Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 1.djvu/411

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COPERARIO. 399

COPYRIGHT.

He composed the music to 'The Masque of the Inner Temple and Graye's Inn,' performed at Whitehall, Feb. 20, 1612 [App. p.597 "1612–13"]. In 1613 he published 'Songs of Mourning bewailing the untimely death of Prince Henry. Worded by Tho. Campion and set forth to bee sung with one voyce to the Lute or Violl.' He contributed three of the songs to the masque performed at Whitehall on St. Stephen's Night, 1614 [App. p.597 "1613"], and supplied the whole of the music in 'The Masque of Flowers' presented in the same place on Twelfth Night in the same year [App. p.597 "1613–14"], both masques being given in honour of the marriage of the Earl of Somerset and Lady Frances Howard. He composed a set of Fancies for the organ for Charles I, the manuscript of which is still extant, and numerous Fancies for viols. He contributed two vocal pieces to 'The Teares or Lamentacions of a Sorrowfull Soule,' published by Sir William Leighton in 1614. Coperario was the master of Henry and William Lawes. He died during the Protectorate [App. p.597 "He died in 1627"].

[ W. H. H. ]

COPPOLA, Giuseppe, a singer at the King's Theatre in 1777. He appeared as 'Ciro' in Sacchini's 'Creso,' and in other operas.

[ J. M. ]

COPPOLA, Pier Antonio, born in 1792 [App. p.597 "Dec. 11, 1793"] at Castrogiovanni in Sicily, son of a musician, studied at the Royal College of Music at Naples. His first opera, 'Il Figlio bandito' (1816) was well received, and his 'Nina pazza per amore' (Rome, 1835), was performed in every town of Italy, in Vienna, Berlin, Lisbon, Spain, Mexico, and, as an opéra-comique with the title of 'Eva,' in Paris (1839). In 1836 he composed 'Enrichetta di Baienfeld' for Vienna, and this was followed by 'Gli Illinese' (Turin), one of his best works; and 'La bella Celeste degli Spadari' (Milan) [App. p.597 "1837"]. At the Royal Theatre in Lisbon he produced 'Giovanna 1^ma' (1841), and 'Inès de Castro' (1842). In 1843 he returned to Italy, and composed five more operas, which were less successful than his earlier works, and he finally returned to his post at Lisbon. Coppola might have taken a higher place had he not come into competition with Rossini. Some masses, litanies, and other church music are to be found in the libraries at Naples. He died Nov. 14, 1877 [App. p.597 "Nov. 13"].

[ M. C. C. ]

COPYRIGHT. The statutes regulating copyright in music are 3, 4 Will. IV, c. 15; 5, 6 Vict. c. 45; and 7, 8 Vict. c. 12; and their joint effect is, that the composer, or the person to whom he transfers his interest, has an exclusive right to publish or give performances of the work during the lifetime of the composer and seven years afterwards, and also during the period of forty-two years from the publication or first performance of the work. The copyright proprietorship of a British composer in his work is complete from the moment of composition; but for purposes of public convenience a register is kept at Stationer's Hall, at which the title, date, and proprietorship of any work may be officially entered: and although such entry is not necessary to give the composer the copyrigut of his work, and, without making any such entry, an action can be brought against any person performing the work without written permission, yet no action can be brought against anyone publishing the work until the entry has been made. A similar entry should be made whenever the copyright changes hands. Such transfer may also be made by writing, and in this case the exact nature of the rights transferred will be collected from the document; but if the transfer is evidenced by registration alone, an entry of the transfer of the copyright will be taken to prove no more than the transfer of the right of publication, and the right of performance will remain with the transferor. If therefore the latter right is intended to pass, a written contract should be made to this effect. To obtain the full benefit of the English law, even for British subjects, the first publication or performance must take place in the United Kingdom; if it takes place abroad, the work is in every respect considered as foreign, although the author be a British subject. An arrangement for the piano of a work written for other instruments has not hitherto been considered as an infringement of the copyright of the latter; but the cases do not go so far as to prove that any bare transcription of the score to pianoforte staves would necessarily escape with impunity. The amount of change constituting a really new work cannot be expressed in any general rule; each case is determined on its merits.

We now pass to works composed by foreigners, or first published or performed abroad. There is no doubt that a foreigner, by residing in England at the time of publication or first performance, may place his work in every respect under British law; but it has hitherto been held that for this purpose residence in Great Britain at the time of publication is indispensable. It is doubtful whether, under the Aliens Act of 1870, this is still so; but the short residence necessary is a less evil than the chance of expensive litigation. If a foreigner sell to a British subject his work while still unpublished and still unperformed, the purchaser has full English copyright property in the work, just as if he had written it himself. But a work first published or performed abroad can only obtain protection in England, when a treaty exists between this country and the country where the work is produced, creating reciprocal copyright interests. Such treaties exist between this country and France, Prussia, and some other German states, Belgium, Spain, and Italy. There is no copyright treaty with the United States, nor with Austria, Russia, Norway, or Sweden. The Act 7 and 8 Vict. c. 12, upon which international copyright rests, requires that every Order in Council granting copyright privileges to foreigners shall prescribe a time within which the work shall be registered at Stationers' Hall. Registration therefore, as concerns foreign productions, is of the utmost importance. Not only is it necessary, as in the case of English works, that entry shall be made before legal proceedings can be commenced against an unlicensed publication;