Kunkel Brothers

Engraving of Jacob and Charles Kunkel.

Contents

History

The music publishing firm Kunkel Brothers was established by the German-born brothers Charles Kunkel and Jacob Kunkel in St. Louis, Missouri in 1868. The brothers were concert pianists both having studied with Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Charles having also studied with Sigismond Thalberg. The firm published many of the brothers' own compositions under their own names and under various pseudonyms. Other midwest composers whose work the firm published included Julia Rive-King, Robert Goldbeck, and Ernest Richard Kroeger. After Jacob's death in 1882 Charles became the sole operator of the firm which apparently did not survive his own death in 1923.

In September, 1878 Kunkel Brothers began publishing their monthly magazine Kunkel's Musical Review. Each volume contained a significant amount of music (over fifty pages by 1899) in full sheet music size. Publication of the journal ceased with volume thirty-two in October, 1909.

Imprints, Addresses, Agencies

Editions

Imprints

  • Kunkel Bros. (or Kunkel Brothers) (1868–ca.1909)
  • Kunkel Brothers Music Co. (by 1909–1923?)

Addresses

  • 19 North Fifth St. St. Louis, Missouri (1869–1870?) (apparently still using this address sometime afterward)
  • 311 South Fifth St. St. Louis (by 1870–after 1882)
  • 507 North Fourth St. St. Louis (1875?)
  • 612 Olive St. St. Louis (1885)
  • 3750 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis (1910s)

Plate Numbers

Plate numbers for Kunkel Brothers were issued in a fairly chronological fashion and are in the format ####. Compositions printed in Kunkel's Musical Review apparently carried no plate numbers.

