Like Bartók and Stravinsky, Gershwin was both a discoverer and an inventor (pp. 39-59). Many of his musical sources were African-American and Jewish, and he was inventive in the areas of rhythmic variation, placement of accents, and color. Gershwin observed a large population of Gullah Negroes on Folly Island in order to compose the score of his "folk opera" Porgy and Bess (pp. 149-53). He had great difficulty with the critics for his "vulgar" borrowing from the jazz idiom (pp. 84-121).

Works: Gershwin: Porgy and Bess, Piano Concerto, An American in Paris.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Daniel Bertram

Riethmüller aims to outline Busoni thought patterns by analyzing two works, the Second Violin Sonata, Op. 36a, completed in 1898, and the Improvisation for Two Pianos on Bach's Chorale-Song 'Wie wohl ist mir,' composed in 1916. The Improvisation reworks material from the Second Violin Sonata. The structure of the variations in the third movement of the violin sonata is modeled on Beethoven's Piano Sonata, Op.109. Riethmüller misses the fact that the opening notes of the Bach chorale are identical to the bass line of Beethoven's variation theme, and hence serve in Busoni's sonata as a good example of Busoni's idea of "the Oneness of Music." Riethmüller points out the "latent characteristic of quotation in Busoni's music," and discovers the borrowing of sketches for an unfinished piano work in the chorale variations and the borrowing from Bach's Trauerode, BWV 198 in the opening of Busoni's third movement. Riethmüller analyzes the Improvisation in terms of borrowing from the violin sonata, calling it obscurer, more aggressive, and more enigmatic. But the relationship of the two works is more like "that of a healthy mother to a very sickly child," since the average listener does not know its antecedent in detail and since some passages are incoherent and illogical.

Works: Busoni: Second Violin Sonata, Op. 36a, (571-73), Improvisation for Two Pianos on Bach's Chorale-Song 'Wie wohl ist mir' (573).

Sources: J.S. Bach: "Wie wohl ist mir" from Notenbuch für Anna Magdalena Bach (571), Trauerode, BWV 198 (572), Beethoven: Piano Sonata, Op. 109 (571), Busoni: Second Violin Sonata, Op. 36a (573).

Index Classifications: 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Daniel Bertram

Busoni's "young classicism" views music as a simultaneous mixture of old and new styles, "the mastery, the sifting and the turning to account of all the gains of previous experiments and their inclusion in strong and beautiful forms." He believed (pp. 85-95, 150-51) that Liszt's operatic fantasies are different from the "plebeian pot-pourri" and that the transcription is a legitimate art form, because (1) Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, and Brahms wrote quality transcriptions, (2) notation itself is the transcription of an abstract idea, (3) performances are all transcriptions, (4) some great compositions sound like transcriptions, and (5) transcriptions are like variations, which also change original music.

Works: Liszt: Don Juan Fantasy (89-95), transcription of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (151).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Daniel Bertram

Ives's Concord Sonata is probably modeled on monumental piano sonatas by Beethoven and Liszt. More specifically, Ives borrowed a motive from Brahms's Second Piano Sonata, Op.2, perhaps intentionally. In its basic form the motive consists of a three-note scale fragment followed by a downward leap of a fifth. William S. Newman has remarked that the Brahms motive reduces to this same basic motive. Ives may have borrowed intentionally, since his teacher Horatio Parker idolized Brahms and since Brahms themes and influences occur in other works by Ives. Also, Ives called the Concord Sonata his second even though he had already written two (he wrote the Three-Page Sonata in 1905).

Works: Ives: Second Piano Sonata ("Concord")

Sources: Brahms: Second Piano Sonata, Op.2.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Daniel Bertram

Two psalm motets attributed to Josquin, Levavi oculos meos in montes (c.1539) and Nunc dimittis (c.1530) are probably the work of lesser composers. Research into the authenticity of these works entails a careful examination of sources and musical style. Levavi oculos occurs only in the second volume of psalm motets of Johannes Petreius (1539), an unreliable source. Nunc dimittis is preserved in only two Italian manuscripts (1522 and c.1530). Levavi oculos and Nunc dimittis were probably modeled on the structure of Josquin's motets Qui habitat in audiutorio altissimi (c.1530) and Memor esto verbi tui (c.1510), respectively. Especially similar are the dimensions of the opening and closing sections of each pair of motets. Although the unknown composers incorporated Josquin's subjects, they failed to capture the interesting contours and initial rhythmic thrusts of those subjects. In addition, the passages not modeled on Josquin's motets are often contrapuntally awkward and the text-setting by the unknown composers is inferior to that of Josquin. Like Cicero, Josquin was a model of perfection, especially in Germany in the 1530s and 1540s. Josquin's music was particularly important in the early sixteenth century because, unlike the situation in literature, no music had survived from antiquity to serve as a model for Renaissance composers. The term imitatio serves a useful function as long as one qualifies the type of imitatio as being student emulation, as in the motets Levavi oculos and Nunc dimittis, or homage of a certain kind.

Works: Anonymous: Levavi oculos; Nunc dimittis.

