I. Suckling & Sons

I. Suckling & Sons

I. Suckling & Sons. Music publishers and retailers in Toronto ca 1875-ca 1894. Isaac Suckling was a retired English bandmaster and music teacher; his son George H. (b England ca 1856, d Vancouver ca 1930) had worked for Nordheimer and eventually returned to that firm as general representative and superintendant of agencies; his son Henry also worked for the family firm and later was a treasurer for the CPR; and another son, Isaac Edward (1862-1938) became an impresario and the first manager 1894-1900 of Massey Music Hall in Toronto. The Suckling store was located at 107 Yonge St. It was an agency for Chickering pianos. The firm's earliest publication was copyrighted in 1876. Plate numbers were used from 1881 onwards and reached nearly 500. Suckling's remarkable catalogue included music by the majority of Anglo-Canada's trained composers, including J.E.P. Aldous, R.S. Ambrose, Francesco D'Auria, A.E. Fisher, W.O. Forsyth, J.A. Fowler, Edwin Gledhill, C.A.E. Harriss, J.D. Kerrison, Clarence Lucas, Angelo Read, and F.H. Torrington. The firm also issued the first edition of the University of Toronto Songbook (1887) and Canadian National and Patriotic Songs (1890). Its series included Choice Compositions for the Pianoforte and Collection of Standard Glees and Part Songs. A coup was the acquisition of the rights for a Canadian edition (1890) of Paderewski's famous Menuet, first published in 1887. Paderewski himself appeared in Toronto under Suckling's management, as did such other noted performers as Chaliapin, Galli-Curci, Hofmann, Kreisler, Melba, Nordica, and Ysaÿe.