The central movement of Messiaen’s La nativité du Seigneur, titled “Les enfants de Dieu,” contains a previously undiscovered paraphrase of the “Liebestod” from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Musically, certain melodic dyads and most of the harmonic progressions of the “Liebestod” are incorporated into “Les enfants”; furthermore, both share similar uses of harmonies and particular rhythmic gestures. Other surface features also support the idea of a “Liebestod” paraphrase, such as their shared key signature. This incorporation of pre-existing musical material is best described as a Lisztian paraphrase, as the passage still sounds more like Messiaen than Wagner, though its structure is clearly based on that of the “Liebestod.” With regards to meaning, the chorale-like “Liebestod” paraphrase seems to represent the verse from Galatians: “And God sent into their hearts the spirit of his Son, who cried, Father, Father,” a reading also supported by Messiaen’s preface to the work. Thus Tristan and Isolde, as children of God, will fulfill their love in death, as Christ’s love for humankind was fulfilled. Instead of a completely programmatic musical depiction of the nativity, Messiaen invokes its full redemptive powers, which is only explicit if the reference to the “Liebestod” is made apparent.

Works: Messiaen: “Les enfants de Dieu” from La nativité du Seigneur (19-25).

Sources: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (19-23, 25).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Chelsea Hamm

A protest chant against Argentine President Mauricio Marci that was called the “hit of the summer” in 2018 is an example of a sonic meme, a phenomenon in which an innocuous melody is re-signified through parody. The melody of the protest chant comes from the opening verse of a 1973 Carnival march by Raul Fernández Shériko Guzmán, Es tiempo de alegrarnos. The tune then became a popular cantito, or soccer chant, with the lyric formula “[opposing player name], la puta que te parió” (son of a whore). During a match in February 2018, a spontaneous chant of Mauricio Marci, la puta que te parió broke out in the stands, naming the sitting president of Argentina. The chant quickly spread among Argentine soccer fans and was sung in stadiums across the country. Classical pianist Juan Roleri inadvertently created a viral video with a Romantic-pastiche fantasia on the Mauricio Marci tune. Subsequently, social media users created iterative videos, combining Roleri’s audio with other video sources. Other users build on Roleri’s basic idea and created versions of Mauricio Marci in other genres and styles, culminating in a brief tarantella version performaned by the César Pavón Orkestra on Argentine public television, causing a scandal and derailing the band’s career. This flurry of iterative creativity makes Mauricio Marci a sonic meme akin to online image-based memes. The memetic transformations of Mauricio Marci demonstrate a kind of musical parody, dressing up profane source material with more respectable trappings. The participatory nature of sonic memes allowed users to protest at a distance in an attenuated form, but Cesar Pavón’s performance on state television shows that parody can be politically dangerous in certain venues.

Works: César Pavón Orkestra: Mauricio Marci, la puta que te parió Tarentella (116-18, 130-32); Anonymous: La puta que te parió Cantito (120-22), Mauricio Marci, la puta que te parió (121-22, 129); Juan Roleri: Mauricio Marci, la puta que te parió Fantasia (124-7, 130).

Sources: Anonymous: Mauricio Marci, la puta que te parió (116-18, 124-7, 130-32); Raul Fernández Shériko Guzmán: Es tiempo de alegrarnos (120-22, 129); Anonymous: La puta que te parió Cantito (121-22).

Index Classifications: 2000s, Popular

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet

Alex North employs an economical and scholarly approach to his musical settings for John Huston’s 1987 film adaptation of The Dead by James Joyce, mediating the musicality of Joyce’s text with Huston’s cinematic vision. Throughout his celebrated short story, Joyce references music and music making, and the Irish folk ballad The Lass of Aughrim serves as a central narrative device for exploring themes of nostalgia, regret, and homesickness. Consequently, most of the film’s score consists of North’s arrangements of music performed diegetically. In preparation for his work on The Dead, North procured an extensive research library on traditional Irish music and carefully considered which version of the The Lass of Aughrim to include based on what might be perceived as authentic by the characters in the narrative. North’s selection of a “Scottish” variant of the tune has been criticized since the film’s release, but the evidence of his research demonstrates that this selection was correct according to his understanding of the material and not a careless error. In the non-diegetic portions of the score, North orchestrates Irish folk tunes with a nuanced approach to the melancholy of Joyce’s text. Despite being ineligible for an Academy Award due to its “adapted” nature, North’s score to The Dead remains an important work in the presentation of Irish folk music on film, and his version of The Lass of Aughrim has since become the preferred version of the tune in both classical and traditional venues.

