But need it for an appropriate expletive in response to this alarming story reported by Matthew Guerrieri yesterday, with a link to the Arizona Daily Star which has the details. It seems that Rachmaninov's great-great grandson is planning to have his famous forefather's works rearranged so that they can be re-copyrighted. This is deeply unsettling.
I'm not convinced that Jane Austen's descendents would have been quick to scribble adverbs all over Pride and Prejudice in order to declare it a new work and pull in even more £££s. And can you imagine a member of the Shakespeare clan rewording for similar purposes - "To exist or to exist not, that is the decision..."
Though I'm as prone as any writer to get stewed up about authors' and composers' rights, a sensible line does need to be drawn, doesn't it? Shades of the Hyperion-Lionel Sawkins case...where will the issue go from here?
7 comments:
Alexander Temple Wolkonsky Rachmaninoff Wanamaker. Is it possible he is also descended from the Prince Wolkonsky who appointed Diaghilev to the Imperial Theatres? Possibly related to Sam Wanamaker, whose idea of paying tribute to Shakespeare was to rebuild the Globe, not rebowdlerize his plays? Of no importance. His declarations of respect for SRs legacy sound totally bogus to me. "I thought we could really do something here.." does, on the other hand, sound every bit like the sentiment of a business major in Tucson. Shades of Adam Smith, to hark back a few days. I should like to see this little #*!% nailed to the cross of public opinion. I'd particularly like to see him fly to Moscow and make an announcement of his plans there. Given the way things work there these days, I am not entirely sure he would make it back.
Or Thomas Paine's descendants? "Soulwise, these are trying times." (Strunk and White)
it seems his Russian (moneygrabbing) heritage still runs deep....
This is depressing news and cannot be what Rachmaninov (who had a big heart as well as big hands) would have wanted. However, when the arrangers have done their work and produced an in-copyright version of the composer's scores, won't there still be the old, out-of-copyright versions left, and won't musicians be able to perform these with impunity? Rather as we can now read either the old version of Joyce's Ulysses or a new, in-copyright one with recent editorial alterations? Or isn't it as simple as that?
I remember hearing somewhere, once, that Stravinsky had done something similar with one or more of his early ballet scores. I think the story went that he'd sold the rights to Diaghilev outright, but then made small changes to the concert versions to keep them in copyright and, presumably, himself in pay. If this is indeed correct, then at least he did it himself.
Alexander Wanamaker is indeed the great grandson of Prince Peter Wolkonsky (but it was Prince Sergei Wolkonsky who was a friend and supporter of Diaghelev and the Ballet Russe). He died very young, at the age of 25 in 1925 just before his first child, Princess Sophia Wolkonsky was born (later the wife of Temple Wanamaker, Consul General to Argentina I believe, and also the grandaughter of Rachmaninoff). Incidentally, some eight songs written by Rachmaninoff to poetry and texts written and selected by Princess Sophia (as a very young and precocious child) were recently discovered, in 2001, by Peter Wanamaker, her son. These were thought to have been lost according to the Rachmaninoff litterature. here is a link to the story which is fascinating: www.highdef.org/magazine/archive/HighDef_Volume6Issue1L.pdf
Shawn White, Montreal
In fact, Alexander is the great-great grandson of Sergei Rachmoninoff, if anyone here cares to get their facts straight. And the fact that anyone presumes to get online here and write comments on issues that they clearly do not understand and are wholly unfamiliar with (as evidenced by the fact that no one even read the aforementioned and linked article from the Arizona newspaper closely enough to discern the actual familial relationship between Alexander and Rachmaninoff), is irresponsible.
I respect the freedom of speech guaranteed to every citizen of the United States of America, and am glad to see that people don't hesitate to employ said rights. However, I would caution you to be knowledgeable on whatever topic you choose to discuss publicly, so as to avoid making yourself appear ignorant.
Keeping the memory and legacy of Sergei Rachmoninoff alive is not as easy a task as one may assume, and despite every claim listed here to the contrary - it is not always motivated by the desire for monetary gain, but rather the desire to protect and preserve a legacy that the composer himself left for his family. Therefore, it is up to those of his surviving family how to best handle all of his remaining affairs, copyrights and the renewal of copyrights included.
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