At the heart of the case, the question of copyright for one of the most famous pieces of music in the world, created for a ballet in 1928.
Is the “Boléro” by French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) the work of a single author, or of several co-authors? This is the question that a French court will have to decide this Friday, as part of the copyright case linked to one of the most widely broadcast pieces of classical music in the world.
The stakes are high: if the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers (Sacem), the organization that manages and collects copyright in France, recognizes the Russian painter and decorator Alexandre Benois as co-authorthe “Bolero”, which fell into the public domain in 2016, would be protected until May 1, 2039, Mr. Benois having died in 1960.
In France, copyright on a musical composition lasts for the life of its author and then for the next 70 years – it then falls into the public domain, and can be used freely.
The “Bolero” was protected for 78 years and four months, because the law provides for extensions which aim to compensate for the loss of income of French artists during the two world wars, which carried the protection until May 1, 2016.
During the hearing on February 14, the rights holders of this artist argued that refusing to recognize their ancestor as co-author of this global success is not a right that Sacem can assume.
“The music of the Bolero was created especially for the ballet”asserted Me Edouard Mille, lawyer for the Benois estate.
On the Ravel succession side, it is also considered that the “Bolero” is a “work of collaboration” with the Russian decorator, supporting historical arguments.
These arguments include the presence of Benois’ name on the argument of two ballets performed on the evening of the premiere of Ravel’s work in 1928, the statements of Louis Laloy, secretary general of the Paris Opera, who wrote in Le Figaro that Alexandre Benois was the “author” of the three shows, or even a letter from a legal director of Sacem in the 1980s mentioning the collaboration with the ballet’s choreographer, Bronislava Nijinska…
For Sacem’s lawyer, Me Josée-Andrée Bénazéraf, the plaintiffs’ claims fall under the “historical fiction”.
Recognizing co-authorship would imply “to have to tear up the 1929 declaration bulletin signed by Ravel who identifies himself as the sole author of the Boléro to replace it, (which) infringes on the moral rights (of the composer) who has always considered himself the sole author”she had pleaded at the hearing.
If the rights generated represented “for a time millions and millions of euros” annual, according to information provided to AFP by Sacem’s lawyer, Me Josée-Anne Bénazéraf, the amounts reached an average of 135,507 euros per year between 2011 and 2016.
