IMSLP Forums

During the years 1935-1939, the Works Progress Administration, part of the US Federal government, ran the Federal Music Program, employing numerous musicians of all ilks, as a means of economic stimulus. Among its activities, FMP commissioned new scores from noted composers. It paid for a batallion of copyists to copy out the scores and parts -- both old and new. According to the website of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, more than 300 WPA scores and parts are today stored in the archives of the Detroit Symphony.

The DSO's website does not include a list of the works that were commissioned by the WPA or the scores and parts that were hand-copied. It does state, however, that only one of these scores has been scanned. That is Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. The pages of this score -- which are exquisitely copied -- can be seen on the DSO website.

All this raises some questions in my mind. First, is the music composed/arranged for the WPA in the public domain? even though it was composed after 1923? Was this music "work for hire?" Wasn't the hiring organization the Federal Government? Then, don't these works belong to the US public? And how about all of those instrumental parts copied out at public expense? Are those parts in the public domain? And if they are, why have they been lying virtually unused in the DSO's archives for 75 years. The DSO website states that in order to examine the WPA scores and parts, one must make an appointment for a visit to the orchestra's archives.

Some of the composers who wrote music for the WPA were major names. I am aware of Alan Hovhaness and Ernst Bacon. Undoubtedly, there were many others.

If this music (including the scores and parts) is in the public domain, then shouldn't it finally be made accessible to the public, who paid for it? With the advent of the internet and IMSLP, this treasure trove could reach the people.

MS

I think that there might have been a court ruling which stated that works composed for the WPA are in fact government works and thus dedicated to the public domain. This came about because of the music composed by Virgil Thomson for the WPA-produced documentary films: The River and Louisiana Story. The composer later re-worked the music into orchestral suites, which remain under copyright. However, the original film scores were ruled public domain some years back when an orchestra wanted to record them.

This is still a gray area because this is just an anecdote told by a conductor. The instrumental parts to public domain works (like J.S. Bach) are absolutely public domain. Extracting parts from a public domain source does not even come close to meeting the "threshold of originality" required for copyright status.