IMSLP Forums

Hello IMSLP sages,

Please help me understand the legal status of one of my favorite pieces of the 20th century, Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin. I am planning an arrangement of the ballet but for the life of me I do not understand the copyright situation in the US as of Feb 2025:

- Written 1918-24, definitely outside the 95 year range there (PD)
- First performed 1926, still outside the range (PD)
- The suite is published Universal Edition/Boosey & Hawkes 1925 (PD)
- The ballet, which is the same plate # as the suite, published 1955?? So not PD?

My specific questions are:
- If I were to use only the suite as the basis of the arrangement, would that be fair use in the US?
- If I were to use a copyist’s manuscript from 1925-26 from the Bartok Archives as the basis for an arrangement of the full ballet, would this be considered fair use in the US?

Thank you!

The Ballet was fully published in 1955, so that is why it is under copyright in the USA. The suite was published first in 1925, which is PD-USA. Since the Ballet has the more content here, it has a separate copyright from the suite itself (including any manuscript by the composer because the copyright extends to the manuscript as well), which acts as a selection to the full ballet. So in terms of using it legally where you live in the USA, yes your fully welcome to use the Suite because it is PD-USA for any sort of purpose and was published before the full ballet was published, as long as your not using anything else that is from the Ballet itself (because the rest of the work is still copyright there as I said already) and not using it in a performance in the USA without paying royalties to the Bartok estate in the USA region.

Thank you, this is very helpful!!