Works: Alex North: score to The Dead (230-37)

Sources: Traditional: The Lass of Aughrim (230-37), Silent Oh Moyle (236-37)

Index Classifications: 1900s, Film

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet

Inspired by Greek antiquity, French musicians of the seventeenth century looked to Turkish culture as a "living model" of Greek musical ideas. Among the similarities of Turkish music to Greek music are monophonic and heterophonic texture, tetrachordal constructions, and microtonal tunings. Turkish affects also provided a significant amount of exoticism and novelty, which were sought by musicians and audiences. Turkish art songs, such as those composed by Süleyman Celebi, inspired French attempts at transcription of Turkish music in the seventeenth century, and several aspects of Turkish military music and Janissary bands influenced composition at the court of Louis XIV. In fact, the French tradition of using drum signals to assemble troops was borrowed from the Turkish military tradition. The Sun King went so far as to appoint Lully as director of military music in order for his martial ensembles to compete with Janissary bands. Turkey was also used as a model of ancient music practices in the Parallèle of Charles Perrault.

Works: Lully: Thesée (379-80); Sébastien de Brossard: Marche pour les Turcs (379-80), Marche des Janissaires (379-81).

Sources: Suleyman Celibi: Melvidi Sherif (368-71).

Index Classifications: 1600s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

Performances by youth drum and bugle corps often reference the history of the tradition as a whole or the history of individual corps, creating an insular form of expression that only cultural insiders can fully understand. Four 2012 performances by drum corps affiliated with Drum Corps International illustrate this insular tradition. The degree to which different corps challenge the established tradition can be controversial, with more expressive complexity faring better competitively than more traditional performances. More traditional, accessible performances often place lower in competition but can become fan favorites. One distinctive characteristic of drum corps performances is their reliance on arrangements of existing pieces that are intertextually linked by a unifying theme or narrative. The 2012 Blue Devils program, Cabaret Voltaire, is an avant-garde drum corps rendition of Dadaism, incorporating a collage of a dozen musical sources. Some pieces (like George Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique and Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies) are related to the Dada theme while others (Don Sebesky’s Bird and Bela in B-Flat) are related to the history of the Blue Devils themselves. The Jersey Surf program, Bridgemania, is a tribute to the defunct Bridgeman drum corps, also from New Jersey. Jersey Surf performed sound-alike arrangements of Bridgeman favorites as well as numbers evoking the fun-loving spirit of the old corps, including LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem. The Madison Scouts program, Reframed, uses Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which the corps first performed in 1961, as a framing device for other fan favorite pieces from the corps’ history. Phantom Regiment’s Turandot is a relatively straightforward, faithful adaptation of Puccini’s opera within the confines of a twelve-minute drum corps performance. The centerpiece of the program is the aria Nessun Dorma, which the corps had famously performed before in 1991. Each of these performances integrates musical arrangements, visual elements, and drum corps tradition in unique ways that stake out different artistic positions defined by the history of each drum corps.

Works: Blue Devils: Cabaret Voltaire (247-49); Jersey Surf: Bridgemania (249-51); Madison Scouts: Reframed (251-54); Phantom Regiment: Turandot (254-55).

Sources: James Horner: score to Apollo 13 (248); André Souris: Symphonies: V (248); George Antheil: Ballet Mécanique (248); John Adams: Harmonielehre (248); Thomas Adès: Tevot (248); Erik Satie: Gymnopédies (248); George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (248); Ludovic Bource: score to The Artist (248); Cherry Poppin’ Daddies: Dr. Bones (248); Danny Elfman: score to Corpse Bride (248); Charles Mingus: The Children’s Hour of Dream (248); Don Sebesky: Bird and Bela in B-Flat (248); Allee Willis, David Foster, and Maurice White (songwriters): In the Stone (250); Chuck Mangione: The Land of Make Believe (250); Rossini: William Tell Overture (250-51); Leslie Bircusse and Anthony Newley (songwriters): Pure Imagination (250); David Listenbee, Stefan Gordy, Skyler Gordy, and Peter Schroeder (songwriters): Party Rock Anthem (250-51); Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (252-53); Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, and Marvin Hamlisch (songwriters): The Way We Were (252); Bill Holman: Malaga (252-53); Ernesto Lecuona: Malagueña (252-53); Marvin Hamlisch: score to Ice Castles (253); Puccini: Turandot (254-55).

