, France In the 1950s, two music entrepreneurs, Frenchman
Bernard Coutaz and German Rudolf Ruby, met by chance on a train journey and started a friendship based on their musical interests. They formed a business relationship and set up two classical music record labels, both named
Harmonia Mundi. Coutaz's Harmonia Mundi (France) was founded in
Saint-Michel-de-Provence, France, in 1958, and around the same time, Rudolf Ruby set up
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. The two labels shared similar aims and specialised in recordings of
Early and
Baroque music, with an emphasis on scholarly,
historically informed performance and high-quality sound and production values. They also shared the
Harmonia Mundi name for commercial reasons and collaborated for many years, sharing artists, material and distribution, and competing successfully with classical labels such as
Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre's
Decca Records and
Deutsche Grammophon's
Archiv Produktion. The label was acquired by
PIAS Entertainment Group in September 2015. In November 2022,
Universal Music Group purchased 49% stake in
[PIAS] (including Harmonia Mundi). ==Catalogue==