Choral Public Domain Library

I've been looking at the CPDL versions of the Mozart Coronation Mass for my choir's end of choral year concert next June and was on the point of printing down a version when I noticed at the bottom of the page "Arrangement Copyright Christopher Moore 1999". As far as I could see there is no contact/address.

I've taken the general view that whatever is on CPDL is in the public domain and thus may be used freely (unless clearly stated otherwise). Any scores I have used up until now seem to have something along the lines "Copy/Edition may be freely distributed, duplicated, performed or recorded", or similar. My understanding, however, in this present case, is that there may be some permission or fee involved.

The edition in question is copyright to Christopher Moore. In my view it is a fine version, but the decision to use it, or not, will depend on clarification, for which I would be grateful.

David/Antony

Hi David,

In fact most of the editons at CPDL are offered in one of the free open-source licences (CPDL Licence, Creative Commons License, GnuGPL etc.). Nevertheless, CPDL also accepts the publication of editions with a more restrictive license ("Personal"), as long as they are free for download and public performance. This seems to be the case with the editions by Christopher Moore. I verified some of his other editions and noticed that he added the following text to the larger ones:

This edition may be freely copied for non-commercial performance. It may not, however, be changed in any way without the editor’s approval.
I would appreciate feedback on this arrangement, and any suggestions for improvement. E-mail may be sent to cid_moore@optusnet.com.au

I think you could take this as a hint to what he considers acceptable, but clearly there's no fee involved. As stated in CPDL's logo, we only allow "free choral sheet music" on the site. You could also try to contact him through the e-mail informed above, or the one on his user page: cjmoore@exemail.com.au

Best regards,

I thought that I had posted a reply to the above... Obviously not. Apologies.

Anyway, I have been in contact with Christopher Moore who has kindly given permission to use his arrangement.

So thanks all round!