Index Classifications: 2000s

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet

Modeled after the Latin devotional song Laus tibi, Christe, the religious folksong O du armer Judas became one of the most commonly used sources of Protestant contrafacta during the German Reformation. In the early decades of the sixteenth century, this melody was linked with Lutheran accusations of Catholic corruption. Martin Luther himself even wrote a contrafactum of the song in 1541 to criticize Duke Heinrich of Braunschweig. The poetic form of this Judaslied became so popular that textual borrowings of the first verse could arouse associations of the simple tune. As Ludwig Senfl was composer to a Catholic court in Bavaria, it is surprising that he would take the risk of creating a polyphonic vocal setting of the Judaslied. Although there is no concrete evidence of a religious conversion to Lutheranism, Senfl did exchange letters with Martin Luther and composed music for the Protestant Duke Albrecht of Prussia. Senfl's quasi-canonic setting was probably not used in folk processions and it is most likely that the work was not performed in Bavaria, although it was preserved there in manuscript.

Works: Folksong: O du armer Judas (199-210); Ludwig Senfl: O du armer Judas (217-25).

Sources: Folksong: O du armer Judas (199-210); Latin devotional song: Laus tibi, Christe (200).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

In response to H. Wiley Hitchcock's "Ivesiana: The Gottschalk Connection" (I.S.A.M. Newsletter 15, November 1985), a more thorough treatment of the quotation in Ives's Psalm 90 from Gottschalk's The Last Hope is offered. A hymn setting of Gottschalk's The Last Hope was made in 1866 by the Gottschalk-enthusiast Hubert Platt Main. Alternately titled Gottschalk or Mercy, the hymn is often credited to Edwin Pond Parker and mistakenly dated to 1880. Main's use of The Last Hope, a Gottschalk signature-piece, as a hymn may have been motivated by an infamous incident in 1866 involving Gottschalk and the honor of two young women in San Francisco. In this context, the hymn Gottschalk serves as a confession for the unrepentant pianist. Both George and Charles Ives knew the hymn, and the quotation in Psalm 90 most likely refers directly to it and not to Gottschalk's piece.

Index Classifications: 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Elizabeth Bergman

Leonard Bernstein’s first Broadway musical, On the Town, establishes his characteristic use of a wide variety of musical styles following the models of Blitzstein, Gershwin, and Weill. To achieve such stylistic diversity, Bernstein utilizes small tidbits of contrasting sound worlds and re-contextualized them in new sound worlds, resulting in musical montages. Parody is one of Bernstein’s most effective techniques in On the Town for incorporating musical material from diverse styles. For example, in the number “Presentation of Miss Turnstiles,” Bernstein mimics and references Tchaikovsky’s ballets, cartoon music, vaudeville, and other idioms. Bernstein also relies strongly on common tropes to elicit particular associations and moods; for instance, using tone clusters in the opening of “New York, New York” to depict a busy morning in an urban area, connecting the song to Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Songs from Bernstein’s On the Town became borrowed material themselves, as jazz musicians appropriated them as “standards” to be improved upon. On the Town thus features a wide range of influences that in turn moved beyond the musical to leave a mark on Bernstein’s later style and, more broadly, the Broadway musical genre.

Works: Leonard Bernstein: On the Town (222-69), West Side Story (259); The Revuers: Three Little Psychopaths Are We (231).

Sources: George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess (223), An American in Paris (227); Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II: Show Boat (223); Anonymous: I Feel Like a Motherless Child (223), Sleep, Sleep in Jesus’s Arms (223); Gilbert and Sullivan: Mikado (231); Leonard Bernstein: On the Town (234), Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah) (259); Rodgers and Hammerstein: Oklahoma! (238, 267).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Sarah Kirkman

The Nightclub scene from Bernstein’s On the Town encapsulates in microcosm the musical’s themes and overall montage aesthetic. Critics who espoused a “high-modernist ideology” that emphasized the originality of a single composer disapproved of Bernstein’s liberal borrowing of existing sounds, styles, and music. While not strictly a musical borrowing, this scene’s construction is itself a parody of real clubs in New York City and the established theatrical club scene tradition, as it subverts the traditional trope of danger associated with night clubs. For example, the music and text of “So Long” mimic and poke fun at Billy Rose’s club Diamond Horseshoe through the song’s use of showgirl “ooing” that was common to Rose’s establishment.

