Oliver Ditson
{{short description|19th century American music publisher}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Oliver Ditson
| image = OliverDitson.png
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1811|10|20}}
| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1888|12|21|1811|10|20}}
| death_place = Boston, Massachusetts
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| occupation = Music publisher
| known_for = Pioneer of music publishing in America
| children = 1
| relatives = Alice M. Ditson (daughter-in-law)
| signature = Signature of Oliver Ditson (1811–1888).png
}}
Oliver Ditson (October 20, 1811 – December 21, 1888) was an American businessman and founder of Oliver Ditson and Company, one of the major music publishing houses of the late 19th century.
Early life and career
Oliver Ditson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, of Scottish ancestry, on October 20, 1811. His parents lived near the home of Paul Revere at the lower end of Hanover Street.
In 1823, just out of grammar school, Oliver became an employee of Col. Samuel Hale Parker, father of J.C.D. Parker, the organist and composer. Col. Parker owned a book store on Washington street, near Franklin Street in Boston, and kept in addition to his regular stock a few pieces of music. At the time the Waverley novels were making their appearance and Col. Parker was republishing them as rapidly as they could be gotten from England.
Oliver left the bookstore to master the printer's trade. About 1834, fire destroyed the store of Col. Parker. With what was saved he moved with his now indispensable young friend into a wooden building on Washington street, near School street, and later took a single counter in the famous 'Old Corner Bookstore,' then kept by William D. Ticknor in the gambrel roofed building erected in 1712, at the northwest corner of Washington and School streets. At this location, in 1834, the firm of Parker & Ditson was formed. Mr. Ditson was then twenty-three, and changed it into a music store.
In 1840, Ditson bought out Col. Parker's interest and carried on the business of music seller and publisher under the name of Oliver Ditson.
He acquired the Oliver Ditson and Company moniker in 1857 when he began collaborating with John C. Haynes on what would become the John C. Haynes & Co.
Ditson's company published the first American edition of Haydn's The Creation, "Jingle Bells" and "Darling Nelly Gray", as well as most of the works of the Hutchinson Family - though Ditson refused to publish "Get Off the Track" due to its abolitionist sentiment.
In 1858, Ditson purchased Dwight's Journal of Music, a serious musical journal.
During the American Civil War, Ditson released a number of popular songs, including "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground".
Theodore Presser purchased the Ditson catalogue in 1931.
Death
Published by Ditson
- Harp music by Gertrude Ina Robinson
- Piano pedagogy compositions by Louise Robyn
- Mandolin, guitar, and vocal music by Clara Ross
- Songs by Dagmar de Corval Rybner
- Songs, piano pieces, and musical readings by Lalla Ryckoff
- Music by Sophie Seipt
- Music by William Stuckenholz
- Hymns by Lillian Tait Sheldon
- Racquet Galop and other piano pieces by Kate Simmons
- Organ and vocal works by Fannie Morris Spencer
- American editions of Edvard Grieg's piano works, edited by Bertha Tapper
- Biographical Sketches of Eminent Musical Composers by Levina Buoncuore Urbino 1876 Internet Archive
- Compositions for rhythm band by author and music educator J. Lilian Vandevere
- Piano pedagogy pieces by Margaret Wigham
- Music by Sara H. Reed
Gallery
1854 Crinoline Ditson.png|Sheet music for Quadrille Militaire "Les Hussards" by Charles A. White published by Oliver Ditson & Co., 277 Washington Street, Boston, 1854
Hornpipe Ditson.png|Sheet music for Durang's Horn Pipe published by Oliver Ditson, in Washington Street, Boston 19th century
Ditson_Bldg_Boston.JPG|Former Oliver Ditson Company building, 166 Terrace Street, in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Roxbury, Massachusetts, later gutted and re-built as luxury apartments. Building inscription reads "Oliver Ditson Co. 1835-1925".[http://www.liveoliverlofts.com/ Oliver Lofts website]
File:Oscar Wilde (Boston Public Library).jpg |
References
= General =
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
- {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Cornelius,|2004|p= }} |last1=Cornelius |first1=Steven Harry |date=2004 |title=Music of the Civil War Era |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=djB6xJ1CNeoC&pg=PA19 |language=en-US |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=19, 20, 22, 59 |access-date=July 17, 2008 |via=Google Books |lccn=2004042531 |isbn=0-313-32081-0 |oclc=731512310}}
- {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Horn,|2003|p= }} |last1=Horn |first1=David |date=2003 |chapter=Oliver Ditson and Company |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/continuumencyclo0001unse/page/584/mode/2up |editor1=John Shepherd |editor2=David Horn |editor3=Dave Laing |editor4=Paul Oliver |editor5=Peter Wicke |editor5-link=Peter Wicke |title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World |url=https://archive.org/details/continuumencyclo0001unse/page/584/mode/2up |url-access=registration |language=en-US |volume=1: Media, Industry and Society |location=London |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |pages=584–585 |access-date=July 17, 2008 |via=Internet Archive |lccn=2002074146 |isbn=0-8264-6321-5 |oclc=612351024}}
{{refend}}
= Inline =
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Fisher,|1933|p= }} |last1=Fisher |first1=William Arms |author-link1=William Arms Fisher |date=1933 |title=One Hundred and Fifty Years of Music Publishing in the United States: An Historical Sketch With Special Reference to the Pioneer Publisher, Oliver Ditson Company, Inc., 1783–1933 |url=https://archive.org/details/onehundredfiftyy00fish/page/n7/mode/2up |language=en-US |location=Boston |publisher=Oliver Ditson Company |access-date=August 18, 2021 |via=Internet Archive |lccn=34002890 |oclc=5923165}}
{{cite magazine |ref={{SfnRef|Musical Courier, February 24,|1915|p=8 }} |magazine=Musical Courier |date=February 24, 1915 |editor1-last=Liebling |editor1-first=Leonard |editor1-link=Leonard Liebling |title=History of Oliver Ditson Company |url=http://peterhadams.com/history_of_oliver_ditson_company.htm |access-date=August 21, 2012 |language=en-US |location=New York |volume=70 |issue=8 |page=8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320034437/http://peterhadams.com/history_of_oliver_ditson_company.htm |archive-date=March 20, 2015 |via=Peter H. Adams}}
{{cite press release |ref={{SfnRef|City of Boston, March 29,|2010|p= }} |website=City of Boston |date=March 29, 2010 |title=Mayor Menino Joins Mission Hill Community to Celebrate New Housing in Renovated Mill Buildings |url=http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=4589 |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122554/http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=4589 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=March 12, 2013 |via=Wayback Machine }}
{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90155010/sharp-scythe/ |title=Sharp Scythe |newspaper=The Boston Globe |page=1 |date=1888-12-22 |access-date=2021-12-06 |via=Newspapers.com}}
}}
External links
{{Commons category|Oliver Ditson}}
- [http://imslp.org/wiki/Ditson "Profile: Ditson"], IMSLP.org. International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library)
- [https://archive.org/details/temperancemelod00trowgoog Temperance melodeon]. Boston: O. Ditson, 1850.
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/2492686114
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/2492686298
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ditson, Oliver}}
Category:American music publishers (people)
Category:Businesspeople from Boston
Category:19th-century American businesspeople