Treemonisha was only written by Joplin as a piano/vocal score. He never got around to dividing it up into separate parts for an orchestra and so no one is sure what Joplin had in mind. That piano score was the only one ever produced by Joplin and if Lawrence held a copyright to it, public domain or not, the score belongs to her.

The public domain argument from what I understand was done to death in the courts but to no avail. Every argument you can use has been used and it has done no good. The only good thing is that it will probably always be challenged and maybe one of these times we might get results.

And there are those who say that Schuller's version was too grandiose and not really what Joplin envisioned. I don't necessarily agree, but I would love to hear what someone could do with that idea. But unless I attend a live performance, I doubt I'll ever hear it.

I'll prepare a more factual and more detailed account of all the legal bs soon. I'll need a chance to consult some books and talk to some people who were intimately involved in the original Treemonisha revival project. But if you know of other versions available please let me know as I would love to hear other interpretations.