This is an interesting case, but not completely relevant to the early music we are discussing on this list. From what I have read the case had a lot to do with the money Hyperion made selling the CDs and didn't pay to Dr. Sawkins, who reconstruction the music and made a playable edition. I don't think Dowland and Weiss had the same royalty driven concept of ownership. Nancy Carlin
> a propos arrangements, you might be interested to look at the recent court >case between Hyperion Records (UK) and Dr Sawkins concerning the ownership of >musical copyright of a performing edition of Lalande, whose music is out of >copyright. The UK Law lords agreed with Dr Sawkins, on appeal, that work >involved in creating an arrangement can be sufficient to consider it an >'original' piece of work. Hyperion's URL is www.Hyperion.co.uk but the full >transcript of the judgement is also available. >regards >Charles > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Jon Murphy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: 21 July 2005 16:14 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Roman Turovsky >Cc: [email protected] >Subject: Re: Byrd > > >RT, > >I both agree and disagree, which makes me indecisive on the face of it. >Nothing is original, and everything is. I just bought the Bunting book >facsimile (1840) that transcribes, and arranges for piano forte, the harp >music of Ireland - "in order to preserve it". I have some of the same pieces >from 1625 as lute tab from other originals. What is an arrangement, and what >is a song? For once I am in agreement with you. Scarlatti and Bach did >original work in reworking (arranging) earlier works. But if I take the >Bunting piano arrangements and return them to harp am I original? I don't >think so, but it is a puzzlement. > >I think we need new words, actually not new words but a different sense of >the old words in context. I really enjoy playing the Sarmantica XVI that you >lured me to by speaking of parallel fifths (not many in there, but it got me >there) as well as other Sarmanticas. > >So now let us have a test of words, and this isn't directed only to you, it >is to the list. I think we agree on arrangements as originals. > >I take the tab notation of Sarmantica XVI and put it into staff notation for >harp (or piano, or whatever). I have transcibed it for another medium, but >I've done nothing original. Now I take the voices in the lute piece and >separate them a bit, using the fact that the harpist can play more voices >than the lutenist can, I'm still not original, but I am arranging the same >piece for a different instrument. Yet the arrangement doesn't qualify as an >original. Now I include the lute piece into an orchestral score as a theme >across the instruments - now I'm original. What is original and what is >derivative in music is a difficult decision. I once had a project to put >A.E. Housman to music, but only wrote one melody (for Moonlit Sheep). I came >up with a unique chord progression that made my melody perfect, then found >the same chord progression in the Theme from Exodus (the movie) which was >written later. There are only so many ways you can use notes in a melody, >and only so many chord progressions - but there are an infinite number of >ways to make a song. > >Therein lies the problem, and the solution. If the sense of the music is the >same then it is a transcription (or translation). If the sense is similar, >but enhanced with additional instruments then it is an arrangement. If the >sense changes then it is original. On the lute the inversions of chords >aren't easily available, unless one has the fingers of "rubberman". But on >the harp the inversions are easy. So if I change the inversion of the chord >the other guy wrote for the piece am I arranging, or just making easy >fingering for the same piece. I don't know, and I don't really want to know. > >Best, Jon > > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Nancy Carlin Associates P.O. Box 6499 Concord, CA 94524 USA phone 925/686-5800 fax 925/680-2582 web site - www.nancycarlinassociates.com Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA web site - http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org --