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Daniel Bertram

Variations, which often use borrowed material, fall into the following seven historical categories: (1) Renaissance and Baroque variations on secular songs, dances, and arias; (2) Renaissance and Baroque variations on plainchant and chorales; (3) the Baroque basso ostinato variation; (4) the ornamental variation of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; (5) the nineteenth-century character variation; (6) the nineteenth-century basso ostinato variation; and (7) the free variation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Variations also fall into two basic plans, structural and free. Variations in categories (1) through (6) above followed the older structural plan, in which basic relationships of parts, sections, and phrases in the theme were preserved in the variations. By the early twentieth century, variations were constructed in two ways: following the structural plan and following the newer free plan, in which basic relationships of sections and phrases in the theme were disregarded. Generally, the most conspicuous elements of themes most emphatically demand change. Rhythm is the most conspicuous element, and thus must be varied the most. The melodic subject is second most conspicuous. The harmonico-structural frame is least conspicuous, was historically generally retained, and therefore may be considered as the substance of the theme. All variations are committed to the task of securing unity within a manifold. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there was a growing trend toward the use of original themes. Renaissance and Baroque themes were frequently borrowed from dances and secular songs. In the ornamental variation, borrowed themes continued to include the dance piece and the popular song and also included the operatic excerpt. In the nineteenth-century character variation, neither the secular song nor the operatic aria were important sources of borrowed themes. Instead, composers used instrumental works (such as suites and sonatas) and instrumentally conceived themes from members of their own circles. Despite the trend toward the use of original themes, borrowed themes, including folk songs, still persisted in the free variation.

Index Classifications: General, 1500s, 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Daniel Bertram

Following Dvorák's lead, Gershwin and Ives both evoked the popular spirit of American music. They validated borrowing from the American folk tradition and indigenous jazz. Gershwin transformed old musical clichés with a slight twist of originality. In Rhapsody in Blue he borrowed from Liszt in terms of form and style, borrowed from jazz the way Liszt borrowed from Hungarian gypsy music in his rhapsodies, and borrowed from Tchaikovsky, especially in the slow movement. Ives borrowed from popular dance hall tunes, hymns and patriotic anthems, brass band marches, country dances, and songs. Like Gershwin, he borrowed from the jazz idiom; also like Gershwin he fused his borrowings from American popular and folk traditions with his borrowings from the traditions and styles of European art music.

Works: Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (150-152), Cuban Overture (152-53), Porgy and Bess (153-55); Ives: Song for the Harvest Season (159), Second Piano Sonata ("Concord") (162, 164-65).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Daniel Bertram

Busoni's character was full of dualities, including those of musical tastes, careers (composing vs. pianistic), centuries, and hybrid vs. original works. He edited and transcribed copious works by Bach, Liszt, Mozart, and other composers, including Beethoven, Chopin, and Mendelssohn (pp. 177-294). He was attracted to Bach's art of counterpoint and structure, Liszt's piano writing, and Mozart's clarity and conciseness of form. Busoni's transcriptions manifest a synthesis of his past and future as he believed it to be (pp. 295-313). His attitudes toward transcription are tied to his ideas on notation and the "Unity of Music." He regarded transcribing as an independent art; he created totally new sounds on the piano and gave the art of transcribing a new freedom and dignity.

Works: Busoni: arrangement of Bach's Four Duets for Piano (185-86), "interpretation" of Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue (188-89), collection and completion of Bach's Fantasia, Adagio, and Fugue (189-90), Fantasia after J.S. Bach for Piano (201-204), Prelude, Fugue, and Figured Fugue after J.S. Bach's WTC (204); Liszt-Busoni: Andantino Capriccioso, Etude No. 2 after Paganini's Caprice (216), free arrangement of the Theme and Variations on Paganini's Etude No. 6 (220-224), arrangement of the Spanish Rhapsody for piano and orchestra (228-230); Mozart-Liszt-Busoni: completion of the Figaro Fantasy (235), Don Juan Fantasie (227-28); Busoni: two-piano arrangement of Mozart's Fantasy for mechanical organ (253-55), two-piano transcription of the overture to Mozart's Magic Flute (255-56), piano solo arrangement of the Andantino from Mozart's Piano Concerto, K. 271 (256-57), piano arrangement of the fugue from String Quartet K. 546 (265).

Index Classifications: 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Daniel Bertram

Stravinsky's ballet Petrouchka contains authentic Russian folk melodies. Five can be identified based on counterparts in four Russian folk song collections (listed in a bibliography). Ironically, the familiar composers Tchaikovsky, Balakirev, and Rimsky-Korsakov produced less authentic folk song anthologies than did scholars such as Melgunov, Istomin and Diutsch, and Lineva, since the composers were tempted to "improve" on the originals. Stravinsky did not necessarily consult these collections, but these models facilitate understanding and acknowledgment of borrowings. The songs Stravinksy used come from both Christian and pagan traditions. The "Song of the Volochebniki," traditionally sung at Easter, occurs in the first and fourth tableaux and is found in the Rimsky-Korsakov collection. The rare "Song for St. John's Eve," from the Istomin and Diutsch collection, occurs in the first tableau. The fourth tableau also contains "Ia vechor moloda," a popular dance song found in the Rimsky-Korsakov collection, as well as "O Snow Now Thaws" (about soup and love) from the Prokunin-Tchaikovsky collection and "Akh vy sieni, moi sieni" (about a happy bride) from the Swerkoff collection.

Works: Stravinsky: Petrushka.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Brian Phillips, Daniel Bertram

Harold Farberman's production of The Celestial Country permits objective comparisons between Ives and Horatio Parker. The adversarial relationship between them has probably been exaggerated. In this work, Ives emulated and borrowed from his teacher's oratorio, Hora novissima, in part because Parker was a paragon of musical success. Ascribing realistic motivations to Ives enlarges the stature of his later achievements, rather than diminishing them. At the same time it helps to restore the damaged reputation of Parker.

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Daniel Bertram