IMSLP Forums

I have tagged the Padmâvatî orchestral suites by Roussel as V/V/V (unlike the vocal score, which is non-PD-EU), because not having any vocal content, I assume the suites are considered to be only the work of the composer and not the librettist (Louis Laloy, 1874-1944).

If this is not correct, I am relying on one of my more knowledgeable colleagues to correct me.

(sorry, still learning as I go along!)

Aldona

You are correct - good catch! The librettist has nothing to do with the orchestral suites, which are Roussel's work alone. However, I note that the orchestral suites were first published in 1924 and bear a valid 1924 copyright claim. It is very unlikely that they are actually free in the USA - despite the fact that you got them from Sibley. They will not be free in the USA until Jan. 1, 2020.

1. Durand was one of the very best of all European publishers about renewing copyrights in the USA. They even managed to renew some titles while they were under German occupation during WW II.

2. Even in the unlikely event that Durand somehow failed to renew in 1951 or 1952, they would have certainly been eligible to file an NIE under the GATT/TRIPs amendments from 1996-1998.

As mentioned above, the odds of the suites being free in the USA are very slim indeed. That's really a shame, too, because they're wonderful examples of Roussel's orchestral writing. Sadly, our US law has become a labyrinth of insane and often contradictory rules that only politicians and lawyers could admire. Canada's really is one of the simplest and logical statutes around.

Correct. And I'm glad you caught this on Sibley's site. I was the one that, during the course of my Roussel project, requested these from Sibley (back in early September) seeing as how they were the only library that had both suites. They ended up digitizing them rather than photocopying or loaning the physical item, which is good. I'm out of town, so thanks for uploading these for me.

Any no, they aren't PD in the US, but since I raised such hell with them over getting these suites, I think they decided it would be better to shut me up by just scanning them.

There are only two libraries who claim to own the scores for these suites. For better or worse, the persistent Mr. Zoller zeroed in on Sibley instead of the NYPL as a source for these scores (we do not loan items for which so few copies are extant). Given their scarcity, we felt it in the best interests of scholars and musicians everywhere to make these scores available. We do not have the CCE past 1946 and thus could not verify whether the works were renewed. Durand does not see fit to make these works available for sale, thus no commercial market is being effected, unlike a work by Svendsen that I'll be uploading to the UR-only part of the Sibley Digital collection which, while PD, is also currently available for sale. We've also started to put works there that are not PD in the EU.

And I would like to here publicly thank Mr. Farrington both for his kindness to me directly regarding this matter and to his commitment to the musical world here at IMSLP. I'd also like to thank the Sibley Library for all they do in the way of making rare and obscure works available to the general public. I think I speak for everyone here when I say we are eternally grateful for your services and are excited to be part of disseminating these scores if in some small way.