The following correspondence, from The Times (London), March, 1908, is offered for the amusement and edification of, and comment by, members of the list. I regret that it is rather long, but all nine letters are necessary to get the whole picture.
Useful information for interpretation:
In 1908, Britain did not yet have decimal currency. A guinea was equal to 21 shillings; a pound was 20 shillings (1l.=20s.); a shilling was equal to 12 pence (1s.=12d.)
Sir Charles V. Stanford (1852-1924) studied in Germany from 1874-1876. He was knighted in 1902; elected to the Royal Academy of Arts, Berlin, in 1904; Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music from 1883 until his death in 1924.
H. W. Davies (1869-1941) was organist at the Temple Church, a teacher of Leopold Stokowski, and Master of the King's Music from 1934.
Harry Plunket Green (1865-1936), the Irish baritone, was the author of _Interpretation_in_Song_, _Life_of_Stanford_, and _From_Blue_Danube_to_Shannon_.
My questions for the list:
Tim Phillips
<hrothgar[_at_]telepath.com>
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The 1908 correspondence now follows. Words in brackets (e.g. "[To:]" are my editorial additions.
The Times (London), Monday, March 2, 1908, page 3, column f:
SONGS AND AUTHORS' COPYRIGHT.
-----=-----
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,-Music has a hard fight for existence
in this country, where rubbish is subsidized
and the higher forms of composition can
find no market. But even music seldom so
frankly comes to grips with the commercial
spirit as in the case quoted below. If you
could find room for the following correspondence,
you would, I think, be doing a real service to
music in England. It speaks for itself.
Mr. Walford Davies had applied in the usual way
to Messrs. Chatto and Windus for permission
to use for public performance three poems by
the late R. L. Stevenson, which he had set to
music as part of a song-cycle.
I remain, Sir, yours,
H. PLUNKET GREENE.
50 Iverna-gardens, W.
-----
111, St. Martins's-lane, London W.C.,
Feb 12, 1908.
[To:] Dr. H. Walford Davies, Temple Church, E.C.
Dear Sir,-In reply to your letter of the 11th
inst., we shall be pleased to give you per-
mission to publish a musical setting of each
of the three following poems from "Songs of
Travel," by Robert Louis Stevenson:-
1. "To the Heart of Youth," No. 3;
2. "The Morning Drum Call," No. 21;
3. "He Hears with Gladdened Heart," No. 23;
upon receipt of the fee of two guineas (2l.2s)
per poem, and a further fee of half a guinea
(10s. 6d.) per poem if the verses are reprinted
in the concert programme to be used at Mr. Plunket
Greene's song recital in London on April 3 next-
such permission being limited to that particular
programme.
It is understood that due acknowledgement will be
made of the source of the poems, and a copy of
each of the three musical settings sent to us
for file purposes, also a copy of the programme.
We are, dear Sir, yours very faithfully,
CHATTO AND WINDUS
50 Iverna-gardens, W.
Feb. 17, 1908.
Dear Sirs,-Mr. Walford Davies has shown me your
letter of the 12th inst. To the charge of two
guineas for the musical setting of each poem we
willingly agree, also, of course, to the condi-
tions _re_ acknowledgment and sending of copies
for file purposes.
I trust, however, that you will see your way to
withdraw the demand as to the tax and restric-
tions on reprinting in the concert programmes.
Neither Mr. Davies nor I have ever known these
conditions to be made before in the case of other
publishers, and I can assure you that, if such
a tax were imposed, to the younger members of my
profession the singing of these songs would be
frankly impossible, and, if any restrictions as
to reprinting in programmes were insisted on, in
all probability no publisher would care to publish
the music, while no singer, even apart from the
permanent incubus of the fees, would care to be
hampered by the conditions as to constant appeal
for leave to reprint and the risks attendant
upon their possible inadvertent non-fulfilment.
I might point out that, as an advertisement, the
reprinting of individual poems in such a concert
programme could only be of benefit to the sale
of the book, while their serious treatment music-
ally can only make for good.
Yours very truly,
H. PLUNKET GREENE.
111, St. Martin's-lane, London, W.C.,
Feb. 18, 1908.
[To:] H. Plunket Green, Esq.
Dear Sir,-We are sorry that you should consider
the charge of 10s. 6d. per song for inclusion in
books of words as excessive. It is, however,
usual with us to make this charge in addition to
the fee exacted for the right to publish a musi-
cal setting, and we certainly know other publishers
who also ask and obtain such additional fees. We
presume that you charge for the books of words,
and there must certainly be considerable profit
upon their sale. If, however, instead of paying
the additional 10s. 6d. per song which we have
asked you would prefer to put the matter upon a
royalty basis and to pay one halfpenny (1/2 d.)
per copy for each song upon every programme sold,
we should be willing to accept this arrangement.
It is really not possible to give free use of the
words; and, indeed, in the case of a writer of
Stevenson's eminence, it does not seem to us un-
reasonable that a good fee should be paid by those
who wish to use his works.
We shall be glad to hear further from you upon
the matter; meanwhile, we understand that, whether
you print the words in your programme or not, you
accept the charge of 2l. 2s. per piece for the
right to publish the musical settings.
Yours truly,
CHATTO AND WINDUS.
50, Iverna-gardens, W.
Feb. 21, 1908.
Dear Sirs,-I am afraid your views as to the profits
of concert-giving are unduly optimistic. There
is no profit on the books of words of a song-recital.
Mine are sold at 3d. apiece, and cost to produce
about 7 1/2 d. This is hardly a gold mine.
Should your latest suggestion be adopted, a loss
of 4 1/2 d. per book would be augmented to one of
6d. per book in respect of three only out of some
20 or more songs.
