IMSLP Forums

Is it possible to obtain the score for upload?

It’s only PD-CA (copyright 1930), I believe. ( WC 8640737, vn/pf reduction.)

There are quite a few PD-US works of his we don’t have yet I think including some of his string quartets...

So it's off-limits?

depends. It was copyrighted, but one should check for renewals in the US Catalog of Copyright Renewals (at archive.org, there’s a page at IMSLP linking to these) - more or less every 28 years I think from copyright date in this 1930 case ?- a (c) admin would know. The publisher seems a vanity publisher so I have my doubts about whether it was renewed twice, though it may have been once. But one needs to check... or wait until 2026.

The publisher is "Praha : Foersterova společnost". (BTW another set of libraries, not "covered" by Worldcat, that I'm sure has this work, is NKP.cz (Czech)). The work is listed under "II. koncert (d moll) pro housle a orkestr : violon et orchestre : Violine und Orchester : violin and orchestra, op. 104" or variants. Going to try to find a renewal in 1958 (or 1957 or 1959) Catalog of Copyright Entries using various search terms etc. (Foerster and Förster don't seem to be in the name index of the 1958 ones but...) (btw I know you implied you're looking for the full score, not the reduction, but that I have not yet found. Maybe it's at the Czech libraries.)

OTOH, a reduction of symphony no.2 Op.29 in F was published by Hudebni Matice ©1922, and I wonder if we can find a copy of that and upload it That's also been recorded (in full orchestral form) and would be useful... (symphony no.3 is ©1921 from Foersterova Spolecnost; Symphony no.4, ©1911 UE.) (OTOOH, symphony no.5 was published in 1943 by a favorite Martinu publisher, Melantrich, and also by FSp

Here's the relevant page 1923-1963 copyright law. Works published 1924-1963 are still in copyright unless one can prove lack of renewal/Notice-of-Intent-to-Enforce status.

Hrm. I don't see any renewal between 1957 and 1959, but I'm looking for it informally. Copyright admins would have to do a really thorough look if you were to upload the 1930 reduction.

or, he said several years later, wait until 2026. -If- one had the 1930-published score (does anyone have it to upload or know where to find one? I have a couple of scores scanned waiting on Jan.1 2024 to upload as they'll be PD-US then- assuming the rule is 96 years to the year , not 96 years to the very day of registration at LoC - and similarly one would want to have the work ready )

Eric, please see the Public Domain page for an explanation of copyright law. As you will note, the terms expire at the end of a calendar year, so yes, all PD-US works as of 2024 will be PD on January 1, 2024. (Also, notice of intent to enforce is completely irrelevant to determining copyright status, but URAA eligibility is covered. Foerster's works were eligible, but some others, such as Jánaček's, were not.)

As for the site, we can and do allow any upload that is PD-CA (to the main server) or PD-US (to the IMSLP-US server). The only things that are "off-limits" for upload (from the IMSLP perspective) are things that are in the public domain in neither Canada nor the United States.

As for the question posed in the opening: Foerster Violin Concerto No.2 has already been uploaded (in the piano-violin reduction you mention). It will be marked as non-PD US until 2026.

Will do. Thanks!