Copyright status of odd orphan work (Parsifal Mass)

[Jaquick]

I have in hand this item (OCLC# 11734835)
"A musical setting for the office of Holy Communion for Anglican Churches based on the music of Wagner's Parsifal, arranged by C.A. Veasey Jr., utilizing the motives of the Sacrament, the grail, faith and the bells, including the transformation music for mixed chorus, with soli for soprano, alto, and baritone, and orchestration for ten strings and organ." ©1934 by C. A. Veasey Jr., no publisher or place.

I've found nothing about the arranger. The work is "Dedicated to the Choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Spokane, Wash." and the string parts "may be obtained by application to the Cathedral", so it deems likely that Veasey was music director there, but no luck online.

I've checked the LC lists for 1961-1962, and "Veasey" doesn't come up in any search.

May I put this score up?

[Carolus]

You have to understand that IMSLP's main server is located in Canada, whose copyright law is quite different from that of the US. The dates of the arranger are of absolute importance. If C.A. Veasay Jr. died before 1965, the arrangement can be uploaded here. If he died in 1965 or later, you cannot. The copyright terms id life plus 50 years of the last surviving contributor. If there is another contributor you're not mentioning, like a translator of text, who lived past 1965, the arrangement cannot be uploaded even if you discover that Veasay died in 1962.

[Jaquick]

The text is standard Book of Common Prayer stuff, so that shouldn't be a factor. What I hear you saying is that whether or not US copyright was renewed is irrelevant here. as is the fact that the source material is all PD. So unless I can find a death date for this obscure fellow, we're out of luck.

[David Campbell]

This would be an interesting addition to IMSLP. Clarence Archibald Veasey, both father and son, were opthamologists in Spokane. Per the father's obit, his son was practicing as late as 1957. The son appears to have attended Yale in the early teens-I can't find any other information on him.


Father's obit:
http://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrende ... obtype=pdf

[Jaquick]

Thanks, David, that info seems to have broken the logjam.
Veasey Jr. was born Nov. 24, 1895 in Philadelphia, per his 1942 draft card. He died Aug. 22.1960 in Spokane and is interred in Fairview Memorial Park, Spokane.
http://archives.ancestry.com/Discoverie ... de198fbce9

There's a Veasey III who lived for a day in 1944. Jr. was married as of 1930 and remarried 1951. Joined the AOS in 1940.

It's the right name in the right place. I haven't found any evidence of his being an amateur musician or connecting him with the church, but it's good enough for me. The death date would also confirm the lack of a copyright renewal.

Seems that I would need to create a composer page for him, but then link it (don't know how) to work page for Parsifal.

[daphnis]

Honestly, this work is so obscure (the OCLC accession number you provided only shows one owning library) and sufficiently aged that I doubt the controlling publisher will bark. With the information that was discovered, I think there's enough evidence to post it with a "checked" status for Canada and the EU (copyright reviewer's note only here).

You don't need to create a composer's page, just list him as an arranger when you submit the file to the Parsifal work page.

[Carolus]

From the initial description, this would appear to be a pastiche of items from Parsifal which was put together as a kind of contrafactum so it would qualify for its own page with the OpDerivs template used to link it back to the opera. It's similar in a way to the numerous piano pastiches from favorite operas. That's why we came up with the whole OpDerivs machine - put all those various arrangements on a given opera page and it will go down in flames like the end of Götterdämmerung. So set that man up with a page and you're good to go.