IMSLP Forums

I'm about to upload the Viotti Violin Concerto No.23 from notes.tarakanov.net to IMSLP, but I can't tell for sure if it's public domain. I assume it is in Russia, since it's on the site...does that necessarily mean it's okay for IMSLP?

not necessatily, i don't know about russian copyright laws, but they're different from canadian, plus many russian sites are quite liberal with copyright laws, so it doesn't always mean they're PD. In this case the work is almost certainly PD (Viotti died 1824?) so unless it's a modern edition, then you'll be ok.

I guess I'll go ahead and upload it. If it turns out not to be (which I doubt), someone will just delete it.

Oh wait...it says 1960 and something in Russian at the bottom of the cover page...guess I won't do it.

If it's a Russian edition from 1960, you can go ahead and upload it. As for things on Russian sites like Tarakanov in general, you have to be careful - especially when they've got copies of Western scores. For example, there are a number of works by Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland on the Tarakanov site. These are all under copyright - supposedly even in Russia (where scant attention is paid to such niceties, apparently). You cannot upload Barber, Copland, Rodrigo, and Ginastera - to name some other examples - here.

ras1 wrote:Oh wait...it says 1960 and something in Russian at the bottom of the cover page...

If anyone cares, it says

ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ
МУЗЫКАЛЬНОЕ ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО
Москва 1960

which translates to

STATE
MUSIC PUBLISHING HOUSE
Moscow 1960

OK - thanks for your help, everyone.