Classical Music Copywrited?

[Fearless]

I am kinda curious about this. Is classical music (ie: Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata) under copywrite? I'm working on a presentation for a client and a classical selection would go perfectly. I figure they probably would be, but who owns the copywrite? They obviously didn't have record companies back then. Maybe the families? I also thought that it could be possible that they became public domain over the period of years or under some kind of art history or something. Any input?

Thanks,

-Fearless

[Skraut]

Most classical music IS copywrited. Not by the composer, but the performer. I know I tried to get some Mozart performed by the Cleveland Orchestra for use in a TV production. They wanted $1000 per 30 seconds. OUCH. I ended up going to a $2 rack in some hole in the wall record store and found the same song performed by an orchestra I had never heard of in Vienna. Could not find the word "Copyright" anywhere on the CD, so I used it. Probably not the best legal move either as I didn't contact them, but as the show was only available to be seen by about 75,000 (and probably watched by 2) I didn't worry too much.

-Skraut

[SwishY]

Even if the song was not copyrighted for some reason, the PERFORMANCE would be. There are some companies that sell classical music on CD's that are license free. They are exspensive (I think around $50) but a lot less that $1000 for 30 seconds. My god who do they think they are charging that much? Most clasical music is over 10 minutes long, that would be around $20.000? Sorry, they can keep it