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Schumann Violin Concerto (FPE/Schott) - public domain?
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2025 5:53 am
by Bhm
As far as I know, the first published edition (full score) of this work was issued by Schott in 1937. I am assuming that this is an Urtext edition, but since the editor, Georg Schunemann, died in 1945, this should be public domain in any case based on the life + 70 years rule.
Unfortunately, matters may be more complicated than this because Schott renewed the copyright in 1965. I still can't see how this can cause the copyright beyond 2016 (again, life + 70 years), so then the question becomes - what effect does copyright renewal have on the year that a publication enters the public domain?
Re: Schumann Violin Concerto (FPE/Schott) - public domain?
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2025 2:20 pm
by ScoreUpdater
Copyright renewal registration in the USA only affects the USA copyright status. The fact that Schott renewed the copyright entry 28 years after first publication means that the full USA copyright term of 95 years from publication applies to the edition. This means that the edition is only guaranteed to be in the USA public domain in 2033 at the earliest.
However, since the editor, Georg Schünemann, died in 1945, this puts all his compositions and contributions to edited scores in the Canadian and EU public domain (which both apply a life + 70 years copyright term) which includes this 1937 edition of Schumann's Violin Concerto.
Therefore, if you possess a copy of this edition, you are welcome to upload it to IMSLP, as it is in the public domain in Canada and the EU.
Regards,
Re: Schumann Violin Concerto (FPE/Schott) - public domain?
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 9:44 am
by lyly19
ScoreUpdater wrote: ↑Fri Jun 06, 2025 2:20 pm
Copyright renewal registration in the USA
only affects the USA copyright status. The fact that Schott renewed the copyright entry 28 years after first publication means that the full USA copyright term of 95 years from publication applies to the edition. This means that the edition is only guaranteed to be in the
USA public domain in 2033 at the earliest.
However, since the editor, Georg Schünemann, died in 1945, this puts all his compositions and contributions to edited scores in the Canadian and EU public domain (which both apply a life + 70 years copyright term) which includes this 1937 edition of Schumann's Violin Concerto.
Pokerogue
Therefore, if you possess a copy of this edition, you are welcome to upload it to IMSLP, as it is in the public domain in Canada and the EU.
Regards,
Thanks for the clarification! Just to be sure — if I’m uploading from outside the U.S. (say, from the EU), and the editor died in 1945, am I legally safe to share the full score on IMSLP now?
Re: Schumann Violin Concerto (FPE/Schott) - public domain?
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2025 9:36 pm
by ScoreUpdater
Yes, that is fine.
Re: Schumann Violin Concerto (FPE/Schott) - public domain?
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2025 6:44 pm
by Eric
NB. Since Schünemann died in 1945, his works fell out of Canadian copyright way back in 1996. That +70 rule only applies in Canada to composers, arrangers and translators (it applies to some editors and not others, depending on country and the type of editorial work done) as of a few years ago and for creators who died in 1972 or later (iirc) only, which is not this guy. So if one sees something worked on by him that was declared PD-CA sometime between 1996 and 2026, that's why, not a typo.