According to this page on IMSLP (sheet music resource,) if I understand correctly, written music (sheet music/compositions by classical composers) are out of copyright worldwide if both of the following conditions are fulfilled:
The composer died more than 70 years ago.
The piece is published before 1923.
The composer Bartok died in 1945. His piece “Romanian Folk Dances” exists in two versions, one from 1915 and one from 1917. Does this mean that on January 1, 2016, I can be absolutely sure that this piece of music will, on that date, be out of copyright worldwide?
Bonus question: On a related note, will Mascagni’s opera “Cavalleria Rusticana,” from 1890, also be out of copyright in 2016, given that Mascagni also died in 1945?
I like to write arrangements of music (so that it can be played by different instruments other than the original - arranging a piano piece for brass band, for example.) It’s legal to make arrangements of music that’s out of copyright. Arranging still-copyrighted music is more complicated, as you have to get permission to do it, and I think you also have to pay money to do it, or else the original copyright holders get money from the sales, I think. (I’m not an expert on this, which is why I usually stick to arranging out-of-copyright music.)
The IMSLP has both versions of the piece in question; both are marked as “Non-PD EU”, i.e., still under copyright in the EU. However, they are both in the public domain in the United States. So you could arrange and publish the work in the United States, but you can’t disseminate it in the EU until next year.
ETA: Bartók seems to be the best-known composer whose works will come into the public domain over the next few years. After him, I think the next composer of comparable stature to die was Richard Strauss (whose works should come into the public domain worldwide in 2020.)
I sell sheet music on a site where people from all over the world can buy it, so I try to publish arrangements of music that I’m sure is public domain worldwide.
This website has a list of composers who are in public domain, according to death year, though from what I know about copyright, the list seems off by a year.
Just in time for 2020: A Space Odyssey 3, Odd and Odyssier!
@EmilyG: 2016 is three weeks from tomorrow. Could you really arrange and publish something faster than that? Also, when will you be starting an “Ask the professional music arranger” thread? I’d really find that fascinating.
Well, I am working on non-Bartok-related music arrangements at the moment, so in all likelihood, I won’t have time to arrange the Bartok pieces before the new year anyway.
Don’t know if there’d be enough interest in starting an “Ask the” music arranger thread, but nice to know there are people out there who find music arranging fascinating.
Not sure how much of a genius I am, but I have had a crack at arranging his music before (for obligatory music school assignments, for example.)
Bartok wrote a lot of short piano pieces that lend themselves well to all sorts of different arrangements. I’ve been waiting for a while for his music to go out of copyright.
I’m not familiar with “Miraculous Mandarin,” and since it was finished in 1924, it might still be under copyright anyway.
Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances, I find, are some of his more accessible, listenable pieces, though I like (and I even compose) a lot of music that many people might consider weird.
So, it looks like the Folk Dances will be out of copyright worldwide next year. Good to know.
OK, so, you’ve got a solo piano piece like the Romanian Dances, and you want to arrange it for, I assume, full orchestra. Is there a standard process you go through, or is each arrangement a completely different problem?
Is there trial and error involved? “Hmm, that little bit might sound good on a bassoon. Oops, nope, it really doesn’t. OK, cello, you’re up!” I’m especially curious where you’ll put that quirky little melody from … Pe Loc, is it? I’m guessing a flute could pull it off, but a flute solo, or the whole section? How do you even make decisions like that?
Do you have to embellish the piece to involve the broader range of sounds that an orchestra can produce? How do you integrate percussion?
*Beethoven’s gone, but his music lives on
And Mozart don’t go shopping no more
You’ll never meet Liszt or Brahms again ♫
And Elgar doesn’t answer the door
Schubert and Chopin used to chuckle and laugh
Whilst composing a long symphony
But one hundred and fifty years later
There’s very little of them left to see
They’re decomposing composers
There’s nothing much anyone can do
You can still hear Beethoven
But Beethoven cannot hear you ♫
*
I’d be interested in it. Do you do it for a living or just for fun?
I can’t compose my way out of a paper bag, but when listening to music I often think to myself “this section would sound better with some horns”, or “they need some keyboards here”, and so on.
I have done some arranging for orchestra (this is also called “orchestration”,) though I don’t do much of it these days, as there are already so many other people working in that particular area. I mostly arrange for groups of wind instruments, such as clarinet choir (that’s a group of all different kinds of clarinets.) Lately I’ve been doing a lot of arranging duets for violin and clarinet, as there’s a demand for it, and not much existing material.
As for choosing which instrument can play which part of the original piece (piano piece in this case,) it mostly boils down to the ranges of each instrument. For example, the cello has a low range, so if you have a melody that’s mostly low notes, you can arrange it for cello. Also, certain instruments can only play certain notes softly, and certain other notes loudly. Also, there are combinations of instruments that sound good together, and some that sound less good together, so a music arranger has to take that into consideration too.
(Hmm, maybe I really should start a thread about it.)
Getting back to the Bartok dances, they’ve already been arranged for orchestra by the composer, I believe. I’m planning to find out what instruments/instrument combos they haven’t been arranged for yet, and working on that (I’ve done this before with other music.)
It sounds like you have a good musical ear.
I do earn money composing music, and arranging other people’s music, though at this point it’s not enough to actually live on.
