Dear all, Thank you for your comments about that situation. I tried what Jean suggested :
1) The XML export in Frescobaldi did work but the result was very unsatisfactory. I even tried to simplify as much as I could (erased all tweaks, custom commands, fingerings) and only kept the music notes. But still, the result when imported in Finale (2014) was terrible (some voices were displaced!). 2) I tried the OpenLilylib package. I wasn't familiar with that tool and had to struggle a bit with the installation. But still, with the export-example.ly seen in the manual, I get this error message: | GNU LilyPond 2.22.2 | Traitement de « export-example.ly » | Analyse... | | oll-core: library infrastructure successfully loaded. | Interprétation en cours de la musique... | init exportHumdrum: "export-example.krn" | init Staff 1 | init Voice 1/1 (1) | init Voice 1/2 (2) | init Staff 2 | init Voice 1/ (3) | init Voice 2/ (1) | init Voice 2/mel (2)/home/remy/.config/lilypond/openlilylib/lilypond-export/api.scm:278:48: In expression (ly:grob-properties grob): | /home/remy/.config/lilypond/openlilylib/lilypond-export/api.scm:278:48: Unbound variable: ly:grob-properties And I only get the PDF as an output. I don't know what I missed here? 3) I tried in the same old Finale version to import my PDF and I have to admit the result was for now the most satisfactory... I am pretty convinced now that Schott uses Sibelius as I read those fonts in some PDF examples they put online (maybe this will be of interest for some of you): | SchottMusicSibeliusStandard | SchottMusicSibeliusText | CenturySchoolbook-Bold | TimesNewRoman | OpusText | OpusFiguredBassStd | LinotypeSyntaxCom-Regular 4) I don't know if the fact I could not provide a workable file for them would be a deal breaker... I hope not as I "imagined" the work of a publishing company to be able to engrave from scratch any score... I could also mimic their own house styling in LilyPond, but I would be very surprised they ask for that and agree with Andrew, something would be wrong if so. So if I can't export in XML, my best bet would be for them to typeset from scratch, or to import the PDF in their own software and see if that can provide a good initial base... 5) To answer Andrew about the copyright and financial deal, I haven't received a concrete proposal yet and cannot say how it would appear. I know the incomes won't be very substantial, but still I see that as on opportunity to reach more people. But I would be curious to know what you meant by self-publishing? I, for sure, like to buy my scores on paper and that is an aspect I like in those old publishing companies... 6) Last point: I made some month ago, a short presentation and introduction to LilyPond for my colleagues in my music institution. Beyond the fact it was quite a challenge to try and convince them of the utility to take some time and learn that great tool, I received that question I couldn't answer at the time: is it possible to import or export in XML? I haven't have a use for that kind of feature until now, and I don't know how the commercial softwares handle that, but still, wouldn't that be a great argument to convince the people to go for it? Final thought, I don't know how Urs did manage to convince publishers about LilyPond and what responses he got (I would be curious though), but I am pretty sure that kind of limitation in importing/exporting in XML would be nowdays a dealbreaker for publishing companies, don't you agree?