Works: Leonard Bernstein: On the Town (270-92), Mass (294).

Sources: Leonard Bernstein: On the Town (278-79); Anonymous: Come Up to My Place (280), I Can Cook Too (280); Judy Tuvim: The World’s Fair is Unfair (275-76); Gilbert and Sullivan: The Pirates of Penzance (289-90).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Sarah Kirkman

Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins’s ballet Fancy Free relies on compositional montage and collage to simultaneously cross musical, racial, and sexual borders. Bernstein’s technique of alluding to different styles is similar to later practices of sampling in the way he stitches references together, quickly changing the character of the music to reflect the onstage action. Unlike sampling, however, all of Bernstein’s music for Fancy Free is newly composed, and he simulates different genres and styles such as big band jazz, solo piano improvisation, melodrama, cartoons, and film, among others, through parody and mimicry rather than direct quotation. Bernstein’s primary evocations are Billie Holiday and Aaron Copland. Bernstein wrote the opening song of Fancy Free, “Big Stuff,” for Holiday, although it ended up being recorded by another singer. “Big Stuff” not only embodies Holiday’s style of singing, but it also is saturated with George Gershwin and Harold Arlen’s accompaniment and melodic techniques. Copland’s allusive presence in Fancy Free is the ballet’s most obvious outside reference, particularly in the movements “Enter Three Sailors,” “Scene at the Bar,” and “Finale.” Copland also noticed how similar Bernstein’s music was to his own and commented that he was worried that critics would claim that Bernstein was his primary influence in his own forthcoming Appalachian Spring. Bernstein also incorporates Central and South American elements in the number “Danzón,” which directly quotes a Cuban Danzón. In “Danzón,” Bernstein employs a Cuban bass line that incorporates a “cinquillo” rhythm within a commercial Cuban music aesthetic and ensemble. The above examples are only three of the many layers of influence and reference in Bernstein and Robbins’s Fancy Free, a ballet that is grounded in border crossing that would come to define both Bernstein’s and Robbins’s identities.

Works: Leonard Bernstein: Fancy Free (11-51).

Sources: George Gershwin: Concerto in F (37); Stravinsky: Petrushka (39); Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (40); Aaron Copland: Two Pieces for String Quartet (42), Piano Concerto (44); Leonard Bernstein: Conch Town (from an unfinished ballet) (45).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Sarah Kirkman

Reflecting on the composition and performance of Celeste Oram’s 2019 violin concerto, a loose affiliation of alleluias, shows various ways that present creative practice is embedded with material histories and networks of cultural power. Important to the compositional process is Ben Spatz’s concept of “technique” as a vector of agency and cultural transmission and Edward Said’s concept of “affiliation,” describing cultural relationships and authority. A loose affiliation features an improvised solo violin part (foregrounding the performer, Keir GoGwilt) and recognizably includes material from Ad superni regis (as recorded in the Codex Calixtinus), Giovanni Gabrieli’s Exaudi me Domine, and The Boy in the Bubble by Paul Simon and Forere Motloheloa. These materials share a common entanglement with imperial power; the hymn to St. James is related to the crusades, Gabrieli’s career amplified the Venetian empire, and Paul Simon’s Graceland album signals issues of race and capital in popular music. The two main ways Oram worked with material from Ad superni regis and Exaudi me Domine for a loose affiliation were by composing additional counterpoint to existing lines and by adopting templates learned from techniques characteristic of the repertoire. For example, in a nod to the compositional process of twelfth-century polyphony, Oram improvised contrapuntal lines over the hymn until arriving at a “keeper” and notating it. GoGwilt’s improvised violin solo also grapples with the material history and cultural power of technique and genre. GoGwilt subverts the military-heroic tropes that permeate the violin concerto as a genre. Ornamentation in violin performance is similarly associated with musical taste and therefore networks of cultural power. By recognizing the historical and cultural underpinning of creative work and framing this as a motivating force, Oram and GoGwilt assert their agency and capacity to transform said culture.

