Amadeus Press was founded by Richard Abel in 1987 as an imprint of Timber Press, a specialist publisher in the field of horticulture. A music lover, Abel recognized an increasing gap between popular music titles of sometimes dubious quality issued by large commercial houses and the narrowly specialized scholarly publications of university presses. Thus, he started Amadeus Press with the mission to publish something in between, books that would appeal to a wide audience of discerning music lovers yet maintain their scholarly integrity.

In 1990, the press received major critical attention with the publication of Enrico Caruso: My Father and My Family, by Andrew Farkas and Enrico Caruso, Jr., a book hailed as the most complete and informative biography of the great tenor. A dozen singers have since been part of the Opera Biography series, which now includes books on Maria Callas, Jussi Björling, Rosa Ponselle, Nicolai Gedda, and Lily Pons.

In 2003, Amadeus Press was sold to John Cerullo. The company found new acclaim with its book/CD series called,Unlocking The Masters which successfully brings both experienced and new listeners to discover the world of classical music and opera. Amadeus has also continued to publish high quality books on opera with new opera biographies and other music appreciation titles such as the re-release of classic Leonard Bernstein books and new efforts such as,The John Adams Reader, by Tom May.

In January 2006, the imprint was sold to Hal Leonard Corporation, the world largest music print publisher as part of their strategy to expand its growing area of performing arts trade book publishing. Today, Amadeus is an important part of The Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group along with Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, Backbeat Books, Hal Leonard Books, and Limelight Editions. The mission of Amadeus is focused mainly on creating books that bring new listeners into the exciting world of classical music and opera.