The conversion of secular musical works into religious pieces by the substitution of a new text was a common technique in the sixteenth century. The noël-parody is one example, where a text describing the nativity would replace a secular text, thus creating a "new" piece without changing the music. The model for the noël-parody, the form into which the new text was introduced, was the chanson rustique, a form of popular origins that was part of an oral tradition. As many of the texts of the noël-parodies are preserved in printed collections, they can provide information about their models that is not available to us by any other means, such as the strophic design of a chanson rustique and its approximate date of circulation.

Works: [CHANSONS] Bulkyn: Or sus, or sus, bovier (32); Compère: Je suys amie du fourrier (37); Godart: Mariez moy, mon pere (41); Josquin: Si j'avois Marion (41); Rogier: Noble fleur excellente (41); Anonymous: En m'esbatant/Gracieuse plaisant mousniere/Gente fleur de noblesse; La Chanson de la grue (33); Maistre Jehan de Pont Allez, or allez (36); Mariez moy, mon pere (40); Mon cotillonnet (35); Monseigner le grant maistre (39, 41); Noble cueur d'excellence (40); Si j'eusse Marion (41). [NOEL-PARODIES] Autre noël sure la chanson de cotillon (35); De mon triste desplaisir (29); Or chantons de cueur isnel, o nouel (37); Or sus, or sus, bouvier, Dieu te coint bonne estraine (33); Quant l'empereur des romains (33).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

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

The question of priority in Bach's composition of the St. Matthew Passion and the Funeral Music for Prince Leopold remains open to debate. An examination of Bach's use of parody technique in works where one is known to have been a model for the other yields a picture of the types of adjustments Bach was likely to make. Brainard finds that only two factors will cause Bach to make significant changes in the music when setting the second text: the demands of proper declamation and the portrayal of the text with traditional rhetorical figures. Brainard concludes that the St. Matthew Passion was composed first, because the changes that would have been required in that work if the Funeral Music was the earlier composition are uncharacteristic of Bach's use of parody technique in similar situations.

Works: Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata BWV 30 (246, 249), Cantata BWV 68 (248, 251), Cantata BWV 173 (245), Cantata BWV 197 (249), Cantata BWV 210 (247), Cantata BWV 248 (246-49).

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

Nicholas Racot de Grandval (c. 1676-1753) wrote two cantatas parodying the successful cantatas of Louis-Nicholas Clérambault, Orphée and Léandre et Héro. A third cantata by Grandval, Rien du tout, is a pasticcio on arias by Clerambault and others. Grandval wrote his own texts, quoting and paraphrasing parts of Clerambault's texts for comic effect. (Allez, Orphée, allez, allez becomes Allez, Orphée, allez au Diable.) Grandval incorporated two brief musical quotations from Clérambault in each parody. He used popular tunes of the time as additional musical material.

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

In a survey of Chabrier's works for piano, features of his style that foreshadow the styles of later French composers are noted. The use of unresolved seventh and ninth chords is a technique later incorporated by Debussy and Ravel. In a more general sense, a number of pieces by Chabrier seem to be linked to pieces by Ravel. These pieces are listed in a table in the concluding section of the dissertation.

Works: Poulenc: Le Bestiaire (85); Maurice Ravel: Jeux d'eau (83), La Valse (15), Menuet antique (46), Valses nobles et sentimentales (15).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

A four-voice madrigal found in the Fourth Book of Arcadelt's madrigals titled Pace non trovo e non ho da far guerra, setting the Petrarchan sonnet by that name, has material in common with two other works. The madrigal, anonymous in Arcadelt's collection, is ascribed to Ivo, probably Ivo Barry, a French musician in the papal choir under Clement VII and Paul III. A madrigal for three voices by Ihan Gero proves to be a modified version of the other. The techniques used to arrive at Gero's madrigal from Ivo's piece are similar to those used by Gero in other parodies, so Ivo's madrigal was probably written first. A third work, a cycle of madrigals by Palestrina titled Canzon di Gianneto sopra di Pace non trovo con quatordici stanze, consists of fourteen pieces all using material from Ivo's madrigal. Palestrina's text is itself a parody, fourteen ottava rima stanzas each ending with a line of the Petrarchan sonnet. The music for these lines consists of a parody of the original setting by Ivo.

