IMSLP Forums

I was surprised to not find the Howells Psalm Preludes on IMSLP (on the US server, at least), because they were composed between 1915–1916, and are copyrighted 1921. Oddly, they say "renewed 1949", which doesn't make a lot of sense—unless that's something more specific to Europe than the US (where I am based).

Is there any way something initially published in 1921 could still be under copyright in the US even if it says renewed 1949? I ask because I'm preparing a new edition of Op. 32, No. 1, and would like to upload it when I'm done, but won't if it can't be accepted, of course.

Thanks,
Marc

U.S. copyright law at the time required the copyright on works to be renewed 28 years after the copyright date. If it had not been renewed the published work would have then entered into the public domain in the U.S. at that time. Howell's Opus 32 is now in the public domain in the U.S. and David Campbell (many thanks to him) has uploaded scans here: 3 Psalm-Preludes.

Thank you for your reply, and to David for uploading a scan of this work. I don't think I had ever personally seen a renewal notice on a pre-1923 work before, so combined with the fact that a scan wasn't present when I searched, I was confused about the status of the work. That is all clear now. Many thanks.