Works: Celeste Oram: a loose affiliation of alleluias (119-30)

Sources: Anonymous (recorded in the Codex Calixtinus): Ad superni regis from Liber Sancti Jacobi (119-124); Giovanni Gabrieli: Exaudi me Domine (120-21, 125-26); Paul Simon and Forore Motloheloa: The Boy in the Bubble (120-21)

Index Classifications: 2000s

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet

Index Classifications: 1800s

Provides insight into Ravel’s elusive creative process by discussing his usage of works by other composers as well as self-borrowing. Reveals that the “Habañera” from Rapsodie espagnole is derived from the early piano set Sites auriculaires, and that sections of L’Enfant et les sortilèges are derived from the unfinished opera La Cloche engloutie. Additionally, Ravel used a movement by François Couperin as model for the “Forlane” movement from Le Tombeau de Couperin. The article includes extensive facsimiles of autograph scores.

Works: Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole (296), L’Enfant et les sortilèges (321-22), Le Tombeau de Couperin (328-29).

Sources: Ravel: Sites auriculaires (296-99), La Cloche engloutie (317-22); François Couperin: Concerts royaux (328-29).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Keith Clifton

Falla represents both the culmination of Spanish nationalism and the instigation of Spanish modernism. His works are divided into four periods: to 1907, student years and the emergence of national feelings; 1907-1914, Paris influences; 1914-1919, climax of nationalistic tendencies; and 1920-1946, move away from nationalism to new forms based on the Spanish classical tradition. In the first two periods, represented by works such as El amor brujo and the Three-Cornered Hat, Falla demonstrated the possibilities for incorporating Andalusian folk music, of whose Byzantine, Moorish, and gypsy influences he made an extensive study. In the last period, his preoccupation with the realization of the national spirit gave way to a more severe classical idiom, represented by works such as El retablo de Maese Pedro and the Harpsichord Concerto, which incorporated music from the Spanish Renaissance.

Works: Falla: El amor brujo (26-27), Three-Cornered Hat (27-28), Nights in the Gardens of Spain (28-29), El retablo de Maese Pedro (28), Harpsichord Concerto (28), L'Atlantida (28-29).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Amy Weller

Instances of musical borrowing are identified within a study of Erik Satie's relationship with America and its music. Five works from 1900 through 1905 exhibit ragtime stylistic traits, and in Parade (1917), Irving Berlin's That Mysterious Rag is used as a rhythmic model. Borrowing also occurs in Musique d'Ameublement (1923), which uses a phrase resembling Sing a Song of Sixpence, the English nursery rhyme. This musical reference might have been Satie's method of indicating that his commission was easy to fulfill.

Works: Satie: Prélude de La Mort de Monsieur Mouche (80-82), La Diva de l'Empire (81), Le Piccadilly (81), Légende Californienne (82), Parade (84-85), Musique d'Ameublement (92-93).

Sources: Sing a Song of Sixpence (92-93); Berlin: That Mysterious Rag (84-85).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

Index Classifications: 1800s, 1900s

Index Classifications: 1500s

The composers of long-running animated sitcoms The Simpsons and Family Guy often utilize the technique of copyphrase, or copyright-paraphrase, to unmistakably call to mind specific pieces of music while avoiding charges of copyright infringement. Alf Clausen, series composer for The Simpsons, developed a default copyphrase procedure in the mid-1990s that has served as a model for later television composers. Clausen’s procedure involves preserving the rhythm and phrasing of the target melody but altering the pitches, often inverting the contour. This can be seen in his mock-up of Alan Menken’s Under the Sea in the episode “Homer Badman” (1994) and See My Vest, a copyphrase of Menken’s Be My Guest in “Two Dozen and One Greyhounds” (1995). Family Guy composers Walter Murphy and Ron Jones, influenced by Clausen, frequently use comparable copyphrase techniques in early seasons. The season two premiere alone contains three distinct examples of copyphrase, including an extended parody of I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here (from the musical Annie). A copyphrase parody of MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This in the episode “E. Peterbus Unum” even has a direct admission of borrowing when Peter Griffin declares “Hammer, you can’t sue!” mid-song. Two unsuccessful lawsuits brought against Family Guy in the mid-2000s—the first dismissed and the second ruled in the show’s favor—apparently emboldened the producers of The Simpsons and Family Guy to include sharper musical satire in later episodes. In later seasons, the two shows have diverged in their approach to music. A 2008 episode of The Simpsons, “That 90’s Show,” demonstrates the show's continuing engagement with (relatively) recent musical materials with two copyphrases of 1990s grunge songs. Family Guy, on the other hand, has largely abandoned copyphrase in favor of original music. Although The Simpsons could feasibly license existing music, the technique of copyphrase still serves an important aesthetic function maintaining the show’s escapist tone.

