I'm pleased to bring another Antheil score to your attention.
Part I
“Hunters of the Deep” is a 1954 American documentary feature directed by Ben Chapman – actually, he’s credited in the main titles as “Production Supervisor”. The documentary was co-written and co-produced by Allan Dowling and Tom Gries with Dowling “presenting” the film and Gries receiving sole producer’s credit in the main titles. Filming took place on and under the open sea. It was photographed in Eastman color.
Allan Dowling Productions was the company behind the project, and, Distributors Corporation of America (DCA) were charged with the documentary’s distribution.
Actor Dan O'Herlihy narrates. He did it expertly. But the text he had to read is often inane and seems to be tailored to a rather unchallenging audience at an infantile level.
Suite I (Fragments from the Original Soundtrack)
0:00 Main Titles (Excerpt) 1:01 Part I 4:05 Part II 7:15 Part III 9:55 Part IV 12:28 Part V
George Antheil composed the original score which was written for a small symphonic orchestra dominated by strings. There are the obvious harp sounds, of course, that evoke the ocean. Other instruments, like woodwinds, are occasionally used for solos.
Sidney Cutner orchestrated the score uncredited. According to the main titles, Antheil conducted his music. That, however, remains highly questionable. If he really did, it would have been most unusual because he didn’t conduct any of his other film scores as far as it’s known.
The score is notable as one of George Antheil’s longest film scores. The documentary, which has a running time of about 64 minutes, is scored with his music throughout. There are no sound effects nor noises heard other than the music and the narrator’s voice. Thus, the music dominates the soundtrack by large, with O'Herlihy's voice interspersed to comment certain scenes. There are about 42 minutes of pure music without any narration in the film, and only 22 minutes that contain narrated segments. The score for “Hunter of the Deep” can be considered as a major work in Antheil’s film score oeuvre. The documentary was distributed outside of the USA, in Western Europe and Japan. Today, “Hunters of the Deep” is mostly a forgotten film along with Antheil’s score.
Synopsis: Underwater exploration by oceanographers and geologists round the coast of Southern California and Mexico. Portrays many species and varieties of fish and mammals as well as ocean flora and rock formation.
Suite II (Fragments from the Original Soundtrack)
0:00 Part I 4:55 Part II 7:07 Part III 9:46 Part IV 11:30 Part V
A few word about the source and how the musical segments have been assembled:
1) The music is grouped into three suites containing in total 103 segments in mostly fragmented form of George Antheil’s score as heard in the documentary.
2) All segments with O’Herlihy’s overlaid narration have been left out entirely in order to give Antheil’s music the spotlight it deserves. That’s more than 40 minutes of pure music without any narration or sound effects.
3) The audio source used for the this project was obviously not in the best condition. The sound is distorted and in some places too damaged to be used for this project. That is the reason why the first 9 seconds of the main titles music had to be cut – its sound quality was so bad it could have turned away unsuspecting listeners.
4) The majority of the musical segments extracted from the documentary’s soundtrack are fragmented and very short, lasting only a few seconds. But there are longer pieces, too.
5) The selections are not lined up in a chronological order. They are assembled and merged together to form three musical suites that give you, as much as possible, a fluid and varied listening experience. – If you want to hear the complete music as heard in the documentary you need to watch it.
Suite III (Fragments from the Original Soundtrack)
0:00 Part I 2:51 Part II 4:34 Part III 7:37 Part IV 9:14 Part V 12:28 End Titles
This suite offers you over 31 minutes of pure music without any narration or sound effects. It contains in chronological order 38 extracts from the film soundtrack.
0:00 Part I 7:25 Part II 14:38 Part III 22:07 Part IV
Hunters Of The Deep – Romance for Violin, Harp and Orchestra
The final video features a short piece of music from the original “Hunters of the Deep” soundtrack.
In 2030, George Antheil's music enters into public domain in Europe and other parts of the world unless the rulers change the copyright laws once again and extend the time of copyright protection even further, to a 1000 years maybe.
A few questions remain regarding the music of "Hunters of the Deep":
1) Did George Antheil really conduct the orchestra? 2) Who conducted it if it wasn't him? 3) Could it be that any tapes of the score with or without narrations still survive somewhere? 4) Would a rerecording of the complete score sell enough units to cover the costs producing it?
In 2030, George Antheil's music enters into public domain in Europe and other parts of the world unless the rulers change the copyright laws once again and extend the time of copyright protection even further, to a 1000 years maybe.
