Music Publishing Dialogues: Copyright in the Epistolary Heritage of Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev

The epistolary heritage of great Russian composers is an inexhaustible source of knowledge about their lives and work, everyday life and holidays — a reflection of thoughts, feelings and emotions, immediate responses and deliberate decisions. It contains a picture of the era in its everyday life and grandeur, in biographical dialogues, in events and facts that reveal unknown facets of the soul and heart, the secret tonality of being. A large number of letters of various themes are devoted to important business issues. Very often they concern specific aspects of music publishing activities, the design and sale of print runs, pricing, ethical and legal framework, etc., creating another chapter in the annals of the country’s cultural life in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries. The traditional contexts of this issue are state and legal acts, as well as the active professional position of the music publishers themselves, including their private correspondence. Among a number of composers, musicians, critics, public figures, the personality of M.A. Balakirev deserves special attention. His correspondents included leading domestic manufacturers, owners of the largest trading enterprises, etc. This extensive correspondence contains valuable information concerning copyright issues, a relevant topic that unites the commercial style of all industry firms. Interesting details are revealed in the relationships between M.A. Balakirev and M.P. Belyaev, V.V. Stasov, Yu.G. Zimmerman, P.I. Tchaikovsky, P.I. Jurgenson, in their debatable nature, reflecting the dynamics of historical and cultural processes and a large volume of professional tasks at various levels of the printing cycle. This range of issues formed the purpose and research profile of the article.

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2. Kunin M.E. Iz istorii notopechataniya: Kratkie ocherki [From the History of Music Printing: short essays]. Moscow, Sovetskii Kompozitor Publ., 1963, 78 p.

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5. Bessel V.V. Chto takoe izdatel’ muzyki? [What Is a Music Publisher?]. St. Petersburg, Tip. O-va Leman Publ., 1902, 8 p.

6. Bessel V.V. Po povodu proekta statei po avtorskomu pravu [Concerning the Draft Copyright Articles]. St. Petersburg, Tip. Eh. Arngol’da Publ., 1900, 20 p.

7. Bessel V.V. Po povodu slukhov o novoi konventsii s Frantsiei ob okhrane literaturno-khudozhestvennoi sobstvennosti [Concerning the Rumors of Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works]. St. Petersburg, Tip. Br. Pantelevykh Publ., 1887, 16 p.

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15. Balakirev M.A. Perepiska s notoizdatel’stvom P. Yurgensona [Correspondence with P. Jurgenson Music Publishing House]. Moscow, Muzgiz Publ., 1958, 419 p.

16. Perepiska M.A. Balakireva s V.V. Stasovym [M.A. Balakirev’s Correspondence with V.V. Stasov]. Moscow, Muzgiz Publ., 1935, XXXVIII, I, 276 p.

17. Nikolaev V.E. Pravovaya zashchita avtorskikh prav v Rossii vtoroi poloviny XIX — nachala XX vv. [Legal Protection of Copyright in Russia in the Second Half of the 19th — Early 20th Centuries], Cand. jurid. sci. diss. abstr. Saratov, 2011, 26 p.

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19. Balakirev M.A. Perepiska s N.G. Rubinshteinom i s M.P. Belyaevym [Correspondence with N.G. Rubinstein and with M.P. Belyaev]. Moscow, Muzgiz Publ., 1956, 103 p.

20. Lyapunov S.M. Foreword to the Correspondence of M.A. Balakirev and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, Muzykal’nyi sovremennik: zhurnal muzykal’nogo iskusstva. [Musical Contemporary: A Journal of Musical Art]. Petrograd, Sirius Publ., 1915, no. 1—3, September — November, pp. 114—125 (in Russ.).

21. Lomtev D.G. The Commercial Strategies and the Product Range of the Music Publishing House Julius Heinrich Zimmermann, Nauchnyi vestnik Moskovskoi konservatorii [Journal of Moscow Conservatory], 2020, no. 3, pp. 182—197. DOI: 10.26176/mosconsv.2020.42.3.008 (in Russ.).

22. Milii Alekseevich Balakirev: Vospominaniya i pis’ma [Mily Alekseevich Balakirev: Memories and Letters]. Leningrad, Muzgiz Publ., 1962, 479 p.