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In recent years Boydell & Brewer has become a major publisher of books on classical music for the scholar and the interested general reader.

Concentrating initially on British music of the 20th century, the Boydell Press programme has broadened to include Winton Dean’s magisterial Handel’s Operas 1726-1741, a lavishly illustrated survey of Edgard Varèse co-published with the Paul Sacher Foundation in Switzerland, no less than three books on the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg and Donald Mitchell’s four volume survey of the music of Gustav Mahler, among others.

We have also looked at performers and interpreters, starting with a bestselling anthology of The Letters and Diaries of Kathleen Ferrier edited by Christopher Fifield. This was followed by another acclaimed title, pianist Susan Tomes’ Beyond the Notes, which looked at the world of the touring, rehearsing and recording musician from her unique perspective. In 2007 these were joined by a prize-winning biography of violist Lionel Tertis by John White.

Meanwhile the core list on British music has produced some acclaimed successes: Diana McVeagh’s long awaited biography of Gerald Finzi was quickly followed by Elgar the Music Maker, one of the highlights of the Elgar anniversary year. Boydell was proud to reissue Lewis Foreman’s classic biography of Bax in a much revised and expanded third edition. A new series, Music in Britain 1600-1900, has already yielded a biography of the Victorian composer John Stainer and an anthology of the writings of William Sterndale Bennett.

The University of Rochester Press publishes music books in the Eastman Studies in Music series, edited by Ralph Locke. An early concentration on French music has broadened to include, in recent months, a revised edition of Kerala Snyder’s biography of Dieterich Buxtehude, a series of revealing interviews with John Cage conducted by Peter Dickinson, Schubert in the European Imagination – two volumes that examine the composer’s posthumous reputation, and The Percussionist’s Art, a highly individual look at the drummer’s role by Steven Schick.

Boydell & Brewer’s music list is an extremely vibrant and exciting part of the company’s publishing profile, and one which will certainly grow further over the coming years.