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| Parent company | University of Melbourne (music publisher) Decca Records (record label) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1932 |
| Founder | Louise Dyer |
| Country of origin | France |
| Official website | finearts-music.unimelb.edu.au (music publisher) deccaclassics.com (record label) |
Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre (commonly referred to asL'Oiseau-Lyre) is a French music publishing company and aclassical musicrecord label that specialises inEarly andBaroque music. It was founded in 1932 as a publisher of scholarly editions of early music that had never been previously published. Its specialist recording arm, developed from the 1960s onwards, grew into a specialist label that is now a part ofDecca.
The company was financed and established in Paris in 1932 byLouise Dyer (later Hanson-Dyer), anAustralian pianist and philanthropist.[1]
Dyer had settled in France two years earlier and energetically amassed a collection of manuscripts and printed music, lyrics and dissertations of the Early, Baroque andClassical music periods. "L'Oiseau-Lyre", the French name for the Australianlyrebird, was chosen by her; the company logo was a representation of the (displaying male) bird's tail.[1]
Dyer's aim was to producehistorical editions of European composers of the 15th to 19th Centuries. The first project was anOeuvres complètes (Complete Works) ofFrançois Couperin. No expense was spared in scholarship or printing, and the resulting 12-volume collection was published in 1933, the 200th anniversary of the composer's death. She was appointedchevalier of theLégion d'Honneur in 1934 in recognition of this achievement. She moved the company toMonaco in 1948 after a hiatus attributable to WWII.[1]
Louise died in 1962, and her (second) husband Jeff Hanson continued publication of fine editions, but moved the company's focus to producing high-quality recordings.[2]
Jeff Hanson died the following year but Margarita M. Hanson, his second wife, continued to run the publishing business until 1996. Under her guidance, the 25-volumePolyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century was published, followed by theMagnus Liber Organi andLe Grand Clavier series, much with the substantial collaboration and financial assistance of theUniversity of Melbourne.[3] Margarita retired in 1995, and control of the company was passed toDavitt Moroney, a harpsichordist and music scholar who had been with the firm since 1981.
Following Davitt Moroney’s departure in 2001,Kenneth Gilbert became Président délégué, bringing the seven-volume Magnus Liber Organi series to conclusion. A number of new editions were also released, including Louis Couperin’s Organ works and revised reprints of earlier Oiseau-Lyre editions.
LesÉditions de l’Oiseau-Lyre ended its presence in Europe in 2013, reverting to the parent holding, Lyrebird Press, at the University of Melbourne.
The Hanson-Dyer collection is now in the Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Library at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
The recording arm of Oiseau-Lyre developed by Jeff Hanson produced an extensive catalogue of hundreds ofLP records featuring rare and previously unrecorded Early and Baroque music, often performed by young artists. Oiseau-Lyre was the first record company to issue 33rpm LPs in France. The technical side of the recordings was handled by engineers from theDecca Recording Company. In 1970, Hanson sold the recording branch to Decca, which continued using the Oiseau-Lyre name as their specialised Early music label. Peter Wadland took over as label manager of L'Oiseau-Lyre and developed a recording partnership with theAcademy of Ancient Music andChristopher Hogwood (Purcell's theatre music,Mozart's complete symphonies,Beethoven's complete symphonies and piano concertos). Many noted Oiseau-Lyre recordings feature performances by artists on "period instruments", includingfortepiano recordings of theBeethoven piano sonatas played byMalcolm Binns, and a number ofRenaissance recordings byThe Consort of Musicke andAnthony Rooley.[1][2]
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