Die Seejungfrau (Zemlinsky)

[haydenmuhl]

So 1984 is actually the first publication then. Under the EU's rule of editio princeps, the 25-year term would have expired in 2010 had Zemlinsky died before 1940. However, he lived until 1942, which means it is protected there until 2013. It would be covered in Canada until 2035 unless there was a public performance before the composer withdrew the work. In the USA, it's locked up until 1/1/2049.

Universal Edition lists January, 25, 1905 as the world premier.

http://www.universaledition.com/Alexand ... /work/2066

[Roper]

A new critical edition of the score of 'Die Seejungfrau' is currently in preparation at Universal Edition, edited by Antony Beaumont. Release date is set for some time in 2013. The score will include a large section which Zemlinsky cut before the first performance. More details are on the UE website.

[Eric]

So 1984 is actually the first publication then. Under the EU's rule of editio princeps, the 25-year term would have expired in 2010 had Zemlinsky died before 1940. However, he lived until 1942, which means it is protected there until 2013. It would be covered in Canada until 2035 unless there was a public performance before the composer withdrew the work. In the USA, it's locked up until 1/1/2049.

Actually, this question was already answered I thought, but the work was performed in Vienna 25 January 1905, to add a little detail to that answer. The composer may have revised the score as well as withdrawn it- something is said about posthumous premiere of a new critical edition which I assume to mean anything real would mean incorporating things from the autograph score if available, revisions, etc. (as with Mendelssohn's 4th symphony later thoughts perhaps). The best I would hope for even if I were right anyway is that a manuscript, if one were available, could be scanned, not this new edition of theirs...

[Carolus]

Revising the piece would not really effect the status in Canada. If it was performed in 1905, it's now public domain in Canada.

[Eric]

Even the revision would be? That raises very interesting questions of the definition-lines between revision and new work with the same name, etc. ... (the particular facts of this other case aren't relevant copyright-wise as nothing involving a 1962/63 border is involved, just US copyright issues (and non-PD-EU in any case), but I was looking at the history of Prokofiev's 2nd piano concerto and thinking about that sort of thing.)

[daphnis]

I think the Prokofiev example you cited would fall under a different set of conditions seeing as he re-wrote the piece (from memory, if mine serves) some time later. It would a difficult task to prove that this constituted a revision of the original work.

[Eric]

Well, there's a spectrum (multi-dimensional continuum? ack.) between no change / small clarifying changes / wholesale rewritings / and complete, entire, rewriting where only the title (if that) remains the same ... legal minds are probably more comfortable than ex-mathematical minds like mine (I am joking!!) with this sort of fuzziness (squirrel!).

[Carolus]

The extent of revision is important. If something is very heavily re-written, with considerable new material added, it usually qualifies (at least) as a "new adaptation". If it's some orchestrational touch-ups, probably not. If the new adaptation was never "performed, recorded or delivered" it might qualify for a 50-year term in Canada, but even that is questionable as the composer has been dead well over 50 years. This has much to do with who is actually qualified to make a posthumous copyright claim. Copyright passes to the heirs of the author, but its not entirely clear if anything can be claimed once the initial 50-year term is past.

[tilmaen]

we're currently playing the piece. however it's in a version revised in 2013 with a "new" original 2nd movement where some stuff has been added. so i guess this is the first publication and i wont be able to share the music here. a bummer ... :/

[Eric]

I read Beaumont's biography recently and came away somewhat surprised with how much of Zemlinsky's music was only published, it seems, with the satellite efforts and researches that surrounded creating the biography, and how much else just took a long while (eg quartet 4 not pub until 1974, etc) (and other works only available in piano score, the orchestral parts seeming to have disappeared)- some of these works never performed past rehearsal if that until very recently, too. There were in Zemlinsky's case, even more than others, some reasons for this, as he did move about a whole lot (Vienna, Prague, etc then NY to escape the Nazis at the end).