History

The company is still family-owned today, then there are 4 generations that followed one another: Robert and Gérard Billaudot, Francois Derveaux, Gérard's son-in-law, then his daughter Florence and finally, since 2018, his son-in-law Jean-Michel Issartel.

The constitution of our publishing house is characterised by a double, parallel development: external and internal..

In 1896, Louis Billaudot took over the management and then bought éditions Alphonse Laurens. 

Éditions Costallat (excluding works by Berlioz), themselves owners of the fonds Richault since 1903. In the 19th century, the Richault collection was oneof the most important in France, as editor of Berlioz, Liszt, Alkan, Hummel, Moscheles, Boëly...

Fonds Noël. Pierre Noël, had reoriented the publishing house at a time when Tchaikovsky's works were no longer protected, by publishing, after the Second World War, good teaching works and by giving a chance to young composers such as Maurice Ohana, André Jolivet, Jean Rivier, Georges Delerue, Antoine Tisné.

Éditions Françaises de Musique, created by Henry Barraud then director of music at Radio (now Radio France), a publishing collection reflecting contemporary creation from 1947 to 1975, but also consisting of works from the great repertoire.

Eight books published by La Stravaganza (including "La technique de l'embouchure" by Philippe Bernold).

The new direction determined by Gérard Billaudot involved two branches: on the one hand, works for teaching music, and on the other, instrumental and orchestral works. The teaching sector was based on existing works and developed through the exploitation and numerous reprints of the Costallat-Richault collection.

In addition, many new teaching books were published, such as Le solfège by Alain Grimoin and Marie-Jeanne Bourdeaux, L'ABC de la flûte by Robert Hériché, and Six cordes... une guitare by Jean-Maurice Mourat, which accompanied the introduction of the music teaching plan by Marcel Landowski, Director of Music.

Enfin, des œuvres d’orchestre de compositeurs tels André Jolivet, Maurice Ohana, Pierre-Max Dubois, Antoine Tisné virent le jour.

C’est l’époque également de la création de collections dirigées par des instrumentistes cherchant à développer un répertoire pour leur instrument ; ainsi rejoignirent la Maison : Maurice André, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jacques Lancelot, Maurice Allard, Pierre Pierlot, Robert Veyron-Lacroix, Maxence Larrieu, Marie-Claire Alain, notamment.

The previous orientation was accentuated by adapting the books to new teaching methods, such as musical training;

New collection directors complete the catalogue including Philippe Bernold, Philippe Fritsch, Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Vincent David, Éric Perrier, Jean-Marc Fessard, Frédéric Chatoux, Frédéric Lainé, Anne Ricquebourg...

But our House is also the publisher of many of today's composers, such as Thierry Escaich, Graciane Finzi, Philippe Leroux, Guillaume Connesson, Martín Matalon, Ondřej Adámek, Karol beffa, Pascal Zavaro, Élise Bertrand, Jean-Baptise Robin, Yves Chauris, Camille Pépin, with no exclusive aesthetic.

Finally, as part of our drive to bring French musical heritage to the fore, between 1993 and 2002 our publishing house published seventeen volumes of the Edition Monumentale of the works of Jean-Philippe Rameau, with the support in particular of Musica Gallica.

Auguste Cordie (1903), Victor Lory (1905), Edmond Gobert (1907), Georges Tilliard (1907), Jules Guille (1918), Virgile Thomas (1921), Albert Pinatel (1926), Albert Béthune (1945), Jacques Pitault (1961), Andrieu Frères (1962), Fougeray-Leblanc (1964), Louis Jacquot (1973), Henri Maquaire (1980), du Petit Duc (1987), de la Forêt de Retz (1993)