Editing Warner Chappell Music (section)

===Chappell & Co.: Origins (1811–1925)===

The deep root of Warner Chappell's history lies in [[Chappell & Co.]], founded on January 1, 1811, on [[Bond Street]], London, by pianist '''Samuel Chappell''' in partnership with music professors Francis Tatton Latour and [[Johann Baptist Cramer]]. The firm opened as a combined sheet music retailer and musical instrument shop, quickly establishing a reputation as one of London's premier music publishers. By 1819, [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] wrote to a colleague that Chappell was "one of the best publishers" in London. The company expanded under Samuel's son '''Thomas Patey Chappell''' (1819–1902), who focused the firm on musical theater publishing — a specialty that remained central to its identity for over a century — and secured the publishing rights to the [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] operas and the music of [[Arthur Sullivan]], as well as [[Charles Gounod]]'s ''Faust'' and [[Michael Balfe]]'s ''The Bohemian Girl''. Thomas was a founding member of the Music Publishers Association and served as its first chairman from 1881 to 1900. He also co-sponsored the Monday and Saturday Popular Concerts at St. James's Hall, which ran from 1859 to 1901. The firm began manufacturing pianos in the 1840s and by the twentieth century was one of the leading piano manufacturers in Britain as well as a dominant music publisher.