1876 – The Beginnings
On August 1, 1876, Ludwig Doblinger (born 1809, date of death unknown), a native of Upper Austria, sold his music lending and antiquarian business to the then 24-year-old Bernhard Herzmansky (1852-1921), who had come to Vienna from Bohemia with his parents as a child and, according to oral tradition, intended to open "either an inn or a music store" with his father's inheritance. He retained the already well-known name for his immediately established publishing house, simply adding his own name in parentheses.
The Diversity of the Early Period
Editions for piano had a prominent position in publishing production from the very beginning – the instrument was present in virtually every household of the art-loving middle class and served as a center of private musical entertainment in the era before the invention and establishment of sound recording and radio. Franz (or Francois) Behr (1837–1898) wrote primarily for the sophisticated salon; countless piano students made his "Schneeglöckchen" in particular a lasting sales success for the young publishing house. Carl Michael Ziehrer, the "last military bandmaster" and a virtual rival to the Strauss family, soon joined Doblinger and upheld the tradition of Viennese dance music. But it wasn't just the latest hits like the most popular numbers from "The Merry Widow" that people wanted to play straight away at home (without even realizing their timelessness); orchestral works of "serious music" were also often initially performed on the piano: For example, Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 5, in a version for two pianos created by his student and friend Josef Schalk, was premiered in Vienna on April 20, 1887 – something that a bad-tempered Bruckner, incidentally, resisted for a long time.
Historical Publishing Production
The coexistence of entertaining and "serious" music was a matter of course for Bernhard Herzmansky Sr. from the very beginning. While producing profitable bestsellers in the fields of salon music, marches, and Viennese songs was a top priority, the company founder also invested in promoting important concert music. Carl Goldmark, Ignaz Brüll, and Ferruccio Busoni also came to Doblinger through the acquisition of other Viennese publishers (including Emil Wetzler and Johann Peter Gotthard). In 1901, Herzmansky transferred the publishing rights to numerous works by Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 to Universal Edition, which he co-founded, in exchange for shares.
"The good old days"?
With the outbreak of the First World War, publishing policy changed, even prompting Franz Lehár to compose a wildly patriotic "war song". The beginning of the era of Bernhard Herzmansky Jr. (1888–1954), who took over management after his father's death in 1921, was much more peaceful. He understood his role in Viennese musical life as something much broader than that of a mere "music producer". Thus, he opened the elegant Baroque Hall on the first floor of the building at Dorotheergasse 10 for musical events and, with the young composer Otto Siegl as editor, founded the magazine "Musikbote", the first issue of which appeared in December 1924. Siegl and the then also young, successful composer Egon Kornauth were at the center of the musical celebrations for the publishing house's 50th anniversary in 1926. In the field of entertainment music, world hits such as "Mein Teddybär" (My Teddy Bear) by Josef Ganglberger, "Jalousie" (Jalousie) by Jacob Gade and "Heut' ist der schönste Tag in meinem Leben" (Today is the most beautiful day in my life) by Hans May were created.
Franz Lehár and "The Merry Widow"
After publishing numerous stage works by Carl Michael Ziehrer, Doblinger's debut into the Silver Age of Operetta began with Franz Lehár and "The Merry Widow" (premiered on December 30, 1904, at the Theater an der Wien). This represents an artistically extremely fruitful and commercially particularly lucrative chapter in the publishing company's history. Lehár's collaboration with Herzmansky subsequently encompassed the operettas "Eva", „Das Fürstenkind“, „Der Göttergatte“, „Die ideale Gattin“, „Der Mann mit den drei Frauen“ and „Die Tangokönigin“ as well as popular individual works such as the "Pikanterien-Walzer". The story has been passed down orally about a large advance that Bernhard Herzmansky is said to have paid to the lyricists Victor Léon and Leo Stein, as well as to Lehár, who was suffering from chronic financial hardship, upon signing the contract. This advance was, however, more than offset by the subsequent income.
"Silver Operetta" and Viennese Song
Even before "The Merry Widow," Doblinger had already established a prominent position in the field of light music with the works of Carl Michael Ziehrer. Barely a year after the Lehár premiere, another global success was on the horizon: Oscar Straus's "Waltz Dream" premiered on March 2, 1907. Both works, "Widow" and "Waltz Dream," established Doblinger's leading position in the field of "Silver Operetta", a position that was confirmed by numerous other works by the same authors, as well as by Ralph Benatzky, Edmund Eysler, Leo Fall, Oscar Nedbal, and many others. Heinrich Berté's "Dreimäderlhaus", later often ridiculed, was also among the most profitable pieces at the time. It was created in the gloomy environment of the First World War, as was one of the most popular of all Viennese songs, Ralph Benatzky’s immortal “Ich muss wieder einmal in Grinzing sein”.
