nicolai, F. Schubert, R. Schumann and L. Spohr. To maintain the good financial condition of the publishing house, Pietro Mechetti published popular series: “Aurora d’Italia e di Germania,” “Anthologie musicale,” “Dermusikalische Sammler,” “Terpsichore,” and he also was the main publisher of works by J. Lanner (Op. 32–168) J. Strauss the Son (up to Op. 94). By 1850, the publishing house’s catalogue included over 4,000 works. The company’s publishing catalogues from 1846, together with a supplement from 1847, and lists of publications from 1853–54, published by Theresa Mechetti (now at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna), have survived.
Literature: M. Kratochwil Monographie über Carlo Mechetti, Vienna 1958; A. Weinmann Verlagsverzeichnis Pietro Mechetti qdm Carlo, Vienna 1966.