Max Dreyfus

Max Dreyfus (April 1, 1874 – May 12, 1964) was a German-born American music publisher, arranger and songwriter. Between the 1910s and 1950s he encouraged and published the work of many of the writers of the so-called Great American Songbook, and was president of Chappell & Co., Inc. American office, the world's largest music publishing firm.

Biography He was born in Kuppenheim, Germany, the son of a cattle dealer.

In 1920, the brothers were approached by the British publishers, Chappell & Co., to handle their interests in the US. By 1926, they had bought Chappell outright, and shortly before the Great Depression they made a highly profitable sale of their interest in T. B. Harms. The companies remained independent of the Hollywood system which bought up many of the other publishing houses, with the result that the brothers retained a strong financial position. In 1935, they reconstituted their holdings as Chappell, Inc., with Louis Dreyfus moving to London and Max remaining in control of their New York operations, based in the Rockefeller Center.

Dreyfus died at Madrey Farm in 1964, aged 90. The ASCAP Foundation Max Dreyfus Scholarship was established in his name. Victoria Dreyfus died at age 95 in March 1976. Dreyfus opened a new music centre in Bond Street. He died in 1967.