Works: Alf Clausen: soundtrack to The Simpsons (224-27, 231-34); Walter Murphy and Ron Jones: soundtrack to Family Guy (227-32)

Sources: Alan Menken (composer) and Howard Ashman (lyricist): Under the Sea (224-25), Be Our Guest (225-26); Falco, Rob Bolland, and Ferdi Bolland: Rock Me Amadeus (226); Charles Strouse (composer) and Martin Charnin (lyricist): I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here (227); Karl Jenkins: Palladio (227); John Williams: score to Star Wars (227-28); MC Hammer: U Can’t Touch This (229); Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman: It’s a Small World (After All) (229-30); Leigh Harline (composer) and Ned Washington (lyricist): When You Wish Upon a Star (230); Joe Hamilton: Carol’s Theme (230-31); Frank Churchill (composer) and Larry Morey (lyricist): Heigh Ho! (231); Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: Rape Me (232-33); Gavin Rossdale, Bush: Glycerin (233)

Index Classifications: 1900s, 2000s, Popular, Film

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet

Film composer John Williams is often accused of plagiarism in public discourse, but when analyzing his musical borrowing as stylistic allusion, modeling, and paraphrased quotation, it becomes clear that he is not a plagiarist even in the more conservative Romantic sense. Uncovering musical borrowing in Williams’s film scores poses a challenge as Williams is reticent to admit any influence from other composers, yet the sources for borrowed passages are well known pieces. One example of modeling is the main theme from Jaws (1974), modeled after The Augers of Spring from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Passages in many other Williams scores—appearing when the hero is in danger—also appear to be modeled on the same section of Rite. Williams also modeled music for at least three films on Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2, which was used as a temp track in the production of E.T. (1982). Throughout Williams’s scores there are examples of passages resembling other music, but not enough to make a case for borrowing. One clear example of paraphrase is the love theme from Superman, which shares rhythm, contour, and tempo (but not exact pitches) with a motive from Richard Strauss’s Tod und Verklärung. Two examples of paraphrased themes in E.T. demonstrate Williams’s default procedure: altering the rhythm and meter of a source while only slightly altering the pitches. Williams’s score for Star Wars (1977) contains numerous examples of paraphrase, with passages drawn from Erich Korngold’s score to Kings Row (1942), Rite of Spring, and Gustav Holst’s The Planets. Compared to other film composers working under similar time and creative constraints inherent to the medium, Williams makes a clear effort to distance his paraphrased passages from their source material. William is therefore not guilty of plagiarism or theft. Instead, his creative process places him in the company of countless composers who use pre-existing material as a starting point for a new piece of music.

Works: John Williams: score to Jaws (303-4), score to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (304-5, 309-11), score to Superman (308-9), score to Star Wars (311-16), score to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (316-17), score to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (317); Bill Conti: score to The Right Stuff (318-19)

Sources: Igor Stravinsky: Rite of Spring (303-4, 314, 315); Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 2, Op. 30, Romantic (304-5, 310-11); Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung (308-9); Antonín Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 4, Op. 90, Dumky (309-10), Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, From the New World (316-17); Erich Wolfgang Korngold: score to Kings Row (313-14); Gustav Holst: The Planets (314-16); Aram Khatchaturian: Gayane (317); Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 (318-19)

Index Classifications: 1900s, 2000s, Film

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet

While Berio based his Recital I on selected fragments of Cathy Berberian's repertory, the Chemins are modeled on the Sequenzas for solo instruments, thus on complete self-sufficient works. The composer expanded the instrumental texture in order to create "sonic aggregates" that could obscure the original structure completely. The resulting piece in turn could become the basis for further extensions: Chemins IIb-IIc and Chemins III are based on Chemins II and thus ultimately on Sequenza VI. "Each new layer creates a new, though related surface, and each older layer assumes a new function as soon as it is covered" (Berio).

Works: Berio: Chemins I, Chemins II, Chemins IIb, Chemins IIc, Chemins III, Chemins IV, Sinfonia, third movement, Recital I.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Andreas Giger

The first and fifth movements of Luciano Berio's Sinfonia set fragments of Le cru et le cuit, Levi-Strauss's analysis of South American Indian myths, and the third movement is a commentary on the third movement of Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony "Resurrection"). None of the other quotations in the third movement are treated. The outer movements are unified with the central one by the fact that in his analysis, Levi-Strauss attempted to forge groups of the myths he studied into structures analogous to those of Western classical music.

Works: Berio: Sinfonia.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Rob Lamborn

Monteverdi's famous madrigal setting of Battista Guarini's text from Il pastor fido, "Cruda Amarilli," places him within a tradition of Cruda Amarilli madrigals, but also sets him apart in his overt modeling on Marenzio's setting of the same text and on the madrigal book in which it is found, Settimo libro de' madrigali a cinque voci (1595). The four most prominent Cruda Amarilli madrigals, by Giaches de Wert, Marenzio, Monteverdi, and Benedetto Pallavicino, are clearly interrelated musically through motivic, structural, harmonic, and textural similarities. The Marenzio and Wert settings, while borrowing from each other as well, can be viewed as clear models for Monteverdi and Pallavicino. Yet the prominent similarities between Monteverdi's and Marenzio's Cruda Amarilli settings must be approached through a contextualization within their relative madrigal books. In a comparison of these two books, it is evident that Monteverdi paid close attention to Marenzio's use and organization of Pastor fido texts and constructed his own book accordingly. Such a clear case of modeling could be attributed to Monteverdi's desire to promote himself within the Ferrarese and Mantuan courts and to create connections with intellectual and patronage circles specifically linked to Marenzio. Thus, Monteverdi places himself within a tradition of madrigal settings while simultaneously forging a distinct relationship with Marenzio in an effort to promote his career and to ally himself with another well-respected composer of the day.

Works: Giaches de Wert: Cruda Amarilli (316-20); Marenzio: Cruda Amarilli (316-20); Benedetto Pallavicino: Cruda Amarilli (320-26); Monteverdi: Cruda Amarilli (320-28), Quinto libro de' madrigali a cinque voci (328-36).

Sources: Giaches de Wert: Cruda Amarilli (316-20); Marenzio: Cruda Amarilli (316-20), Settimo libro de' madrigali a cinque voci (328-33).

Index Classifications: 1500s, 1600s

Contributed by: Elizabeth Elmi

Index Classifications: 1600s

A Schenkerian analysis of Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66 (1834) and Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 27, No. 2, both in C sharp minor, reveals remarkable similarities between the two. These parallels imply that Chopin's Op. 66 was deeply influenced by Beethoven's Op. 27, No. 2, notably by the coda that ends its finale. These works share: key (the outer movements or sections in C sharp minor, the middle ones in D flat major), main motive, inversion of the motive at the end of a movement or section, literal quotation, and more. These similarities, and data documenting Chopin's fondness of Beethoven's sonata, explain Chopin's refusal to publish his piece. Chopin's study of Beethoven, epitomized in his Op. 66, is a unique case where a genius demonstrates his thorough understanding of another genius.

Works: Chopin: Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp Minor, Op. 66.

Sources: Beethoven: Piano Sonata in C sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2.

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Tamara Balter

Isaac based his Sustinuimus pacem et non invenimus, Domine on two cantus firmi, using a version of the well known Basque tune Una musque de Buscaya in the tenor and the superius of Josquin's chanson En l'ombre d'un buissonet tout au loing d'une rivière in the superius. The new textural context of the latter accounts for the few musical deviations.

Index Classifications: 1400s

Contributed by: Andreas Giger

Index Classifications: 1400s, 1500s

Index Classifications: 1700s

It has long been unclear how much Hans Pfitzner borrowed from Palestrina in his opera (1917) named after this 16th-century composer. Only two borrowings have been identified, whereas four others have remained doubtful. In 1973, the Bayrische Staatsbibliothek received Pfitzner's copy of Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli. This manuscript proves that Pfitzner studied this work much more carefully than scholars hitherto have believed. It includes many marked passages with square brackets and Osthoff shows that these passages were intended to be used in the opera. Pfitzner, however, not only quoted from the Missa Papae Marcelli. In the sketches of his opera, he designated the melody in Act I on "patrem omnipotentem" (sung by the chorus of the angels) as a cantus firmus. Osthoff identifies it as a quotation from the Missa Aspice Domine (a parody mass) and not from the Missa Papae Marcelli as Albert Fleury claimed before. The markings also indicate that Pfitzner borrowed not only melodic and harmonic passages but also techniques, such as falsobordone, parallel tenths in outer parts, and sixteenth-century stereotyped figures including the cambiata and typical cadences. According to Osthoff, the technique of inserting small isolated elements into a new composition is significant for the structural thinking of twentieth-century composers.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Andreas Giger

