MUSIC

Attorneys for confessed sinner Jimmy Swaggart are examining the copyright implications of Cincinnati Opera’s use of Swaggart’s confession as a marketing tool. A radio commercial quoting Swaggart’s confession began airing Thursday in Cincinnati. Company officials said the confession promotes the opera company’s upcoming production of Carlisle Floyd’s 1956 opera “Susannah,” in which an isolated young woman is seduced by a hypocritical, backwoods Tennessee preacher. “We’re looking into this to see if there’s a violation of our copyrights,” said William Treeby, a New Orleans attorney who is a board member of the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. He said the ministries have copyrighted the Swaggart confession. Replied Patricia Beggs, Cincinnati Opera marketing director: “We certainly didn’t do it with any malicious intent. We just want to bring opera into range of focus of people’s experiences.”