Missouri Classical Music News

The published report for this case is a list of four jury instructions nicely setting forth the subtle criteria for deciding whether a musical work - and specifically an "air" or "tune" - is sufficiently original to qualify for copyright protection. Carusi, who appears to have published an exact copy of plaintiff's music, must have asserted in his defense that the music of plaintiff's song, "The Old Arm Chair" by Henry Russell, was derived from preexisting public domain material. Perhaps Carusi hoped that because Russell was a popular English song writer and performer, the court might be inclined to infer that Reed's authorized publication of Russell's song was based on a prior publication of the work abroad that would have rendered the work (at that time) ineligible for protection under U.S. copyright law. The jury found otherwise and the court awarded plaintiff $200 (one-tenth of what Reed sought).

Henry Russell (1812 - 1901) claimed to have studied with Rossini and Bellini. Songs like "The Old Arm Chair" and his more famous and musically excellent "Woodman Spare that Tree," not only show musical kinship to the simpler works Rossini and Bellini wrote for domestic delectation, but also reflect the early nineteenth century appetite in Western Europe for exceedingly maudlin works dealing with subjects like orphans, the dying and recently deceased.

The "Old Arm Chair" recording excerpted here (streaming audio file, this website) is by pianist and songwriter William Bolcom and tenor Clifford Jackson.