Let us suppose that, instead of only three, all 20
songs were settings of poems by R. L. Stevenson--
a not unlikely contingency. The production would
then start handicapped by the following preliminary
charges:-
(1) Forty guineas for the right to set
the poems to music.
(2) Either ten guineas tax for the right
to reprint on this one occasion only, or
A sur-tax of 10d. a copy on a book of
words selling at 3d. and costing 2 1/2 times
that amount to print.
These charges to be paid, not for working expen-
ses, but to Messrs. Chatto and Windus before the
expenditure of a single penny on the running of
the concert itself.
Surely this is the _reductio_ad_adsurdum_ of the
whole principle. We musicians are notoriously
bad men of business, but even we must draw the line
somewhere. I fear we should not find many musical
societies encouraging us to repeat the performance
on their behalf.
Mr. Davies and I trust that you will understand
that, in once more asking you to remove all restric-
tions on the reprinting of individual poems such
as these on this or any other occasion, we do not
desire any special privilege for ourselves, but
make our request on behalf of all musicians in
the interest of music in general.
We should be glad to know the names of the other
publishers who also ask and obtain such additional
fees. The only other publishers appealed to on
this occasion, Messrs. Macmillan, at once gave us
permission to set for a purely nominal sum, and
to reprint at our own discretion without fee or
restriction of any kind whatever.
Yours truly,
H PLUNKET GREENE.
111, St. Martin's-lane, London, W.C.
Feb. 26, 1908.
[To:] H. Plunket Green, Esq.
Dear Sir,-In reply to your letter of the 21st inst.,
it is not our usual custom to grant permission for
the use of any poems by Robert Louis Stevenson apart
from the music. We had hoped that the suggestion in
our letter of the 18th for a small fee in the shape of
royalty on copies you sell of your programme would
meet with your approval. We are, however, willing in
this case to make an exception, provided the words
of the songs are printed only in the programme to be
used on April 3, 1908, and that acknowledgment of the
source of the poems is given, together with our name
as publishers; also a file copy should be sent to us.
On receipt of the 6l. 6s. agreed for the use of the
three songs in conjunction with a musical setting,
we will endorse this special extra permission on the
contract.
We are, dear Sir, yours very faithfully,
CHATTO AND WINDUS.
50, Iverna Gardens, W.
February 27, 1908.
Dear Sirs,-Mr. Davies and I do not wish for any
special treatment, nor do we care to submit to
the imposition of a tax unique in the course of
our fairly long experience. We ask in the interests
of music, as well as our own, for a permission
which other publishers have invariably given.
This permission you have refused. We have no
alternative but to withdraw the three songs in
question.
Yours truly,
H. PLUNKET GREENE.
I am forwarding a copy of this correspondence to
_The_Times_.
The Times (London), Tuesday, March 3, 1908, page 4, column e:
SONGS AND AUTHORS COPYRIGHT.
-----=-----
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,-In Germany, a country keenly alive to all its
commercial opportunities, a composer is at liberty
so set, publish with music, and print in books of
words the poems of any writer, in or out of copy-
right. German publishers very well know that a
good musical setting of a poem sells the book
containing it. If such conditions as Messrs. Chatto
and Windus require had been enforced there, we
should not now have 800 songs of Schubert nor the
priceless settings of Heine's lyrics by his con-
temporary Schumann, settings which have made Heine
a household word in countries where he would other-
wise have remained an unappreciated foreign name.
I should like to emphasize from personal experience,
and in justice to the farsightedness and public
spirit of other publishers, the fact that no such
embargo has been laid on the settings of poems by
men of such "eminence" as Tennyson or Browning.
I knew Stevenson well enough to appreciate how
fiercely he would have resented it.
As a teacher of composition I have persistently
encouraged young writers to set contemporary verse
of the highest order. On a recent occasion, a
remarkable setting of a contemporary poem was
written by one of them, so good as to deserve
both publication and public performance. The per-
formance took place; leave was refused by the
publishers to print the words in the programme
(although that programme was issued gratis) ex-
cept on payment of a fee which the composer could
not afford, and a statement to that effect had to
be printed in it. This stopped further perfor-
mances, and the music publishers refused to print
the song. Is this the way to encourage rising
talent, or to keep it in the highest paths? I
have now to warn students of the results of setting
Stevenson, and I dare believe that the sale of not
a few volumes of his poems, both to composers and
to the public, has been lost thereby.
Happily this case, in my experience, forms a soli-
tary exception to the rule of general courtesy and
kindliness which obtains amongst other publishers
in this matter.
I remain yours faithfully,
CHARLES V. STANFORD
50, Holland-street, Kensington, W., March 2.
The Times (London), Thursday, March 5, 1908, page 11, column f:
SONGS AND AUTHORS' COPYRIGHT.
-----=-----
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,-Without enetering into the very wide question
raised by Sir Charles V. Stanford as to the different
conditions prevailing in Germany in respect to the
liberty allowed for the use by any musical composer
of the words of a copyright poem or song, we beg
leave to state that, in the instance referred to,
while accepting full responsibility in suggesting a
fee, we were acting in the interests of the owners
of the copyright as well as in our own; and although
we eventually made an exception in view of the circum-
stances brought under our notice, and granted a
limited permission for the use of the three poems
in question, it is clear that we are bound to safe-
guard the rights of authors whose works are entrusted
to our charge.
Yours faithfully,
CHATTO AND WINDUS.
111, St. Martin's-lane, W.C., March 4.
Received on Thu Jan 28 1999 - 18:52:53 GMT
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