IMSLP Forums

Hello,

I would like to know if Franz Berwald's works are ever going to be available for download and if so, when exactly?
If it's still going to take a long time I would like to know where else I may find his piano works for free since I need them rather urgently.
Thank you.

"All singers have this fault: if asked to sing among friends they are never so inclined; if unasked, they never leave off."
-Horace

A long time is correct.
I personally do not know of any other free resource. If you find a public domain edition, please scan and upload!

Unfortunately there were a fair number of Berwald pieces that were either unpublished until the Bärenreirer edition was issued, or issued only in periodicals or other very rare and difficult to find editions. If you can find the older editions, they are most likely public domain and would be possible to post here. The Berwald case is a prime example of how copyright laws backfire with respect to the supposed purpose of issuing a complete edition. The Berwald edition was funded by the Swedish government, probably with the idea that a modern edition of one of Sweden's most important composers would help in making his music more widely known. However, the copyright claimant is the German firm Bärenreiter, who had a 25-year monopoly on work funded at the expense of Swedish taxpayers in the EU, with an absolutely absurd term in the USA of either 95 years from publication for items issued before 1978, or life of the last surviving editor plus 70 years for items issued 1978 and later.

Several of the Berwald volumes are still available for sale, and I've even put in links to Sheet Music Plus for them. Naturally, the volumes are well over $100 USD each. That's one heck of a way to promote Berwald's music! I seriously doubt that Bärenreiter produced these volumes "on spec." They no doubt charged a tidy sum to the Swedish government to produce the series. There's nothing wrong with that, given Berwald's relative lack of popularity. The problem arises when someone gets to claim a legalized monopoly (which is what copyright is by definition) on something produced with public funds. If the Swedish government were listed as copyright claimant, it would be more understandable. But, what the hey, it's just OPM (other people's money) - as the bankstas like to say.

Sorry for answering a bit late. That's really bad, bad news to me Like Carolus said: that's one "awesome" way of promoting the music of one of Sweden's greatest composers.
I guess I'll just have to try and buy them but I'm sure it's going to be quite a tough job to say the least. If anyone ever gets to find at least some of his piano works for free download please let me know!

Thanks for the answers.

"There is no such thing as dissonance: it is only an extreme form of consonance." -Arnold Schoenberg