IMSLP Forums

1. Anyone heard of the (probably french or belgian) composer Louis H. Enter?
I've got a book of 6 piano pieces, titled "Les Miniatures", published by Alsbach, Amsterdam in 1937.
Can't find any info or dates of birth and death of this composer. Maybe it's a pseudonym?

2. Same goes for Hans Nissen and his 13 variations on a children's song.
The edition is published by Ries & Erler, Berlin, probably late 30's.

3. I just uploaded a scan of "Pensees de Weber" by one J. Ch. Hess, published by Schott in 1861 (according to plate number).
Can't find anything about this composer online, but it's clearly public domain. The other 2 scores I won't upload till I know their dates.

I found dates for Jean Charles Hess: 1816 - 1900. No more than this for the moment

Max

Thanks Max! Apparently he was the father of Charles Léon Hess, who already has a page here.
I'll add the date to the page.

EDIT: Has already been done, I see

Hans Nissen (1898-1985)
see http://d-nb.info/gnd/125890206 and http://www.bmlo.lmu.de/n0213
The "Variationen über ein Kinderlied" were first published in 1943.

According to Worldcat, "13 Variationen über ein Kinderlied im Stile alterer und neuerer Meister" are also reported as written by Hans Hermann Nissen (1893 - 1980) and published around 1900 (?).

Apparently, no composition by Nissen are reported in the US copyright office records of 1943, so there is a chance that this edition is PD in US.

Max

Thanks for the info, guys. The date 1943 makes sense since the score is dedicated to the memory of Nissen's mother, who died that year.

Nissen is clearly non-PD EU then.
If it's PD US, would it be legal for me as an EU resident to upload it? I always wondered about the legality of that.

Rob Peters wrote:If it's PD US, would it be legal for me as an EU resident to upload it?

Generally speaking, it wouldn't be legal. When you purchase a copy of a score, you obtain permission to use it "for your personal use", and, obviously, scanning and making it available to somebody else is not personal use. However, there are some tricky and very debatable scenarios that open areas of uncertainty. For example, some (most?) EU countries extend the personal use to your family and friends, so, for example, if you consider the score of a string quartet and you are one of the four players, you can legally make copies for three friends and play it with them privately (no public performance, which would extend the use to others). If one of these friends is American and you send a copy to him so that he can study the score when he is in the US, that copy would trespass the EU borderline (most likely, legally) and enter an area where it is PD, so your friend may freely copy and distribute it. VERY tricky, IMO. I am not a lawyer, and I wouldn't bet on the lawfulness of this process.

Max

It is most likely illegal for you to upload things from the EU to the USA server. The USA server is a separate one which does not directly connect with the main one in Canada, BTW. You cannot upload to it by using the normal system at IMSLP as it stands. Obviously, composers who lived until 1985 are very much under copyright even in Canada, so only within the confines of the USA could a work in the public domain there be duplicated, uploaded and downloaded.

Thanks again for the useful info, guys.
I need your help finding some composer dates again!

Mario van Overeem, Belgian organ composer who left a Harmonium method, some harp pieces and songs, among others.
Born in 1872, but either my Google-fu is weak or there's really nothing on the net about his exact year of death.

The most information I can find is that one of his works, op.32, was published in 1935: http://www.worldcat.org/title/antiphona ... ef_results

MusicSack has nothing on him. The latest date any VIAF source refers to is 1935 in a reference to the same publication. A cursory internet search did not turn up any more helpful sources.

Super Mario is immortal, it seems.


Ok, let's forget about him then.
One unrelated question: Paul Gilson, died in april 1942: PD in EU or not?
The 70+ years rule would apply here, but I heard something about work only entering the PD the next year after the 70th year? Would that make it januari 1st 2013?

Rob, yes you are correct. He would enter public domain on January first.