Saint-Saëns "Urbs Roma" manuscript

[Eric]

See Forum thread etc. This work was first published in engraved form in 1974, it seems, but BNF has the uploaded autograph (I think) of 1856 (here.) In what regions (EU, CA, US) is it legal to upload and download this autograph score? (If uploading please, please, please remove the library-added first two pages - and perhaps the last - and crop the third of the PDF, as per usual with Gallica...)

[Carolus]

There is no copyright whatsoever in Canada or the EU. There might be a copyright (on the work itself) in the USA if actual first publication really took place in 1974. The whole question of when first publication takes place gets very involved - thanks in part to the helpful efforts of libraries to make copies (often on film) and provide them to other libraries. So if a publisher issued a score in 1974 and included a 1974 claim on it when the work had been microfilmed and distributed to other libraries in 1956, the 1974 claim invalidated the 1956 claim (if there was any) and was itself invalid because the actual date of first publication was 1956. It's likely ineligible for "restoration" under GATT because of course the author is free in the country of origin.