Doblinger's Baroque Hall as an artistic meeting place
It is no longer possible to determine with certainty when the undisputed most magnificent room in the house at Dorotheergasse 10, the Baroque Hall on the first floor, was first used for musical purposes. The palace, already mentioned as belonging to the Dietrichstein family around 1650, changed hands several times, passing in 1828 to Countess Marcelline von Worcell (since then also called the "Worcell House"), and was finally owned by the prominent Viennese Dehne family before being acquired by Bernhard Herzmansky Sr. The salon is documented as the music room of Angelique Dehne, who is said to have been one of the most beautiful and charming Viennese women of her time. Finally, in 1924, Bernhard Herzmansky Jr. opened the Baroque Hall for a variety of musical events, focusing primarily on contemporary music.
"Coming to Terms with the Past" – From the “Ständestaat” (Corporate State) to a New Beginning
Austrofascism and the Nazi dictatorship left their mark on Doblinger—neither in terms of his publishing output nor personally. While the revue "Wiener Illustrierte" (1933) evoked the harmless, naive, "apolitical" Austrian, the zeitgeist of the “Ständestaat” (corporate state) was evident in songs like "Austria's Oath." On March 20, 1938, just days after Hitler's invasion, Bernhard Herzmansky Jr. was arrested as a monarchist, spent three months in a Vienna police prison, and then had to endure another three months (until September 20, 1938) in the Dachau concentration camp. As a result, he was forced to withdraw almost entirely from his company "for health reasons". Doblinger was initially given a provisional director and finally the Berlin composer Max Krüger was appointed sole managing director, who at least took advice from Herzmansky – an arrangement that was intended to temporarily create the appearance of collaboration after 1945, until the legal situation could finally be clarified in Herzmansky’s favor.
Exile, Return, and a New Home
After the end of the Second World War, Doblinger, on the one hand, resumed contact with artists who had already been in the program before 1938 (for example, Hermann Leopoldi, Fritz Spielmann), while, on the other, he placed particular emphasis on publishing composers deemed "degenerate" under the Nazi regime. Egon Wellesz is foremost among these, but more recently, the work of Kurt Roger, Eric Zeisl, Marcel Rubin, and Herbert Zipper has also received renewed attention. Many composers addressed the theme of "persecution." For example, Iván Eröd's song cycle "Über der Asche zu singen" (To Sing Above the Ashes) of 1994 represents the belated reappraisal of racial persecution in German-occupied Hungary. The theme of "exile music" is a particular focus, as evidenced by the publishing of composers such as Walter Arlen, Joseph Beer, and Walter Kaufmann.
Church, Choir, and Organ
Sacred music has always been a focus for Doblinger. The publishing house has done pioneering work, especially in the field of Austrian organ music. The most important contemporary organ composers published here, most notably Peter Planyavsky, and he and other leading organists contributed as editors to the series. In the field of choral music, both sacred and secular music occupy a significant space, including Doblinger's No. 1 bestseller, Franz Schöggl's cheerful variations "Die launige Forelle" (The Witty Trout).
Publishing to the Present
The expansion of the publishing program also reflects the main pillars of its production: the classical works in the Diletto Musicale series, music education, and the cultivation of contemporary music. A multitude of composers, arrangers, and editors, several hundred in number, have contributed to this repertoire. In recent years, operas, chamber orchestra arrangements of classical stage works and operettas, as well as new music from the avant-garde to jazz, have been included in the program.
Select Bibliography
1876 – 1926 Ludwig Doblinger (Bernhard Herzmansky) Musikalienhandlung, Verlag, Antiquariat und Leihanstalt Wien–Leipzig (Wien: Doblinger, 1926)
90 Jahre Musikverlag Doblinger 1876–1966 (Wien: Doblinger, 1966)
100 Jahre Musikverlag Doblinger (=Ausstellungskatalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung im Albrechtspalais) (Wien: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, 1976)
Herbert Vogg, 1876–1976 100 Jahre Musikverlag Doblinger (Wien: Doblinger, 1976)
Herbert Vogg, Doblinger. Profile of a Publishing House, translated and condensed by Eugene Hartzell (Wien: Doblinger, 1976)
Herbert Vogg u. a., 125 Jahre Musikverlag Doblinger. Festschrift. Katalog (=Ausstellung im AURUM der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek) (Wien: Doblinger, 2001)