Giulio Ricordi

An Italian music publisher who took Casa Ricordi, the firm his grandfather had founded, to a pre-eminence few rivals could match. Born in Milan, he fought as a volunteer in 1859, was shaping the firm's policy by about 1870, and succeeded his father Tito at its head in 1888. He spurred the ageing Verdi to Otello and Falstaff, pairing him with Arrigo Boito, and saw Puccini's promise from Le villi, guiding him through Manon Lescaut, La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. He commissioned posters from Adolfo Hohenstein and Marcello Dudovich, and wrote salon music as J. Burgmein.