Klarinet Archive - Posting 000333.txt from 2010/09

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Collaborative Urtext project
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2010 13:07:23 -0400

On 09/11/2010 06:35 PM, Gary Van Cott wrote:
> To me, these are all reasons why this should be done in a *for profit*
> (or at least break even) mode.

Well, that model clearly has value, as we see by the various publishers
(Baerenreiter, Henle, Wiener Urtext, ...) making a profit by producing
high quality scholarly editions.

It has the disadvantage, though, that the result is then locked up
behind a copyright wall again. I'm interested in seeing whether it's
possible to develop an alternative model where a high quality scholarly
edition is available under permissive licensing terms.

>From a financial side, it will likely have to operate on a grants-based
basis, as research usually does. But it's clear there is also a fair
bit of work happening "below the radar" -- conductors and musicians who
are going back to the manuscripts for study purposes, incorporating what
they find into their performances, but whose insights don't escape out
of this circle. As an example you could think of the changing view of
Beethoven's symphonies among the authentic performance movement, which
didn't really break out into the mainstream until Jonathan Del Mar's new
editions of the works were released and showed clearly that previous
editions were flawed. But what if you could make it _easy_ for the
enthusiasts to share and collaborate with their insights? Maybe you
could get a lot done _without_ needing the profit motive.

It likely won't be easy, but it's worth trying.
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