Plate Composer Work Year
8 Kunkel Carnival de Venice Extravaganza 1874
10 Kunkel Silent Love 1874
14 Kunkel Melnotte's Banjo (piano 4-hands) 1874
16 Kunkel Melnotte's Banjo (solo piano) 1874
55 Schotte Mignonette 1872
59 Schotte Pegasus (4h version) 1872
62 Kunkel Valse de Concert 1872
65 Kunkel Love in Spring 1872
70 Schotte 3 Impromptus (no.3) 1871
77 Kunkel Morning in the Highlands 1871
89 Kunkel Veni, Vidi, Vici 1871
93 Oesterle Awakening of Angels 1871
94 Kunkel Oberon, Morceau de Concert 1871
101 Kunkel Vive la République (solo piano) 1870
120 Kunkel Marche Triomphale 1870
131 Gottschalk The Dying Swan, Op.100 1870
211-213 Kunkel Daisies of the Meadow 1875
223 Kunkel Heather Bells (No.2) 1875
225 Kunkel Heather Bells (No.1) 1875
233 Kunkel Heather Bells (No.3) 1875
250 Kunkel Sprite of the Wind 1876
252 Hérold Zampa (overture arr. for piano 4-hands by Charles Kunkel) 1875
253 Suppé Dichter und Bauer (overture arr. for piano 4-hands by Charles Kunkel) 1875
254 Boieldieu Le calife de Bagdad (overture arr. for piano 4-hands by Charles Kunkel) 1875
255 Rossini Guillaume Tell (overture arr. for piano 4-hands by Charles Kunkel) 1875
256 Auber La muette de Portici (overture arr. for piano 4-hands by Charles Kunkel) 1875
261 Auber Fra Diavolo (overture arr. for piano 4-hands by Charles Kunkel) 1875
300 Nicolai The Merry Wives of Windsor (overture arr. for piano 4-hands by Charles Kunkel) 1876
302 Kunkel The Youth by the Brook 1876
307 Kunkel Shooting Meteor Galop 1876
348 Kunkel Echoes from the Woods 1878
356 Rive-King Pensees Dansantes 1878
360 Rive-King Concert Transcriptions (Chopin: Introduction and Variations on 'La ci dram la mano') 1878
365 Rive-King Gems of Scotland 1878
368 Rive-King On Blooming Meadows (piano 4-hands) 1878
379 Rive-King Bubbling Spring (possibly a revision?) 1904
383 Rive-King Concert Transcriptions (Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in A major) 1879
386 Kunkel Vive la République (piano 4-hands) 1879
390 Goldbeck Dreams of Home Sweet Home 1879
392 Goldbeck La Melodia d'Amore 1879
396 Goldbeck Abendglocken 1879
397 Rive-King Old Hundred 1879
400 Rive-King March of the Goblins 1879
401 Goldbeck Sweet Laughter, Morceau de Concert 1879
402 Rive-King Mazurka Caprice 1879
403 Rive-King March of the Goblins (arr. piano 4-hands) 1879
404 Vieuxtemps Ballade et Polonaise, Op.38 (arr. for solo piano by Rive-King) 1879
410 Verdi Il trovatore (Fantasy on themes by Charles Kunkel for piano 4-hands) 1879
442 Liszt Années de pèlerinage II, Supplément, S.162 (no.1) 1887
453 Satter Stella 1880
465 Kunkel Carmen, Fantasy on Bizet's opera 1880
470-3 Kunkel The Promenade, Op.75 1880
471 Goldbeck On the Lake, Souvenir of Oconomowoc 1880
472 Goldbeck Ashes of Roses, Valse Elegante 1880
483 Kunkel Zephyr and the Brook 1881
505 Bovy-Lysberg La baladine, Op.51 1881
519 Goldbeck The Military 1882
520 Goldbeck En-Avant Galop 1882
524 Goldbeck Valse Arabesque 1882
525 Goldbeck La Varsovienne 1882
545 Röckel Wedding Bells 1882
548 Klein Gretchen am Spinnrad, Op.21 1882
551 Kunkel Norma Fantasia (piano 4-hands) 1882
553 Lebrun To Victory (arr. piano solo) 1882
555 Auchester Sounds From Paradise, Op.30 1882
556 Röckel I Cannot Say Good Bye 1882
564 Kroeger Chickadee 1882
577 Beethoven Symphony No.1, Op.21 (fantasy on finale by Charles Kunkel) 1883
586 Goldbeck Forever Thine 1883
596 Kroeger Danse caractéristique No.1 1884
604 Kroeger So Much Between Us 1883
617 Kroeger Moorish Serenade 1883
634 Raff Symphony No.5, Op.177 (mvt 3 arr. piano solo by Charles Kunkel) 1883
642 Liszt 2 Stücke aus Tannhäuser und Lohengrin, S.445 (No.1 ed. Rive-King) 1883
646 Kroeger March of the Amazons 1883
647 Kroeger Valse brillante 1883
655 Auchester Eolian Whispers, Op.31 1884
659 Auchester Under the Rainbow, Op.32 1884
668 Kroeger Good Night, My Love 1884
669 Kroeger 2 Albumblätter 1884
670 Kroeger My Idol 1884
671 Kroeger Marsch-Humoreske (piano solo) 1884
672 Kroeger Polka gracieuse (piano solo) 1884
673-3 Kontski Gavotte No.1, Op.311 1884
674 Kroeger The Rivulet 1884
679 Kroeger Marsch-Humoreske (piano 4 hands) 1884
683 Kunkel Rink Waltz (piano 4-hands) 1884
684 Kroeger Sylphentanz 1885
687 Kroeger Polka gracieuse (piano 4 hands) 1884
702 Kunkel Lucia di Lammermoor Fantasy 1884
709 Rive-King On Blooming Meadows (arr. piano 4-hands by Charles Kunkel) 1884
713 Kroeger Bedouin Song 1885
723 Moszkowski 6 Piano Pieces, Op.15 (No.1 arr. solo piano Rive-King) 1885
726-4 Kontski Le rouet, Op.325 1885
728 Kroeger Fantasiestücke (No.3) 1885
730 Kroeger Suite de valses 1885
736 Kroeger Fantasiestücke (No.2) 1885
737 Seeling Schilflieder, Op.11 (no.3, rev.by Rive-King) 1885
738 Lange Stimmen aus der Kinderwelt, Op.78 (no.2, rev. by composer) 1885
746 Kroeger Fantasiestücke (No.4) 1885
747 Kroeger Fantasiestücke (No.3 for piano 4 hands) 1885
755 Kroeger Fantasiestücke (No.5) 1885
758 Kroeger Nocturne in F minor 1885
761-5 Kontski Grant Funeral March, Op.326 1885
765 Kroeger 4 Humoresken (No.2) 1885
766 Kroeger 4 Humoresken (No.3) 1885
808 Rive-King Home Sweet Home 1886
811 Gottschalk Ne m'oubliez pas (new edition) 1905
1025 Kunkel Alpine Storm, Op.105 (enlarged edition) 1888
2017 Schubert 3 Marches militaires, D.733 (arr. for solo piano by Liszt) 1907
2077 Gottschalk The Banjo, Op.15 (arr. for piano left hand by Charles Kunkel) 1911

Catalogs

Sources Consulted

  1. Jones. F.O. A Handbook of American Music and Musicians (Canaserage, NY: F.O. Jones, 1886). Archive.org
  2. Conrad, Howard L., ed. Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, vol. 4 (New York: The Southern History Company, 1901). Archive.org

Authority control

VIAF (Kunkel Brothers Music Co.)