This blog celebrates the publication of four research recordings of arrangements for Salonorchester. They include world premier releases of Mozart’s Magic Flute in a 12 minute version from 1920 and Bellini’s Norma in a 14 minute version from c1880.
The Salonorchester (or orchestra for the Salon) is a mixed ensemble format that was popular on the continent from the 19th century until the advent of gramophone and radio. Typically, it included piano, strings, a few wind and brass instruments (often supported by a harmonium, a portable organ) and percussion. The Salonorchester performed without a conductor (directed from violin or piano) and could evoke a full orchestral sound in often surprising colours.
The small size of the orchestra and the versatility of the orchestration made it possible to bring symphonies, ballets and operas into casinos, ballrooms or drawing rooms of high society. Salon orchestras could also be found in spas and in (what the British called) “palm courts”, the function rooms of grand imperial hotels. Light classical music for tea dances fall within the genre.
The Salon genre is the focus of a project within the CREATe theme on Legal History & Cultural Memory. We investigate changing music publishing practices and tastes during the late 19th and early 20th century that relate in complex ways to the birth of the modern copyright system.
During most of the 19th century, it was still unusual to ask for permission from the composer or first publisher to issue arrangements of music of the day. Adapted versions were published for all kind of combinations of instruments, and often titled as “Réminiscences de” (Franz Liszt!), “Memories of”, or “Fantasies on”, i.e. they were signalled not as copies but as something different.
Publishers tried to get control over these activities by simultaneously publishing new compositions in several key jurisdictions (Britain, France, Austria, Prussia), by lobbying for a property right in melodies (Melodieneigentum, i.e. that arrangements that re-used a melody were always an infringement), and by a kind of cartel of big publishers who between themselves agreed not to offer arrangements of each other’s published works. By the end of the 19th century, publishers also sought to shape consumer demand in a much more structured way.
The four performances we recorded on 25 March 2025 at the Concert Hall of the University of Glasgow offer a colourful entry point to this project. The arrangements released today may not have been heard since the 1930s and to our knowledge have never been recorded.
The first recording is a 12 minute version of Mozart’s Magic Flute, arranged in 1920 by Friedrich Eberle as a “small fantasy on motives of Mozart’s opera” for the publisher Anton J. Benjamin (Hamburg – Leipzig – Mailand).
Benjamin specialised in Salon arrangements of Operas and Ballets under the Lyra imprint. A set of announcements from the back cover of the piano (direction) score by Friedrich Eberle are reproduced here as a teaser. They provide an interesting window on the business model of music publishing (further analysis to follow).
The second recording is Mascagni’s famous Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana (1890), arranged in 1928 by Giuseppe Becce for the Berlin publisher Bote & Bock. The original publisher of Mascagni’s operas was Casa Musicale Sonzogno in Milan (they were still in copyright and after the Berne Convention of 1886, there was an international system in place). On the parts, Bote & Bock claim Eigentum (property) for Germany, the territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (which had ceased to exist after the First World War in 1918) and the German speaking part of Switzerland.
The third recording is an arrangement by French composer Émile Tavan of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera Norma (1831). Tavan (1849-1929) was a brand in his own right, publishing countless Fantaisies sur les Opéras Célébres. Any successful contemporary opera could be turned quickly into a dramatic experience of 15 to 20 minutes, including all the hit numbers. The plot experience might be quite different from the originals, but Tavan was very skilful in building dramatic arcs. The edition performed by the Salonorchester is not dated and does not contain any copyright claims. We obtained it from the Dutch Radio and Television Sheet Music Archive. The parts contain annotations and cuts that likely stem from the early 1930s (when they were used for radio broadcasts). We reproduce here a set of announcements of 65 other Tavan arrangements as advertised by his publisher Margueritat. We believe the document dates to ca. 1880.
The fourth recording is a charming waltz by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is a Salonorchester arrangement of a piano piece Tchaikovsky dedicated to a family friend, Natalya Plesskaya. The waltz was published in 1882 by the Petersburg publisher Jurgenson within a cycle of six piano pieces (No 4, “à Mademoiselle Natha Plessky”) and arranged in 1919 by Leopold Weninger, again for the Lyra series of the Hamburg publisher Benjamin. The Violin (direction) part claims (in English) “Copyright 1919 by Anton J. Benjamin, Hamburg” and refers to “Great Britain and Dominions B. Feldmann & Co, Music Publishers, London” as distributor. Performance rights are reserved (in German: “Aufführungsrecht vorbehalten”), which was not a requirement in law but points to an early form of collective management. It may also respond to a practice in Britain where certain publishers had explicitly not asserted their performing rights (available under the 1911 Copyright Act) in order to encourage sheet sales.
The Salonorchester Glasgow at the Concert Hall of the University of Glasgow, 25 March 2025
All four recordings are performed by the Salonorchester Glasgow who have contributed to previous CREATe events:
Further readings:
Kawohl, F. and Kretschmer, M. (2001). Abstraction and Registration: Conceptual Innovations and Supply Effects in Prussian and British Copyright (1820-50). Intellectual Property Quarterly, 2001(2), pp. 209-228.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2619272
Kawohl, F., and Kretschmer, M. (2009). Johann Gottlieb Fichte, and the Trap of Inhalt (Content) and Form: An information perspective on music copyright. Information, Communication & Society, 12(2), pp. 205–228.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13691180802459955
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2619272
Bellido, J., and Macmillan, F. (2016). Music Copyright after Collectivisation.
Intellectual Property Quarterly, 2016(3), pp. 231-246.
Towse, R. (2017). Economics of music publishing: Copyright and the market. Journal of Cultural Economic 41, 403–420.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-016-9268-7
https://www.create.ac.uk/publications/copyright-and-business-models-in-uk-music-publishing/
Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900): https://www.copyrighthistory.org/