Éditions Amphion has been part of Éditions Durand S.A. for ten years, yet this has not prevented it from following the line laid down by its founder Hervé Dugardin (1910-1969) in 1943, at the height of World War II. A friend of many composers then in difficulty, this generous and resolute man decided to publish their works in Grenoble where he had settled, in an atmosphere quite unsuited to creative work.
Launched by the publication of Pierre Auclert's Préludes et Fugues, the catalogue has ever since maintained its attachment to French music of our time. After the death of Hervé Dugardin, the torch was taken up by Isabelle Berthou, the guardian of a catalogue in which the names of Henry Barraud, Daniel-Lesur, and also Henri Sauguet, Marcel Mihalovici and Claude Arrieu, were followed by those of Georges Aperghis, Jacques Lenot (Clameurs, 1971) and more recently of Philippe Fénelon, Philippe Manoury and André Bon. Hervé Dugardin was a great detector of talent, and over the years was continually on the lookout, in the breeding grounds of young composers, for those who would live up to the full measure of their promise. Pierre Boulez published his First Sonata for piano in 1951 with Amphion, followed in 1954 by his Sonatina for flute and piano, while Henri Dutilleux, in that same year, entrusted Hervé Dugardin with his First Symphony. Armed with these acquisitions, the following decade saw the arrival of Marius Constant in 1963, then Maurice Ohana, reinforcing the foundations of an already strong catalogue. Isabelle Berthou had but to continue to forge ahead, bringing Gilbert Amy, André Bon, Antoine Bonnet and Thierry Lancino into the fold.
Recent years have been marked by the performances of works by Gilbert Amy, Antoine Bonnet, Philippe Manoury, Thierry Lancino and Maurice Ohana. Isabelle Berthou, in conjunction with the heirs of Hervé Dugardin also established a prize bearing his name intended to encourage and promote young composers. The Prix Hervé Dugardin, awarded annually by the SACEM, is for Amphion another source of pride. Last but not least, Éditions Amphion has been the representative in France since 1947 of the catalogue of Universal Edition, the prestigious Viennese publishing house.