The Alumni
2:28
Song library
Browse piano sheets by H. Kirkus Dugdale on Zen Virtual Piano. Horace K. Dugdale wrote of the start of his business, “Early in 1908, without the slightest idea that I was laying the foundation of a big music publishing house, I determined to capitalize my ability as a composer and opened a manuscript-writing studio. My first clients were local song writers who brought me their verses to which I composed original music for a regular fee.” A composer who began by setting other people’s verses to music was already doing work that his company would later turn into a business. He wrote that these manuscripts were always placed with various music publishers all over the country, and that when his business grew and he had written music to many good songs, he realized he could serve his clients further by publishing their work after the manuscript was written. He also wrote that his experience as an employee of one of the largest music stores in the region had taught him much about the production and sale of sheet music. A studio that wrote music for clients, then published it, and an employee’s knowledge of sheet music sales explain how one man’s experience became a company. The H. Kirkus Dugdale Company, Inc., located in Washington, was one of the first of the song-poem music factories, spinning off from Dugdale & Corbett in 1908 and quickly rising to prominence within the industry. In January 1912 the company was incorporated with a capital stock of $250,000, and Dugdale wrote that each year its sheet music sales had steadily increased. He described a piano in the office on which new compositions were tried over and approved, a piano the composers, professional singers and staff writers who called required. A company with a piano in the office and a staff of writers presents a publisher working like a small studio. Among its publications, the collection of the Library of Congress includes songs by M. C. Hanford, who wrote at least 22 songs to lyrics about the Titanic, all for the H. Kirkus Dugdale music publishing company. Dugdale is also credited as composer of Ginger Snap Rag (1907), published by Sanders & Stayman, Washington, D.C. A credited composition of 1907 beside a business built on setting others’ verses shows two different sides of his musical work. By July 1915 the company had filed for bankruptcy. A business that grew from a manuscript-writing studio to a corporation, and had filed for bankruptcy by July 1915, makes a short, steep arc.
Browse piano sheets by H. Kirkus Dugdale on Zen Virtual Piano.
Horace K. Dugdale wrote of the start of his business, “Early in 1908, without the slightest idea that I was laying the foundation of a big music publishing house, I determined to capitalize my ability as a composer and opened a manuscript-writing studio. My first clients were local song writers who brought me their verses to which I composed original music for a regular fee.” A composer who began by setting other people’s verses to music was already doing work that his company would later turn into a business.
He wrote that these manuscripts were always placed with various music publishers all over the country, and that when his business grew and he had written music to many good songs, he realized he could serve his clients further by publishing their work after the manuscript was written. He also wrote that his experience as an employee of one of the largest music stores in the region had taught him much about the production and sale of sheet music. A studio that wrote music for clients, then published it, and an employee’s knowledge of sheet music sales explain how one man’s experience became a company.
The H. Kirkus Dugdale Company, Inc., located in Washington, was one of the first of the song-poem music factories, spinning off from Dugdale & Corbett in 1908 and quickly rising to prominence within the industry. In January 1912 the company was incorporated with a capital stock of $250,000, and Dugdale wrote that each year its sheet music sales had steadily increased. He described a piano in the office on which new compositions were tried over and approved, a piano the composers, professional singers and staff writers who called required. A company with a piano in the office and a staff of writers presents a publisher working like a small studio.
Among its publications, the collection of the Library of Congress includes songs by M. C. Hanford, who wrote at least 22 songs to lyrics about the Titanic, all for the H. Kirkus Dugdale music publishing company. Dugdale is also credited as composer of Ginger Snap Rag (1907), published by Sanders & Stayman, Washington, D.C. A credited composition of 1907 beside a business built on setting others’ verses shows two different sides of his musical work. By July 1915 the company had filed for bankruptcy. A business that grew from a manuscript-writing studio to a corporation, and had filed for bankruptcy by July 1915, makes a short, steep arc.
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Common questions
A Washington, D.C. music publisher, one of the first of the song-poem music factories, which spun off from Dugdale & Corbett in 1908 and was incorporated in January 1912 with a capital stock of $250,000.
A rag composed by Horace K. Dugdale in 1907 and published by Sanders & Stayman in Washington, D.C.
In early 1908 he opened a manuscript-writing studio, composing original music for local songwriters’ verses for a regular fee, and later began publishing their work.