Sonzogno, Edoardo
Sonzogno, Edoardo
Sonzogno, Edoardo, Italian music publisher; b. Milan, April 21, 1836; d. there, March 14, 1920. He inherited a printing plant and bookstore founded by his grandfather, and in 1874 began to publ. popular eds. of French and Italian music with marked success. In 1883 he inaugurated a series of contests for new operas; the second contest, in 1889, was won by Mascagni (then unknown) with Cavalleria rusticana. Sonzogno established his own theater (the Lirico Internazionale) at Milan in 1894. From 1861 until his retirement in 1909 he was sole proprietor of the newspaper II Secolo; was also publisher of the journals II teatro illustrato (1881–92) and La musica popolare (1882–92). He was succeeded by his son, Riccardo Sonzogno (1871–1915); upon his death, his cousin, Renzo (1877–1920), who had run his own firm from 1910, took over the business. In 1923 the firm became known as Società Anonima Sonzogno, and is now known as the Società per Anonima Sonzogno.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire