IMSLP Forums

Greetings,
I have a scan of Arthur Lourie's "Sonata for Violin and Double Bass" I borrowed the music from the Curtis Institute through the inter-library loan program at the university I teach for. According to WorldCat, there is this copy and one in the NY Public Library. Both are handwritten manuscripts dating from about 1923. I searched the Library of Congress for a copyright and found none. It seems fairly clear that the piece was never published.
I tried to upload it to IMSLP some time back and was informed that all of Lourie's work is still copyrighted. What would the status of THIS work be? Thanks for any help.
Neil

ngarber wrote:[...] I tried to upload it to IMSLP some time back and was informed that all of Lourie's work is still copyrighted. What would the status of THIS work be? Thanks for any help.

Died in 1966. That's the reason for the word "all," I presume.

And this is the thing that bugs the living ^%&$ out of me when it comes to copyright.

The man died in 1966. It's an eighty-year-old non-published piece, which means it was probably performed once and never again. And we're forbidden to share this guy's creation because Disney is worried about its stupid mouse.

Truly, this is insanity.

Sean,
I share your pain. The other side of the coin of course is all the music that is copyrighted but not published. Again, written, performed once and put on a shelf.
I still think this piece is fair game. Does somebody here have to make a decision or is that it?
Neil

Well (sadly), fair game it is not, just because two libraries have manuscript copies of it -
actually, in some european countries until very recently unpublished works were permanently (=forever!) under copyright until the owner of an autograph agreed to publication, that even applied to Telemann and contemporaries!

but you have another way: ask the heirs of the composer to allow upload to IMSLP.
There is a Lourie society in Basel (http://www.lourie.ch, E-Mail: info@lourie.ch) that may be helpful.

There was a thread about this a while ago, and some german composers estates allowed uploads...

That's useful information. I just sent off an email asking for permission. Thanks,
Neil

Kalliwoda is correct about it being the way to go. Since Lourie lived until 1966, the work would be still protected in Canada even if it were published. Since it is unpublished, the 50-year term doesn't even start running in Canada until that event takes place. BTW, if you secure permission to post at IMSLP, the clock starts to tick the second they are available. In the USA, it's under copyright as well, for a full 70 years after the composer's death. One of the few halfway reasonable aspects of the US law is that at least the unpublished works of authors dead over 70 years are now public domain - so there's no more nonsense of someone claiming a 95-year term on a recently unearthed manuscript by Bach or some other long-deceased master, at least they are forced to make the claim upon their edition of the item.