I have just uploaded a scan of the first page of Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. I believe this satisfies fair use in illustrating the article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichester_Psalms and I am confident it does not interfere in any way with the publisher's ability to profit from their intellectual property. This particular scan includes the copyright statement, which is a bonus.
Acceptable? I would be very surprised if not.
Next up: Duruflé Requiem. Problem: not much happens on the first page, the obvious target for a scan here is the first page of Movement II, the Kyrie. This does not have the copyright statement, although of course I put it in the image description.
Acceptable in illustrating an article on the Duruflé Requiem? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_%28Durufl%C3%A9%29 Probably OK, I would say. Yes?
OK, I have a pretty extensive library of scores, and most of them I can find a single page, usually the first, which illustrates the work well and does not in any way interfere with the copyright owner's ability to profit. But there are some hard cases.
* Works where the work is listed in a section in the article on the composer. In order not to overwhelm the article I would be inclined to scan a single system, but that does not fundamentally change matters; it would not have the copyright on the scan, but it would be on the description page, the question is, would fair use justly apply to use in illustrating a discussion of the work in an article on a wider topic?
* Works where there are multiple editions, for example Copland's Old American Songs. Here I have one of a number of different versions, and available in different keys. Simple Gifts, an iconic melody (it's the melody in Appalachian Spring), probably the best known of all the American songs he collected. Melody by Trad, filtered through Copland, filtered again by the editors of my edition. Valid?
Clearly in the case of a short work like windmills of your mind (theme from the original Thomas Crown Affair, keep up at the back there) a full page is too much for fair use, a single system or two systems is the most one could justify. Would the same apply to Summertime? It's a short work, but part of a whole opera.
I have few reservations about the Messiah, the Watkins Shaw edition is now pretty much ubiquitous and Novello publish both that and Prout anyway. Beethoven Missa Solemnis,no problem, only one edition I know of.
Mozart Requiem - a problem. The Novello edition, completed by Sussmayr, is far and away the most widely used in the UK, but there is a newish critical edition completed by Robert D. Levin which includes an amen fugue taken from sketches by Mozart. Would a single system or two systems from that be acceptable in discussing that critical edition in the article on the Mozart requiem?
What of scores from ChoralWiki? That is public domain, I guess we can borrow at will? Or should we restrict ourselves to the same level of caution? Note that some of the stuff on ChoralWiki is actually copyright, it's externally hosted, so I would have to watch that of course. Most of them are in PDF format.
Finally, does anyone have a good, cheap or free converter from jpeg / tiff to a more efficient format?
Thanks,
Guy (JzG)