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The Reprint Rumor about orchestra parts. Believe it or don't .... From a conductor: “Music
publishers often INTENTIONALLY place a few 'errors' for copyright protection
purposes so they know when some other publication containing their 'signature
error' has illegally copied their work ...” ==== From
Clinton F. Nieweg: I
would be interested in seeing an example of this rumor in different
publications. With many years of experience proofing orchestra music I have not
yet found this to be true, so with the help of orchestra librarians, conductors
and publishers our thoughts have been archived in this letter. The
fallacious rumor that reprint houses deliberately “add a few easily correctable
mistakes to their editions so that they can renew the copyright” has been
around for as long as these houses have existed. The music that Kalmus, Luck’s, Broude, and Dover print is
exclusively in the public domain on unedited titles. In-so-far as copyright is concerned, Kalmus does not claim
copyrights for its reprints that are unedited. The
main reason for the printed errors in reprint house parts is that the original
publishers (especially the French and
Russian ones) produced engravings full of mistakes. Kalmus
simply reprints these engravings, with the mistakes, articulation,
ornamentation, etc. as is. While
they do use the best copy that can be found, the fact remains that the reprint
copy will only be as error-free as the plate from which it was created. Thus it can be assumed for any Kalmus
publication that unless the catalog lists an editor’s name, Kalmus has made no
changes to the music. The
changes that Kalmus does make to various works are in the interest of
improvement. Editor-in-Chief Clark
McAlister is heavily involved in the production of the Kalmus “Corrected
Editions”, a process that is extremely expensive and time consuming. Original
proofing to re-engraving to production can take up to four years for just one
piece. (*Please note that not all Corrected Editions are Critical Editions: for
a Critical Edition, the editor must have access to the facsimile of the
composer’s manuscripts, or preferably, the original manuscripts.) In
terms of specific publishers, Dover scores contain on the whole the greatest
number of errors, as they are reprints of original uncorrected European
publications. Luck’s buys much of
its music directly from Kalmus, and like its supplier, does some improvement to
the parts. Broude publishes its
collection of titles on good paper, but the music is again often uncorrected
unless improvements have been made. Consequently,
if Kalmus were to deliberately sabotage its own music, another reprint house
could simply put out a better edition and make more sales. It is in the best interest of all
reprint houses to produce the best parts possible. Many
Kalmus titles have had the original publishers errors corrected and are the
standard orchestra parts used by the Major Orchestras worldwide. Titles that
are in the U. S. public domain can be found at <http://www.kalmus-music.com> Written
by Clinton F. Nieweg with the advice of other librarians, conductors,
performers and publishers. Clinton F. Nieweg. (research for
Librarians - Conductors - Performers). proofferr(at)comcast(dot)net Co-founder: MOLA (Major Orchestra
Librarians' Association) www.mola-inc.org ( for Librarians of major
orchestra, band and opera organizations) OLI (Orchestra Library
Information) Yahoo group (for Librarians of regional, community and university
orchestras). (archiving information for
orchestra librarians) http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/OrchLibInfo/ Consultant: League
of American Orchestras; Librarian Discussion group, Conductors Discussion group
and the Conductors Guild. Editor "Score & Parts" errata
lists, Journal of the Conductors Guild. On Jan 9, 2009 Mr Nieweg was the first performance
librarian to be honored by the Conductors Guild |