Saint-Saëns piece, "König Harald Harfagar", Op. 59

[Pladask]

This little tone poem after Heine for duo piano seems to be quite an obscurity. I even e-mailed Piano Duo Egri & Pertis, who made the only recording of it I can find (BTW, it is available in the Naxos library). This is what Attila Pertis wrote in his very informative reply:

We checked the score: it is an early (and possibly the only one) edition by Bote & G. Bock (Eigentum der Verleger Berlin & Posen), edition-number: 12398. You are right, it is not available. We found this score by our research in the Library of Congress in Washington.

Unfortunately we may not make any copy of them, because they didn't allowed us, (in Washington we had to sign and confirm it), so we can not send it to You directly. As we think, You can not travel to Washington just for "Harfagar", we would suggest to try it online. We heard, that the Library began to digitalize the scores, perhaps You can order it.

Have any of you got any idea?

Thanks

[daphnis]

No, but I also spent a lot of time looking for this piece without luck (for our complete Saint-Saëns collection underway). One thing is for sure, however, that the score is definitely public domain, so anything they signed with the Library is really not applicable. You could always ask them to submit it to the site anonymously

[thalbergmad]

This score is held at the British Library and Royal Academy of Music, both of which have excellent but expensive document supply services.

Many libraries (including the above) strictly forbid the copying of their holdings, which i guess is why your contact is reluctant to post.

Thal

[Pladask]

That's quite provocative. I suppose you're used to this nonsense.

[thalbergmad]

I am used to dealing with many UK libraries and the declaration you have to sign is pretty standard.

The British Library claims copyright on all of their holdings, no matter how long the composer has been dead. When you complete their order form, you have to declare that you will not make copies. With some libraries you even have to sign to the effect that you don't know of anyone else who will ask for the same material.

I really don't know if all of this is enforcable and it does seem to hinder the valuable work that goes on here.

Concerning your score, I would be amazed if this is not available in other European libraries, but i might be wrong.

Good luck

Thal