Works: Ivo Barry: Pace non trovo e non ho da far guerra (madrigal); Ben mio chi mi ti toglie (madrigal) (116); Ihan Gero: Pace non trovo e non ho da far guerra; Palestrina: Canzon di Gianneto sopra di Pace non trovo con quatordici stanze (madrigal cycle).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

Willem Pijper (1894-1947) crusaded actively for the cause of a Dutch musical style independent from the German and French traditions. His campaign was waged both in his writings and in some nationalist compositions. The opera Halewijn is based on the Halewijn Lied, one of the oldest known Dutch songs. The song recurs within the opera, and in addition, Pijper derived the scalar material of the entire work from one line of the Lied. Pijper's work Six Symphonic Epigrams uses a motive from the Dutch song O Nederland let op U saeck (Oh Netherlands, Heed Thy Cause), which is part of a seventeenth-century collection of national songs.

Works: Willem Pijper: Halewijn (369-70), Six Symphonic Epigrams (370-71).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

Monteverdi used a monodic setting of Sfogava con le stelle by Caccini included in Le nuove musiche as the basis of his madrigal by that name, included in Book IV of the madrigals. Monteverdi altered the melodic line to achieve a smoother contour, and adjusted the text-setting to remove unimportant syllables from positions of prominence. He manipulated the material in Caccini's piece in various ways, using Caccini's melody as a bass line, for example. As only seven months separated the publication of Le nuove musiche and the publication of Book IV of Monteverdi's madrigals containing its parody, Horsley speculates that Monteverdi used the parody as an indirect reply to criticism leveled by Caccini in the preface to his volume aimed at the new style of polyphonic madrigals, a style championed by Monteverdi. Monteverdi's setting of Sfogava con le stelle is somewhat atypical of his style, and it counters each of Caccini's points of contention.

Works: Caccini: Sfogava con le stelle; Monteverdi: Sfogava con le stelle.

Index Classifications: 1600s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

When nature became a source of inspiration in literature in the nineteenth century, composers began to write musical works using the mountains as a theme. This was accomplished either with a programmatic title or with the use of a folk tune. Different versions of the Ranz des Vaches, a type of improvisatory tune played on the alphorn to call the cattle home at the end of the day, were quoted by many composers and served as a model for others desiring to evoke an alpine scene. In addition to the many pieces cited within the text and listed below, a list of works by lesser-known composers using the mountains as inspiration or setting is given at the conclusion of the article.

Works: Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, fifth movement (403), Six Variations facile pour le clavecin ou Harpe (Sur un air Suisse) (403); Berlioz: "Scene aux champs" from Symphonie fantastique (402); Grétry: Overture to Guillaume Tell (400); d'Indy: Symphonie Cévenole (413-14); Liszt: "Vallée d'Obermann" (409), "Improvisata sur le ranz des Vaches de Ferdinand Huber" (409), "Nocturne sur le chant montagnard d'Ernest Knop" (409), and "Rondeau sur le Ranz des Chèvres de Ferdinand Huber" (409) from Album d'un voyageur, and Grande Fantaisie sur la Tyrolienne de l'opera "La Fiancée" (transcription of Auber) (409); Mendelssohn: Two early unpublished symphonies (408); Meyerbeer: Song on the Appenzell Ranz des Vaches (400); Rossini: Overture to William Tell (400); Schumann: Manfred (406); Richard Strauss: Don Quixote (415); Wagner: Act III of Tristan und Isolde (411); Webbe: Song on the Appenzell Ranz des Vaches (400); Weigl: Song on the Appenzell Ranz des Vaches (400).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

Beethoven's Wielhorsky sketchbook contains sketches for a variety of works, including the Op. 35 Eroica variations for piano. Immediately following the sketches for the piano variations is a plan for the Third Symphony, with meters, key schemes, tempo markings, and rough themes for each of the first three movements. The lack of reference to a fourth movement suggests that Beethoven planned to use the piano variations as a basis for the finale to the symphony from the start. Lockwood demonstrates that the principal theme of the first movement is derived from the "Basso del Tema" of Op. 35. The finale of the symphony is thus seen as the generating force of the entire work.

Works: Beethoven: "Eroica" Variations for Piano, Op. 35, Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Eroica, Op. 55.

