Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf
Encyclopedia
Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000, Clausthal-Zellerfeld is also the seat of the Samtgemeinde Oberharz....
– 26 March 1777 in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
) was a German printer and publisher, and founder of the publisher that became Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf . The catalogue currently contains over 1000 composers, 8000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on music. The name "Härtel" was added when Gottfried...
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In 1714 he moved to Leipzig and worked for one year in a print shop. After working for several months Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
, and three years in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
, he returned to Leipzig in 1718, married Sophia Maria Müller and inherited an existing print shop, established in 1664, which he rescued from the brink of economic ruin. He began publishing with the 1723 printing of a manual of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
. After the death of his wife, Breitkopf remarried in 1739 to Sophia Theodore Kayser. He passed on the printing business to his son Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf
Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf
Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf was a German music publisher and typographer.-Biography:...
in 1745. He maintained the publishing side of the business until his death, however his son became a partner in 1762.