Casa Dotesio was a Bilbao musical publishing house, which went on to become Unión Musical Española. It was the largest Spanish music publishing company from 1900 and 1914. It was founded by Louis Ernest Dotesio (born in Paris, 1855) who was a chemist and lithographer. Dotesio was a founding member of the Bilbao Graphic Arts Society and a musical and operatic impresario. In 1885 Dotesio opened his first music shop (in calle María Muñoz, nº 8), where he began to sell his own editions of musical works by local composers.

In 1888, the business expanded and eventually opened branches in Santander, Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valladolid and Valencia. It managed to secure the exclusive distribution rights of important foreign publishers. On May 14, 1900, the Casa Dotesio Public Limited Company was established, under the management of its founder. In a very few years, the firm would manage to absorb the main music printers in the country, so that almost all the great Spanish authors of the era appeared in its catalogue, including Albéniz, Bretón, Chapí, Granados and Óscar Esplá. In 1905 Dotesio set up an office in Paris (his birthplace)

Louis Ernest resigned from the board of the company in 1911, due to various debts and scandals and finally left completely in 1913. Following this the company transferred its headquarters to Madrid, in 1914, and was renamed "Unión Musical Española" it would go on to become a market leader in the following decades. Louis Dotesio died in 1915 in Bilbao.

Some Unión Musical Española branded classical guitars are labelled "Antes Casa Dotesio" in memory of their company's origins.

Source: Bilbaopedia Editorial Casa Dotesio (3 February 2023)