You´re a bit wrong about this. All of Antheil´s film music has long entered into public domain here in Europe. Forget about the so-called composer copyright which is valid for 70 years after the composer´s death - these are only the composer royalties/mechanical rights which are handled for example through the GEMA here in Germany if you want to produce a CD with his music. For soundtrack recordings from the 1940s or 1950s this composer copyright is more or less irrelevant. You have to consider that regarding soundtracks all sound recordings made before 1964 are public domain in Europe nowadays. This is the reason why so many bootlegs of old scores have cropped up on the digital platforms during the last few years. For example, the sound recording copyright for HUNTERS OF THE DEEP has expired after 50 years already at the end of 2004 so that the music has been public domain since that time (and will remain public domain). This means that here in Europe just everyone can copy that original recording if it crops up anywhere.
I retract my statement in that case, adding only, that Antheil's published works (during his lifetime) enter into PD in Switzerland in 2030. I wasn't aware of the differences in the EU I have to say.
Just discovered this treasure trove of lost music. It is truly a shame that there is almost none of Antheil's music available on CD. I will simply listen to your multiple YouTube uploads for the time being. Thanks so much for posting.
Just discovered this treasure trove of lost music. It is truly a shame that there is almost none of Antheil's music available on CD. I will simply listen to your multiple YouTube uploads for the time being. Thanks so much for posting.
So delighted that you've found those uploads. I've revisited a couple of them yesterday and really enjoyed them after all those months.
Just a few more are coming some time in the future. And I'll redo Not as a stranger as I've now a better audio source. The current upload always bothered me because the sound was so very bad.
In 2030, George Antheil's music enters into public domain in Europe and other parts of the world unless the rulers change the copyright laws once again and extend the time of copyright protection even further, to a 1000 years maybe.
You´re a bit wrong about this. All of Antheil´s film music has long entered into public domain here in Europe. Forget about the so-called composer copyright which is valid for 70 years after the composer´s death - these are only the composer royalties/mechanical rights which are handled for example through the GEMA here in Germany if you want to produce a CD with his music. For soundtrack recordings from the 1940s or 1950s this composer copyright is more or less irrelevant. You have to consider that regarding soundtracks all sound recordings made before 1964 are public domain in Europe nowadays. This is the reason why so many bootlegs of old scores have cropped up on the digital platforms during the last few years. For example, the sound recording copyright for HUNTERS OF THE DEEP has expired after 50 years already at the end of 2004 so that the music has been public domain since that time (and will remain public domain). This means that here in Europe just everyone can copy that original recording if it crops up anywhere.
As soundtrack music is written for a film, isn't it owned by the studio or whomever has current film ownership? This is the situation with scripts here in the USA.
As soundtrack music is written for a film, isn't it owned by the studio or whomever has current film ownership? This is the situation with scripts here in the USA.
As a layman, and as far as I know, you need to distinct between published and unpublished music. The legal situations varies from country to country, that's also to be considered.
Now, where I live it's a bit different from what it is in the USA or in the EU countries.
Here, everything that's been published by an artist during his/her lifetime enters into public domain 70 years after the artist's death. No matter who previously owned the material. You can go and republish or copy it as much as you like. This is different in the USA.
Unpublished material of a deceased artist -- including all publishing rights -- remains in the hands of the legal owner of such material virtually forever. This will only change eventually when the material gets published somehow somewhere.
So, in the case of Antheil's music from Hunters of the deep: The clock has already run out in the EU as it appears. But it's still ticking in Switzerland and the USA.
As soundtrack music is written for a film, isn't it owned by the studio or whomever has current film ownership? This is the situation with scripts here in the USA.
You have to consider that copyright laws regarding sound recordings are totally different in the EU countries than those in the USA. In the same way that for example some older films may be public domain in the USA, but not in the EU, and vice versa. Different rules and laws for different countries. Only at the end of 2013 we got the new coypright law in the EU regarding published sound recordings which states that these enter public domain only after 70 years. But before that time for many years the common rule was that sound recordings - and any soundtrack from a film which has been publicly shown falls into that category, no matter by which US studio or which music publisher it was or is owned - entered into public domain after 50 years. The copyright protection for only 50 years then remained intact for those sound recordings whose copyright term had already expired before end of 2013. So for example for a score from 1962 or from early 1963 the term of copyright had of course already expired before the new copyright got implemented.
So, in the case of Antheil's music from Hunters of the deep: The clock has already run out in the EU as it appears. But it's still ticking in Switzerland and the USA.
