Leduc, Alphonse

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Leduc, Alphonse

Leduc, Alphonse, French music publisher and composer; b. Nantes, March 9, 1804; d. Paris, June 17, 1868. He studied harmony with Reicha at the Paris Cons., and also mastered the bassoon, flute, and guitar. He composed over 1, 000 works, mainly piano pieces. In 1841 he founded a music publishing business in Paris. After his death, his son Alphonse Leduc II (b. probably in Paris, May 29, 1844; d. there, June 4, 1892) inherited the business; at the death of the latter, his widow directed the firm until 1904, when their son Émile-Alphonse Leduc III (b. Nov. 14, 1878; d. Paris, May 24, 1951) became its director; his sons Claude-Alphonse and Gilbert-Alphonse Leduc (partners with their father from 1938) continued the business. From 1860 to 1895 the firm publ. L’Art Musical, which was then assimilated with the Guide Musical.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire