An aesthetic of musical borrowing is emerging where the borrowed material functions as the central idea and inspiration of a work. The works of Bernd Aloys Zimmerman and Peter Maxwell Davies receive particular attention in a discussion that mentions numerous examples of works incorporating musical borrowings. Bonner theorizes that the technique has become particularly important in music of this century due to the growing lack of communication between composers and modern audiences. Borrowed material in new compositions provides a basis of familiarity, thereby serving as a path to comprehension of the new work.

Works: William Albright: Tic (30), Caroms (30); Alban Berg: Wozzeck (30), Violin Concerto (30); Luciano Berio: Sinfonia (30); William Bolcom: Whisper Moons (30), Sessions IV (30); Gavin Bryars: Jesus's Blood (30); John Cage: HPSCHD (30); Peter Maxwell Davies: Alma Redemptoris Mater (29), Frammenti di Leopardi (29), St. Thomas Wake (29), Eight Songs for a Mad King (29), I Love Dr. Herberden Best (29), Comfort ye (29); Brian Dennis: Programmes (30); Hans Werner Henze: Second Violin Concerto (30); Alec Hill: Mayerl Order (29); Christopher Hobbs: Remorseless Lamb (29); Gustav Holst: Hymn of Jesus (28); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: "Supper scene" from Don Giovanni (28); Robert Schumann: Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17 (28); Dimitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15 (30); Karlheinz Stockhausen: Hymnen (30), Opus 170 (28), Prozession (30); Igor Stravinsky: L'Histoire du Soldat (30); John Tavener: Coplas (30), Celtic Requiem (30); Michael Tippett: Third Symphony (30); William Walton: Façade (28); Bernd Aloys Zimmerman: Die Soldaten (28), Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu (28), Monologue (28).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten