copyright status of manuscript in EU?

[Afp0815]

I have access to a manuscript of a work by Paul Colberg, who died 1926. The work was never published in any form. Therefore the work is PD in the US and Canada. What is the EU copyright status? I assume that uploading the manuscript to imslp would be first publication in the EU? What would be the correct copyright status when uploading the file?

[Carolus]

As far as I know, you would have to obtain the permission of the composer's heirs to publish the work in the EU due to the editio princeps rule. This is assuming that it has not been legally published by the library, archive or person who has the manuscript by their making and/or distribution of copies (even a limited number) by manual transcription (a la Vivaldi's Montezuma), microfilm or photocopies to other libraries or persons. I believe permission of the heirs is required under the moral rights provisions (authorized publication vs. unauthorized publication).

[Afp0815]

thanks.

Shall I upload it under a creative commons license after having obtained the permission of the composer's heirs?

[Carolus]

Only for the EU. It's already free in the USA and Canada. We have a few odd-ball tags like that where it's permission granted for EU.