Within a wider survey of Beethoven's compositional methods, the author discusses the composer's reworkings of his own previous material (chapter 5, 59-74). Beethoven's distinctive style can be said to derive to a large extent from a stock of musical ideas that recur throughout his work; these may be rhythmic motives and harmonic progressions, or larger-scale tonal patterns and formal devices. Consideration of sketch material is particularly helpful in understanding this, as it shows how many ideas that were initially rejected in one piece would be "salvaged" for the purposes of another. Beethoven tended to borrow in a more detailed fashion from unpublished material, whereas reference to previously published works was usually considerably more general.

Works: Beethoven: Piano Sonata in E Major, Op. 109 (62), String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132 (62), Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 (64), Piano Sonata in C Major, Op. 53 ("Waldstein") (65), Bagatelle in A-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 7 (66), Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 (66).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert

In a full-length discussion of Schubert's life and music, the author mentions numerous examples of the composer's borrowing, both from works of other composers and from his own previous works. As might be expected, Schubert's early years of compositional development contain the most instances of formal and thematic modeling of the music of others; perhaps surprisingly, Mozart seems to have been a more pervasive source than Schubert's immediate predecessor Beethoven. In his mature works, Schubert borrows less from others, while placing greater emphasis on the reuse of his own material, particularly the songs. Yet borrowing formal procedures from other composers (particularly Beethoven) continues to be an important practice of Schubert until the end of his life and can be seen even in such late works as the last three piano sonatas.

Works: Schubert: Fantasia for Four Hands, 1811 (29), Symphony No. 1 in D Major (36), Der Teufels Lustchloss (50), Mass in F Major (56, Rondo in D Major for Violin and Piano, Op. 70 (76, 275), Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major (86), Symphony No. 4 in C Minor ("Tragic") (108), Fantasia in C Major ("Wanderer") (143), Fugue for Four Hands, 1828 (152), Rondo in D Major for Four Hands, 1818 (153), String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 29 (167, 214), Impromptu, Op.90 (173), Impromptu, Op.142 (214), Suleika I D. 720 (193), Divertissement à la Hongroise, D 818 (242), Piano Sonata in A Minor, D. 845 (247), Piano Sonata in D Major, D. 850 (250), String Quartet in D Minor, D. 810 (254), Octet in F Major, D. 803 (256), Piano Sonata in A Major, D. 959 (286), Piano Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960 (287), Mass in E-flat Major (298).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert

Written for the one-hundred-and-twenty-fifth anniversary of Mendelssohn's death in 1972, Kochan's Mendelssohn-Variationen for Piano and Orchestra constitutes a musical homage on two different levels. It takes as its theme that of Mendelssohn's Variations Serieuses, which itself pays homage to Bach in its use of the B-A-C-H motive. Kochan acknowledges his 'second generation' homage by using a quotation from an aria in Bach's St. Matthew Passion (a work that Mendelssohn championed) as a 'hidden theme' that is developed alongside, and combined with the main theme throughout the course of the piece.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert

Schubert's song Auf dem Strom shares a special kinship with Beethoven's cycle An die Ferne Geliebte. Both concern the union of loved ones despite separation, and this general similarity of spirit and sentiment is reinforced in specific musical terms. The coda of Schubert's song appears to have been modeled on that of Beethoven's cycle, and the central strophes are an almost literal quotation of the funeral march from the Erioca Symphony. This latter allusion is particularly appropriate, as the song was written for, and first performed at, a concert held on the first anniversary of Beethoven's death; this song can therefore be seen as Schubert's musical 'memorial' to his great predecessor.

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert

Beethoven's influence on Schubert was a psychological as much as musical one, against which the composer struggled. The Great C Major Symphony is an illustration of how much of this influence had been absorbed by the end of his life. Important rhythmic and formal features of the central movements are related to those of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, and a theme in the finale is strongly reminiscent of the "Ode to Joy" theme from his Ninth. However, the most important influence of Beethoven can be seen in the tight-knit thematic organicism (based primarily on the third-motive of the Introduction) that characterizes the entire work.

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert

The years 1794-1795 represent a period of particularly intense growth in Beethoven's early compositional style. His encounter and subsequent training with Haydn was an important factor in this, and Beethoven's compositional development at this time can partly be explained as an attempt to absorb the impact of Haydn's London symphonies in particular, while at the same time establishing his own independence. Beethoven's use and reinterpretation of Haydn's style can be seen in three major areas: (1) the enrichment of texture through polyphony, (2) the coherent assimilation of remote tonal relationships into the tonal language, and (3) the substitution of organic procedures for mechanical ones. In order to illustrate this relationship, a detailed comparison is made between Haydn's Symphony No. 95 in C Minor and Beethoven's Trio Op. 1, No. 3 in the same key.

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert

Study of the sketches for Beethoven's Diabelli Variations reveals that the variations were composed in two stages, before and after the composition of the Piano Sonata Op. 111. In view of this, the melodic shape of Diabelli's theme can be seen as a clear model for that of the Arietta of Op. 111, while at the same time the Arietta influences the structure and character of the variations composed after the sonata. This is especially true in the case of the final, thirty-third variation; by almost literally quoting the Arietta, this causes the entire set to constitute both a musical and numerical "postscript" to the 32 sonatas.

Works: Beethoven: Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 111, Thirty-Three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120.

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert

Until the later sixteenth century there is insufficient evidence to support the notion put forth by scholars such as Howard Brown, Leeman Perkins, and J. Peter Burkolder that compositional procedures involving polyphonic borrowing derive from composers' conscious adoption of rhetorical ideas of imitatio. Moreover, many of the respective techniques and principles were fundamentally different. Literary imitatio had as its goal the restoration of classical rhetoric through emulation, whereas musical borrowing had no such aim. As an alternative to imitatio, one should consider the following reasons for musical borrowing in the early renaissance: (1) it was a natural outgrowth of Medieval practice; (2) it was a means of unifying a multi-sectional work; (3) as composers began to think in terms of vertical sonorities, it was natural to borrow such sonorities; (4) compositional curiosity resulted in the reuse of one's own material; (5) it was a time-saving device; (6) it was often the result of specific commissions; or (7) it intrigued the composer.

Index Classifications: 1400s, 1500s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert, Reginald Sanders

Within a general survey of Schubert's piano sonatas, the author gives an example of the composer borrowing both from one of his own previous works and from one by Beethoven (p. 48). The theme of the rondo finale of the Piano Sonata in A Major, D. 959, is taken from the central movement of Schubert's earlier Piano Sonata in A Minor, D. 537. However, the structure of the movement as a whole is closely modeled on that of the rondo in Beethoven's Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 31, No. 1.

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert

Schubert's song "Der Tod und das Mädchen" takes the form of a dialogue in which Death is represented by a slow chordal sequence and the maiden by recitative-style writing. This is probably modeled on very similar procedures in Gluck's Alceste and the cemetery scene from Mozart's Don Giovanni. In addition to a musical reworking in a setting of a similar poem ("Der Jüngling und der Tod," D. 545) composed shortly thereafter, the song also reappears in the String Quartet in D Minor, D. 810. Although the most obvious instance of this is the expanded version of the song's chordal sequence that serves as the theme for the slow movement's variation set, material from the entire song can be seen to be present in the remaining three movements as well, thus imparting a cyclical nature to the work as a whole.

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert