Posted on 09/22/2005 3:11:11 PM PDT by sitetest
DÜSSELDORF (dpa) — An opera presumed lost when Antonio Vivaldi died 265 years ago is to have a controversial premiere on a German stage Wednesday [21 September] after a legal battle over the rediscovered score.
Motezuma was last performed in Venice in 1733 and is believed to be the first Baroque opera with an American theme: the Aztec emperor Montezuma. The score belongs to a Berlin library, the Sing-Akademie, which published it on the Internet and asserted copyright.
Initially judges agreed, but later an appeal court cancelled an injunction against the performance in a former factory as part of the Altstadtherbst cultural festival in the western city of Düsseldorf.
The score was reconstructed from the Berlin manuscript and other fragments. Its modern premiere [in concert form] took place in the Dutch city of Rotterdam in June, reportedly after the Sing-Akademie obtained a fee — making the opera's German debut especially controversial.
The music world has been in uproar over the notion that anyone can charge royalty fees in place of the long-dead composer.
The Sing-Akademie says it only wanted to reserve the 21st-century [fully staged] premiere of the precious work for one of Europe's most prestigious opera houses, not in an old factory. The manuscript was in a dusty heap of papers captured by the Soviets in the Second World War and was only recently returned to Berlin from the Ukraine capital Kiev.
Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) wrote operas and is best known today for his Four Seasons concertos. Motezuma was first staged in 1733 but was not published while Vivaldi was alive and the manuscript was thought lost.
Copyright 2005 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
I've altered the title marginally to fit FR posting requirements.
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I hope its not the return of Montezuma's curse they are looking for, someone should spike the punch with some liquid ex-lax for the all-around sensory experience.
You're welcome.
A nice run of news lately on Vivaldi.
Even more interesting how they come up with the manuscripts
Baroque opera isn't very exciting. The Pre Gluck stuff was pretty stiff.
Dear Argh,
LOL!
But seriously, what do folks think about this business of copyrighting these old pieces of music?
sitetest
I'm not a lawyer, and Franckly I don't know anything about the legal ramifications. It seems this should be Public Domain. But then, some clown got rich off "Happy Birthday to You" relatively recently, didn't he or she?
OK, OK, I'm leaving...
Dear Argh,
No, the copyright for "Happy Birthday" was obtained by the actual composers of the music - a couple of sisters back in the 1930s. The copyright has been continuously renewed and sold and resold.
It's fatuous that our copyright laws have permitted the continued copyright of the song for so many decades, but at least the present copyright was initially obtained by the authors. Part of the royalties generated still go to a foundation that the composers founded.
Here's a snopes piece on the whole deal:
http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/birthday.asp
sitetest
I think there is a certain amount of uninformed reporting here. The museum/library is probably trying to claim copyright on the work of staff musicologist(s) who reconstructed the piece from the old manuscripts, which may well have been incomplete in some way.
Even if they are more or less complete, manuscript scores from the period are often full of odd abbreviations and archaic notational practices that would render a literal transcription unperformable by all but a few early music specialists from among today's orchestral musicians.
As I understand it, EU copyright laws would not allow an unaltered Vivaldi work to enjoy any protection whatsoever. They do, however, protect the work of musicologist/editors who render the work in accurate modern notation. These "scientific editions" have a limited term, though (25 years) - not the life-plus 70 years that is the norm for an original work by a living composer.
I expect this is what the court battle is really about.
Until very recently (2003), US copyright law would have allowed a copyright on the newly discovered Vivaldi work itself.
In return , I'll present my most awful, strained musical pun of all:
So I'm at this party, standing beside a potted palm, drinking a cola. A woman I really loathe comes up from behind and squeals in my ear, "What're ya drinking?" I jumped a little in surprise, stabbing my elbow on a palm frond, so I turn to the palm and say, "Dummy tree!" and turn to the woman and say, "Shasta cola, bitch."
OK, YOU make up a pun on Dmitri Shostakovich...
I gotta run and catch the bus, see you later, and thanks again for setting me straight on Happy Birthday.
Dear Bogolyubski,
Did you read the article posted about Sawkins vs. Hyperion concerning the Lalande motets?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1472152/posts
In that case, the musicologist was actually paid a fee for service for his efforts by Hyperion, but even though he was working for them under contract, he still applied for, and received a copyright. In that particular case, it was clear that the work he did was copyrightable, although, since he was paid an agreed-to contract wage for the work, it seems to my own untutored mind that if anyone should have owned the copyright, it would have been Hyperion.
It isn't clear to me that the same level of effort has been expended with this Vivaldi opera, and apparently, it isn't altogether clear to at least one court.
I understand why in some cases a copyright might be appropriate in these circumstances, but I'm concerned that it may wind up being applied more broadly than it should.
sitetest
ROTFLMAO!!
LOL. Quite clever.
Baroque opera is da capo city. Sang some of the Handel arias in college--bored the audience to death (but maybe that was my singing--LOL).
Please put me on the ping list. Thanks!
With pleasure!
Dear randita,
I recently heard a Handel aria on one of the XM classical stations, and I liked it. A lot.
Oh well.
sitetest
Baroque opera might not be all that interesting to watch -- not a lot of action in some of the old operas. Singers just standing around. But some of the arias are gorgeous.
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