Planning on self-publishing a Musescore project, have copyright questions.

• Sep 4, 2019 - 20:19

I am presently working on creating an english translation of one of Beethoven's works, originally published with german libretto by Breitkopf & Härtel. My intention is to see it both performed and recorded (perhaps it makes no difference, but nonetheless perhaps I should mention that obviously to a certain extent, the rhythms of the notes corresponding to the libretto in many instances also have to be altered to match the syllables of the new english libretto.)

Question #1
I imagine given my above stated intentions, and with the extreme number of hours it will take to complete, this is something that I would want to copyright?

Question #2
Would I even be able to copyright a new translation of one of Beethoven's piece?

Question #3
If I produce the score/etc. using musescore, and should it be copyrighted, performed, and money made from it, would I owe you guys a cut, or how does that all work?

By the way, I am in the United States, so that's is where it will be self-published, and likewise potentially performed, recorded etc.

Thank you all much in advance.

Comments

• Sep 4, 2019 - 20:47

As far as I know Beethoven owned the copyright not the publishing house, and based on scanning over some of the comments on https://musescore.org/en/node/66631 it seems his works are no longer under copyright (and after all the original score for the piece in question is on imslp.org, which I as far as I know, means it's public domain).

But as mentioned in the OP, it's not the same libretto that was was originally published by Beethoven/Breitkopf & Härtel, it's in an altogether different language, and is truly, a non-german speaking person's interpretation of the less-than-dependable translation provided by google translate, german-english dictionaries, etc. And as I had indicated previously, throughout the piece the notes (their time values anyways) will be changed/omitted as necessary to make the translation viable.

So while I'm no expert on legalize/copyrights, and based on some of the comments in the thread linked above, it seems to me it would be eligible. So I guess more than anything, I'm essentially seeking affirmation (or correction) from someone who knows for sure.

Thanks by the way for the link regarding musescore's commercial use policy.

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