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Finale Library
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 1:26 am
by BLESRQ
I am looking for Gershwin's Summertime in Finale format. Does anyone know of a place where there is a collection of Finale files that can be shared?
Re: Finale Library
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 2:20 am
by miker
No such thing, as far as I know.
Re: Finale Library
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 2:26 am
by motet
It's copyrighted, so I'm not sure that would be legal.
Re: Finale Library
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:51 am
by Peter Thomsen
motet wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 2:26 am
It's copyrighted, so I'm not sure that would be legal.
Pardon my ignorance.
For how long is “Summertime” copyrighted? Gershwin died 85 years ago.
Re: Finale Library
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 3:52 pm
by AnneMillington
Musescore has an extensive library of PDFs that might be useful; I believe you can download as MusicXML. Then getting straight with the Copyright Powers would of course be up to you.
Re: Finale Library
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 4:24 pm
by michelp
What counts in author's protection (at least in Europe) is counted from the death of the last rightholder, in this case : not DuBose Heyward (author, died in 1940,) but Ira Gershwin (lyricist, died in 1983).
Re: Finale Library
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 4:56 pm
by motet
In the United States, the copyright duration is 70 years from death of last rightholder or 95 years from date of creation, whichever is shorter, so Porgy and Bess will enter the public domain in the U.S. in 2030.
Edit: Heyward and Ira Gershwin are both credited with the Summertime lyrics according to Wikipedia, so there seems to be no doubt but that it's copyrighted. You can certainly enter the song into Finale for your own use, but, technically anyway, someone can't offer a MusicXML file of Summertime on the Internet for download.