Index Classifications: 1900s

Index Classifications: 1900s

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Legal rights over recorded sound materials involve many difficult issues. Although many artists have been incriminated for use of another's pitch and rhythmic materials, there is more difficulty concerning borrowing of timbres and less quantifiable musical elements within copyright laws. In fact, artists who use technology to create their works often use pitch and rhythm elements less than timbral elements. The oral tradition of popular music compounds this issue. Traditionally, plagiarism has been determined by the written notes on a page, but purely recorded musical works have no written component. This makes the case of copyright violation more difficult. Unique uses of instruments either associated with particular nationalities, such as the Trinidadian steel drum, or created from traditionally non-musical objects, such as a blade of grass cupped in one hands, also compound copyright issues. Does one's unique appropriation of such instruments give the person the rights over those sounds? Within American and Canadian copyright law, borrowing for pedagogical, illustrative, critical, and parody purposes qualifies as legal fair use. As long as the "economic viability" of the source work is maintained, there is no violation of copyright law. Moreover, borrowing of works in the public domain has no legal repercussions. Whether considered legal or not, all popular and folk music exists as public domain entities.

Works: Charles Ives: Symphony No. 3; George Harrison: My Sweet Lord; Jim Tenney: Collage 1.

Sources: Ronnie Mack: He's so Fine; Carl Perkins: Blue Suede Shoes.

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Victoria Malawey

Recorded sound and its attendant technologies muddy the distinction between sound producers and sound reproducers, broaden the scope of musical instruments, and challenge traditional approaches to copyright laws. Analog and digital reproduction technologies have also changed what can be borrowed from music. Melody was once the principal material that could be taken from one piece and reworked, but recordings allowed for sound itself to be used as the actual raw material for new compositions, especially by amateur musicians. It was not until 1976 that copyright laws offered any protection for recorded music; prior to this point music had to exist as a score in order to be copyrighted. However, the increased restrictions on the use of existing recorded music and sound makes it more difficult for artists to create works that reference or quote other music. This not only limits what can be created, but what materials make it into the open field of public domain. Unfortunately, the discourse surrounding how people use existing music is predominantly negative, framing such uses as robbery, poaching, and brainless mistakes. Instead, we should think of reworking existing material as creative composition that turns an everyday song or sound into something entirely different and invites passive listeners to take on active roles in musical creation.

Works: Ives: Symphony No. 3 (132), 114 Songs (132); George Harrison: My Sweet Lord (133); Herbie Hancock: Rockit (135); Michael Jackson: Hard Rock (135); Jim Tenney: Collage 1 (136).

Sources: Chiffons: He’s So Fine (133); Led Zeppelin: Whole Lotta Love (135); Elvis Presley (performer): Blue Suede Shoes (136).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Sarah Kirkman

Between 1944 and 1951, Percy Grainger made a number of arrangements of George Gershwin's works. In addition to his Fantasy on Themes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and the songs The Man I Love and Love Walked In, Grainger set two other songs from Porgy and Bess independently: "Oh, I Can't Sit Down" and "Oh, Lord I'm On My Way." Grainger's Oh, I Can't Sit Down is scored for three pianists at one piano and it appears that the third part is in fact a written-out improvisation which was added to the song as it appears in his Fantasy for Two Pianos. Based on this evidence, it does not appear that Grainger ever intended to publish this arrangement. As with his Bridge on the River Kwai Marches, this setting was probably intended as yet another of his "at-home" experiments.

Works: Grainger: Porgy and Bess Fantasy, The Man I Love, Love Walked In, Oh, Lord I'm On My Way, Oh, I Can't Sit Down, Bridge on the River Kwai Marches.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: John Andrew Johnson