On Feb 16, 2006, at 11:22 PM, Andrew Stiller wrote:
On Feb 16, 2006, at 3:30 PM, Christopher Smith wrote:
If Bach had written his "Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring" today, he would
have been credited as "arranged by..." and been eligible for no
royalties at all unless the tune (the part with the words) was in the
public domain.
Everything he wrote - all the most interesting parts that make the
piece good - are just the arrangement, by modern standards.
Not really true. He would have had to obtain permission from the
copyright owner, but could then have copyrighted his own contribution
as an original work. Form PA has a place for the creator to designate
exactly what aspect of the work is claimed as copyrightable, and
another where original and derived portions of the work are clearly
distinguished. Berio's _Sinfonia_ is but one example of a work full of
qotations of copyrighted material, but considered, both legally and
artistically, to be a fully original composition in its own right.
Similarly, any composer's "Variations on [X]" is not deemed an
arrangement, whether [X] be copyrighted or not.
I guess that's where the modern departure occurs; so seldom are modern
copyright owners willing to give this sort of permission that any work
of this type that ends up being done is done as an arrangement. At
least, I've had no luck. If Berio hadn't passed away recently I might
have asked him what his trick was...
christopher
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