21 Aug
2015
21 Aug
'15
1:49 p.m.
On 21 August 2015 at 14:08, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
This leads to some interesting situations. Archibald
Joyce wrote his
"Autumn Dreams" waltz in 1908 and it has been reported to be the tune the
orchestra was playing as the Titanic sank in 1912 (contrary to popular
belief, it is extremely unlikely that the band played "Nearer My God to
Thee" as they would not have been familiar with the hymn).
They might have been familiar with a different arrangement of the hymn
tune; though no one really knows what was played during the sinking of
the Titanic.
As Joyce lived to a ripe old age and died in 1963, the
work is still very
much under copyright protection in the UK. However, the same work was
published in 1921 in the USA, so it is public domain there.
You want fun with music copyrights? Please go look at the IMSLP
project. Here's their page on how copyrights work with regards to the
sheet music/scores they are archiving:
<http://imslp.org/wiki/Public_domain>
As mentioned before, works of Soviet writers and
composers were considered
to be PD (unless copyright was obtained outside of the USSR) by the US
during the Cold War--similarly, the USSR did not recognize foreign
copyright. So you could purchase the sheet music of Shostakovitch for a
pittance. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the US moved to "restore"
Soviet copyright and so removed works back into copyright status. If you
want to publish Shostakovitch, you now must deal with his estate--and
copyright will endure to about 2050.
--Chuck
2026 is when IMSLP will allow you to start uploading works by
Shostakovitch to their archive. (Canadian servers only! The US and EU
need to wait.)
Regards,
Christian
--
Christian M. Gauger-Cosgrove
STCKON08DS0
Contact information available upon request.