Regards copyrights (at least here in the US):
Boris Marie is quite correct when he says that the melodies are not
copyrighted, since they are ancient. Due to their antiquity, no one has an
exclusive copyright to them and anyone can use such melodies. They are in the
public domain.
However, Pierre Couderc is also quite correct about copyrighted material in
general. One cannot legally use a copyrighted source to produce a derivative
work and offer it to the public (free or otherwise). It does not matter that
the melodies themselves are in the public domain. What matters is that the
source itself is not in the public domain. So the use or lack of use of the
Solemes notation is not really relevant to the copyright status of the final
product. It is the fact that the source is copyright.
As an example, Beethoven's music is in the public domain. Anyone can write it
down or use it. However, all of the music companies that sell the sheet music
have copyrighted THEIR versions. Thus you cannot simply duplicate these
copyrighted versions for non-personal use. If you do not believe me, try it and
see how far you get. :-)
Now, as Pierre correctly notes, one CAN use as a source any version old enough
such that the copyright has expired. So if one can find a source older than (I
believe) 70 years, then one can use that freely without worry. The words and
the melodies are in the public domain, no one owns them exclusively. So as long
as one can find a source that has no copyright or one that has expired, then
one is free to use those. So the trick will be to find such a source.
Where the notation is relevant is that Solemes has an exclusive copyright to
certain chant notions. Without their permission one cannot use that notion
without running afoul of the law. No getting around that.
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Michael Martin
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