A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Spina, Carl

by George Grove

SPINA, Carl Anton. The successor of the Diabellis in that famous publishing house at Vienna, which for so long stood in the Graben, No. 1133, at the corner of the Bräunerstrasse. He succeeded them in 1852, and was himself sueceeded by F. Schreiber in July 1872. During this twenty years Spina's activity showed itself especially in the publication of Schubert's works, a mass of whose MSS, he acquired from Diabelli. Chief among these were the Octet, Quintet in C, Quartets in D minor, G, and B♭, the Overture in the Italian style, those to Alfonso and Estrella, Fierrabras, Rosamunde, with Entractes in B minor and B♭, the B minor Symphony, Sonata for PF. and Arpeggione, etc., all in score. Mr. Spina's enthusiasm for Schubert was not that of a mere publisher, as the writer from personal experience of his kindness can testify. It was he who allowed the Crystal Palace Company to have copies of several of the orchestral works for playing, long before there was sufficient public demand to allow of their being published.

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