>>>>> "Richard" == Richard Stallman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
PS. Is there an english word for "Urtext"?
Richard> I think people use the word "urtext", even in English. But
Richard> perhaps a "critical edition" is the same thing--I am not
Richard> certain.
-- An Urtext is a reconstruction of the earliest form of a text,
including mistakes the original author wrote. Where there is no
available facsimile of the original, creating this can involve some
inspired detective work (in comparing various later editions and
trying to deduce what the original form was). As far as copyright
goes, my guess is that, for works that are otherwise out of copyright,
an Urtext is copyright to the person who reconstructed it, as a
derived work from the editions s/he consulted. If the edition is
created directly from a facsimile, as would be the case for most
Urtext editions of music, then the amount of new (copyright) material
is minimal.
-- A critical edition is an edition that is designed for critical
study of a text. It'll usually have lots of footnotes, alternative
readings, possible realisations of bass parts and harmonies, etc. It
aims to elucidate the author's original intentions, as opposed to
reproduce exactly what was written. The critical apparatus will be
copyright to its author.
-- A playing edition is one that has been edited for modern usage.
It'll have fewer or no alternative readings, it'll be in modern
notation, it may have additional editorial marks (phrase marks, slurs,
etc.) will often have a fully realised basso continuo part (if oone
was present in the original) and may have had key changes, time
signature changes, time compression (original in 4/1, playing edition
in 4/4, for example, with all semibreves replaced with crotchets)
Copyright is in the arranger/editor.
Take all this with a grain of salt -- I am not a copyright lawyer.
Peter C
