Instances of Plagarism by Concert Composers

[indy4 152]

I often hear people mention in passing that well established concert composers have been stealing from each other for centuries, but these assertions rarely come with evidence. I'm very curious to hear some examples--thanks!

[Muad'Dib 1,514]

Stravinsky conciously took a lot of stuff from other composers, most of the times it was a deliberate reference or sometimes it just happened that both composers were referencing the same folk tune. Like these Russian folk themes, originally adapted by Rimsy-Korsakov and then re-arranged by Stravinsky for The Firebird:

There's a whole article here entitled Stravinsky's Firebird Borrowings, it's extremly interesting and thanks to it I discovered that wonderful Rimsy-Korsakov piece:

http://www.daanadmiraal.nl/Articles/StrawinskyFirebird.borrow.htm

I don't remember any more right now, but I'll sure post them as I regain my memory!

[indy4 152]

Thanks for posting! I look forward to reading and listening later today. I wouldn't really call using a folk song plagiarism, but it is still interesting. I thought firebird was completely original.

[ymenard 35]

You go to the store...

You buy this :
http://www.amazon.com/The-Rest-Noise-Listening-Twentieth/dp/0312427719

And you'll find hundreds of instances of this. Every composer pretty much did it, a lot of times during their life.

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

De Meij lifted a wonderful passage from Vaughan Williams' London Symphony for his own Lord of the Rings Symphony. It may in fact be my favourite bit in both works.

I seem to remember Bernstein's symphonies having several nods to Beethoven's; I recall hearing at least one for certain.

[crocodile 6,294]

Wasn't Edgar Varese's Arcana kind of a more avant garde take on Stravinsky's material from his ballets?

Karol