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

Revueltas never used actual folk melodies in his music, but he evoked regional tunes such as the Tarascan son and the Michoacan corrido by modeling his melodies on their characteristic features, thus creating a Mexican nationalist music.

Works: Revueltas: Caminos (131-32), Cuauhnahuac (130), Janitzio (129-30, 133), The Wave (132-33).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

British Museum, Additional MS 29996 folios 158-178b contains a set of twenty anonymous pieces labeled with a heading indicating that they are compositions "on the faburden" of a piece of plainchant. "On the faburden" means that faburden, the improvisational technique of singing above a given melody (in this case plainchant) more or less at the interval of a third, was the genesis of the pieces. In these examples, the chant was then dropped, and the new composition was written using the faburden line as the middle voice. The notes of the plainchant and its text incipit are given at the beginning of each piece. The chants used are all hymns found in the Sarum Breviary, in services from Advent through the third sunday of Lent.

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

A number of passages in Beethoven's Op. 13 seem to have been derived from Mozart's Sonata K. 457. In addition, both members of a pair of corresponding themes from the slow movements of the sonatas are set in the submediant. The general mood and dramatic impact of the two works is very similar. The C Minor Sonata of Dussek, Op. 35, No. 3 does not share the general "spirit" of Beethoven's Op. 13 as Eric Blom claimed, but several thematic details of the Dussek correspond to the Beethoven. It is difficult to establish a priority for the material, however, since the works were composed at roughly the same time.

Works: Beethoven: Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 13; Dussek: Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 35, No. 3.

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

At six points in Act IV of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, the composer uses musical motives borrowed from earlier in the opera. In each case, the borrowing has a rhetorical significance, referring back to a pertinent circumstance or statement that is newly appropriate or somewhat ironic in its second appearance. This is one more aspect of Mozart's skillful delineation of characters in his operas.

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

A system of graphs is used to facilitate a study of the relationship between a motet and a Mass that is based on it using sixteenth-century parody technique. In the graphs, relationships not immediately apparent from looking at the score become clear, such as the borrowing of the entire complex of a motive and the points of imitation that accompany it, or the relationships among points of imitation that enable them to be combined contrapuntally in a particular manner. The motet Salvum me fac by Jacquet of Mantua and the parody Mass of the motet by Palestrina serve as examples in the graphing process.

Index Classifications: General, 1500s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

Handel tended to return regularly to the works of certain composers as sources for his borrowed materials, notably the operas of Reinhard Keiser. Handel would have become familiar with Keiser's music through listening, performance, and presumably study of the scores during his years in Hamburg (ca. 1703-5). A table of the ten Keiser operas from which Handel borrowed is included. Roberts theorizes that Handel was often inspired to borrow by a textual similarity. Handel generally subjected the musical material extracted from another piece to extensive reworking, which leads Roberts to speculate that the composer's creative process may have required the stimulus of outside ideas.

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: Rob Lamborn, Nancy Kinsey Totten

Poland experienced an awakening of interest in art and music in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In addition to the imported traditions of western Europe which accompanied an influx of Italian musicians to Poland, a body of music existed which, although not actual folk music, was the music of everyday life in Poland, the music which accompanied the rituals of church and social events. This music, which included the traditional dance forms of the mazurka and polonaise, provided the basic material for new works such as parody Masses. Other composers quoted popular melodies in various genres such as instrumental canzone and pastorals.

Works: Jan Fabrycy: Parody Mass on the motet In te Domine speravi by Waclaw of Szamotul (106); Gerwazy Gorczycki: Missa Paschalis (106); Marcin Leopolita: Missa Paschalis (106); Marcin Mielczewski: Missa super o glorioso (107); Bartlomiej Pekiel: Missa Paschalis (106).

Index Classifications: 1600s, 1700s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten

Stravinsky downplayed the extent to which he incorporated Russian folk material in The Rite of Spring in discussions of the work following its composition. Taruskin atributes this to the composer's desire to dissociate himself from the Russian establishment, specifically the "Russian Five," who used folk materials in many of their works. In spite of Stravinsky's claims, Tarushkin demonstrates through an examination of the sketchbook for The Rite of Spring that much of the melodic material consists of reworkings of Russian folk tunes. In addition, many of the harmonic innovations of the work can be seen as derivative from the folk melodies, with the intervallic content used vertically instead of harmonically.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Nancy Kinsey Totten