IMSLP Forums

I am curious what the combined wisdom of this forum is regarding Debussy's incidental music for readings of Les Chansons de Bilitis (for 2 flutes, 2 harps, celesta, reciter). Since there is no page for it in IMSLP, I am assuming there must be some issues.

The piece was performed once in 1901, but never published (in that version) during Debussy's lifetime. By the time interest revived, apparently the celesta part was lost. Boulez wrote a celesta part for a performance in 1954, but it was never published. (The recording by the Nash Ensemble may be the Boulez version, though.)

In the early 1970s, two competing editions came out with different celesta parts. I have no doubt that these publications are clearly under copyright, as well as Boulez's version were it ever to be made generally available. My question is, what is the status of a (hypothetical) scan of the manuscript? (The manuscript itself is housed at the National Bibliotheque in Paris, but lamentably they have not made it available online.)

I ask because I have made an arrangement for almost entirely different instruments that does not use any of the published celesta parts--only the original material surviving in the manuscript plus material from Debussy's later (now PD) 6 Épigraphes Antiques that was derived from L96. Do I have the authority to post that arrangement on IMSLP?

This is one of those complicated cases arising from works which published only posthumously. The three major copyright domains (Canada, USA and EU) all treat this case differently, so I'll try to lay out what I understand of the situation here:

1. In Canada, the fact that the work was performed means it is not eligible for the 50-year term under Canada's version of the first publication doctrine - editio princeps. Only works of composers dead less than 50 years which were never performed, broadcast, recorded or delivered are eligible for this. The Debussy manuscript material is therefore public domain.

2. In the USA, first publication is the governing doctrine of term determination. Since two editions came out in the 1970s, the first one issued would determine the copyright of the piece, which would be 95 years from earliest publication date (before 1978) or 2048 (1978 or later). Ironically, if nothing had been published until after December 31, 2002, the manuscript material itself would be free in the USA. The fact that there were two editions issued clouds the issue, along with the fact that the work could be considered as an earlier version of the public domain Épigraphes antiques. Under the case-law doctrine of what happens with publication, all extant versions of a work are considered to be published along with the first version to be published.

3. In the EU, the first publication - editio princeps - obviously took place more than 25 years ago, so the manuscript material would be free.

Your arrangement would be perfectly fine in Canada and the EU, it's not so clear in the USA since the publisher of the first edition to appear would have a strong case as the copyright claimant. So, if you post it, we'll probably have to tag it as non-PD USA.

Here is some further clouding of the issue.

I have a copy of the first publication, published by Jobert in 1971 with a celesta part by Arthur Hoérée. This seems to be the most standard version of the work, at least in the USA. The copyright notice includes a statement that the 7 (of 12) pieces that later appeared in Epigraphes are used by permission of Durand. I suppose that means that those 7, at least, are probably PD, but the other 5 perhaps are not.

The Donemus edition is available on their online store. (You can download the first 9 pages as a sample for free.) It has a 1991 copyright notice and no indication of obtaining permission from Jobert. However, I beieve this is a reprint and the original publication was 1972. (It would be interesting to see the permission statement in the original publication.)

So my question is, if Donemus can publish an arrangement with a 1991 copyright notice, where does that leave me? (Perhaps Donemus doesn't reach the USA, and they are exactly where I am!) The issue is further clouded by the fact that both editions are clearly stated adaptations, and as such are clearly under copyright to the extent that they contain material not in the manuscript.

Thanks for such an interesting summary of the issues, btw.

That's curious as Debussy's copyright expired in 1969 in both France and the Netherlands under the 50 pma law in effect at the time (unless France's notorious extension for those who lived during the wars was on the books back then in some form). A war-extension and a contract between the Debussy heirs and Durand covering all unpublished works could explain the permission statement, along with the fact the the items taken from this work and later published as the Épigraphes antiques were published by Durand.

It's also possible that the issue of the 7 items nixed any claims of editio princeps for Musique de scène pour les Chansons de Bilitis, which would also explain the rapidity of the Dutch issue. It's the USA where the work's status is the most confusing. If you post your arrangement here, my inclination would be to tag this as OK for Canada and EU and "C" for the USA. This means it will be available, but there is a possibility that some sort of claim could surface which would result in the work being "NonPD-US".

Here at BNF: http://catalogue.bnf.fr/servlet/biblio? ... =catalogue I found information about Boulez and the Celesta part. The manuscript contains
annotations by Debussy. This item is obviously not a legal deposit. It says: former owner=Vallas, Léon (1879-1956 ).

There are ca.1900 "debussy bilitis" results at http://catalogue.bnf.fr/, but they are for voice, piano. There are 2 online results in this case at http://gallica.bnf.fr/Search?idArk=&n=1 ... eFin=&tri=
Can't you base your arrangement on these?

To Carolus, EU, editio princeps: if the work was published before the European 25-year EU directive
the "old" French law of 70 year + war period is still valid. Read Article 10 of http://eur-lex.europa.eu/Notice.do?mode ... =294610:cs

The 3 Chansons de Bilitis for voice and piano are completely different piece than the Musique de scène pour les Chansons de Bilitis for 2fl, 2hp, csta. As far as I can tell, there is no musical overlap.