Jacques Durand was first associated with his father Auguste Durand in 1886 as director of the music publishing house[3] Durand-Schönewerk & Cie at 4, Place de la Madeleine in Paris. On 19 November 1891, the company changed its name to Éditions A. Durand & Fils. In 1909, after his father's death, he took over the management of the publishing house. On 23 November of that year, the company changed its name again to Éditions Durand & Cie.[3] From then on, Durand was associated with his cousin Gaston Choisnel (1857–1921)[4] and then, from April 1921, with another cousin, René Dommange [fr].
In 1914, under his direction, Éditions Durand launched the important collection Édition classique Durand & Fils, with the French editions of 19th century works by renowned composers: piano sonatas and sonatas for violin and piano of Beethoven by Dukas, piano works of Frédéric Chopin by Debussy,[6] violin sonatas of Haydn by Schmitt, piano works of Felix Mendelssohn by Ravel,[6] chamber music of Mendelssohn by Roussel, and piano works of Robert Schumann by Fauré.
Durand led an initiative to organise chamber music concerts, and sometimes even orchestral music concerts, to promote the authors of his publishing house's catalogue: in 1910, 1911, 1912 and 1913[7] and later in 1927. In 1924, Durand made a major donation of Claude Debussy's musical manuscripts to the library of the Conservatoire de Paris.[8] Durand was also a patron of musicians; in 1927, he made a donation of 100,000 francs to the Académie des beaux-arts to establish a biennial musical composition prize for a symphonic or chamber music work.[9] His untimely death in 1928 prevented him from seeing the realisation of this gift.
Durand was the owner of the manor house of Bel Ébat in Avon, the former hunting lodge of King Henry IV of France, not far from Fontainebleau.
In 1889, he married Augustine Marcotte, daughter of his adoptive mother.[10] They had no children.
On 22 August 1928, Durand died of a stroke at the age of 63. Notified by his widow, Ravel, then in the middle of the orchestration of the Boléro, came from Montfort l'Amaury the next day to Avon, and returned for the funeral celebrated in private: "Yes, I went to Avon on Thursday [23 August 1928]. The other week, a telegram from Ms. Durand told me that poor Jacques had a stroke and died within a few hours. I went back there on Saturday [25 August 1928]."[11] "For the funeral, very simple, no church. Few people: only relatives and friends. So much more moving than the great ceremony in Paris that one might have feared."[12] The press confirmed Maurice Ravel's testimony: "The funeral of Mr. Jacques Durand, the well-known music publisher, was celebrated in the strictest privacy on the 26th of this year in Avon (Seine-et-Marne). No announcement has been sent."[13]
Publications
Éléments d'harmonie à l'usage de débutants,suivis d'exemples explicatifs tirés d'œuvres anciennes et modernes (in French). Paris: Durand. 1919. p. 39.[14]
Cours professionnel à l'usage des employés du commerce de musique. I : Édition musicale historique et technique. II : Abrégé de l'histoire de la musique (in French). Paris: Durand. 1923. p. 32.[15]
Quelques souvenirs d'un éditeur de musique (in French). Paris: Durand. 1924. p. 136. (First volume of memories from the director of the Éditions Durand from 1909 to 1928)[16]
Quelques souvenirs d'un éditeur de musique, 2e série (1910–1924) (in French). Paris: Durand. 1926. p. 191.[17] (Second volume of the memories of the director of Éditions Durand from 1909 to 1928)
Lettres de Claude Debussy à son éditeur (in French). Paris: Durand. 1927. p. 191.[18]
^"Ministère du Commerce et de l'Industrie". Journal Officiel de la République Française. Lois et Décrets (in French). 18 August 1900. p. 5527. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
^"Ministère du Commerce et de l'Industrie". Journal Officiel de la République Française. Lois et Décrets (in French). 18 January 1913. p. 496. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
Maurice Ravel (2018). L'intégrale : Correspondance (1895-1937), écrits et entretiens (in French). Présentée et annotée par Manuel Cornejo (établie ed.). Paris: Le Passeur Éditeur. ISBN978-2-36-890577-7. (Contains correspondence from Maurice Ravel to Jacques Durand (1909-1926), the only known correspondence from Jacques Durand to Maurice Ravel (1928) and five correspondence from Jacques Durand to Maurice Ravel (1912–1927))
Alain Surrans (1998). "Éditions Musicales Durand S.A.". L'Édition Musicale en France (in French). Paris: Association française d'action artistique (AFAA).
Robert S. Nichols; Nigel Simeone; Jeremy Drake (2001). "Durand". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 7. London: Macmillan. pp. 736–737.
Christian Voisin; François Doury (2002). Le manoir de Bel-Ebat et la musique française autour de Claude Debussy (in French). Héricy: Editions du Puits Fleuri. p. 228. A book richly illustrated with photographs and documents around the private homes of successive directors of Durand Publishing.
Claude Debussy (2005). Correspondance 1872–1918, edition prepared by François Lesure and Denis Herlin and annotated by François Lesure, Denis Herlin and Georges Liébert (in French). Paris: Éditions Gallimard. ISBN2-07-077255-1. Contains many letters from Claude Debussy to Jacques Durand.