I have just looked around how the sound recording copyright works in Switzerland, but nowadays it seems to be the same as in the EU: 70 years after a sound recording has been published or commuincated to the public the copyright expires so that the music then automatically goes into public domain. For the Antheil score this would be probably end of 2024. Apparently Switzerland didn´t have the 50 years rule for sound recordings in former times that we had in the EU till 2013 - therefore I can´t see any exceptions to this 70 years rule here: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/urhg/__85.html
In the same way as here in Germany the Swiss copyright law uses the word "Tonträger" which is in fact another spelling for a published sound recording. Therefore when a film score has been recorded (and the film officially released) this means that the music has then also been published on a "Tonträger". This is always the general rule here in the EU.
Relevant in this discussion here is "Chapter 6: Duration of protection (Schutzdauer) with Art. 29-32.
Quote from Art. 29:
"In general
1 A work is protected by copyright as soon as it is created, whether or not it is fixed on a medium.
2 Protection expires: a. 50 years after the death of the author for computer programs; abis. 50 years after production for photographic reproductions and reproductions of three-dimensional objects made by a process similar to photography, if the reproductions do not have an individual character; b. 70 years after the death of the author or creator for all other works.
3 If it must be assumed that the author has been dead for more than 50 or 70 years, respectively, there is no longer any protection.
4 Articles 30 and 31 shall not apply to photographic reproductions and reproductions of three-dimensional objects made by a process similar to photography if the reproductions do not have an individual character."
Quote Art. 30:
"Joint authorship
1 If several persons have contributed to the creation of a work (Art. 7), protection expires:
a. 50 years after the death of the last deceased person for computer programmes; b. 70 years after the death of the last deceased person for all other works.
2 If the individual contributions can be separated, the protection of the independently usable contributions shall expire 50 or 70 years after the death of the respective author.
3 In the case of films and other audiovisual works, only the director shall be taken into account for the calculation of the term of protection."
Quote Art. 31:
"Unknown authorship
1 If the author of a work is unknown, protection shall expire 70 years after publication or, if the work was published in successive deliveries, 70 years after the last delivery.
2 If it becomes generally known before the expiry of this term of protection which person created the work, the protection shall expire:
a. 50 years after their death for computer programs; b. 70 years after their death for all other works."
Quote Art. 32:
"Calculation
The duration of protection is calculated from 31 December of the year in which the event relevant for the calculation occurred."
Before that revision, the duration of protection was shorter (I believe it was 50 years). -- Before WW II it seems to have been even much shorter (but I'm not sure how long it actually was).
There was even a case that had to be decided on at the Federal Court (some author's estate hoped to profit from the newly applied extension of the protection duration - they lost because the author died a year too early to benefit from the extension).
Sehnsuchtshafen, all your quotes concern the author´s rights. We have those same copyright laws here in Germany which protect the author´s works 70 years after his death, film works for 70 years after the death of one of the collaborators etc. But you have to distinguish between these rights and the so-called "neighbouring rights" (in Germany named "Leistungsschutzrecht") which are much more important when releasing for example a soundtrack on CD or when a bootleggger wants to copy something from a CD or LP So on the one hand you have these composer rights both in Switzerland and here in Germany. These are the so-called "mechanical rights" which are handled through the GEMA in Germany. Such composer royalties are automatically paid through the GEMA (mostly a percentage price of the number of CD copies which get pressed) and you have to remember that even such labels as Tsunami or other real German bootleg labels during the 90s quite obviously had to pay these royalties through the GEMA even though they didn´t license anything from the correct rights owner. Otherwise all these CDs wouldn´t have received the necessary GEMA seal. But when we talk about musical works the neighbouring righhts - not handled through the GEMA here in Germany, but through another company - concern the owners of sound recordings who have the master rights - take for example studios in the USA or music publishers here in the EU. And as soon as the sound recording copyright has expired (in Switzerland this happens 70 years after the sound recording has been published), these owners are out of the game so to say and anyone can copy such an old public domain recording if he wants to without having to license it from the rights owner anymore. But he always has to pay the mechanical rights/composer royalties which I have mentioned above when he wants to produce a CD.
I didn't want to ramble on too much about this topic. Therefore, I limited the quotes to the copyright situation. Regarding the neighbouring rights, the equivalent cartel to GEMA (DE) or SACEM (FR) in Switzerland is SUISA, and there's ProLitteris, too.
Regarding the neighbouring rights, the equivalent cartel to GEMA (DE) or SACEM (FR) in Switzerland is SUISA, and there's ProLitteris, too.
As I wrote in my last posting, the GEMA is mainly interested in the composer royalites which they distribute. They don´t care much about those neighbouring rights. Therefore in Germany these neighbouring rights are handled through the GVL (Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten): https://gvl.de/
