Fate Tapping on the Floor

This post follows a particularly satisfying find, as it sheds light on a popular work from an obscure place while proving an undeniable comparison to the ear. The finale to Beethoven's familiar fifth symphony appears to have been inspired, in part, from a ballet by Jean-Georges Noverre.

Having arrived in Paris in 1778, a young Mozart is commissioned to provide the incidental music to Les Petites Riens [K.Anh.10], a forgotten ballet with choreography by Jean-Georges Noverre. The comparison I make here is to the Overture, though Mozart provided twelve short movements (additional appropriations were not found). Following this, I have included a second collection of comparisons, all of which fall within Mozart's oeuvre and bear close dates of composition, a span of some four or five years. This evidences Mozart's referring to a recent work in composing his 16th piano sonata and subsequently the Concerto in C.

Please note in the following that I have drawn a comparison between two pairs of instances between the clips provided. To be exact, the Symphony in C should be compared "from beginning" with the Overture "from beginning," after which one should compare the former "at 0:30" with the latter "at 0:04." In the "As a bonus..." I have done nearly the same but with the difference that the Concerto in C and Sonata in C each refer to different instances in a third clip, that of the March.

Two Respective Comparisons

Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 in C minor (1808)
[from beginning; second example beginning at 0:30]

Heard here...
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Overture from Les Petites Riens (1778)
[from beginning; second example beginning at 0:04]

As a bonus...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major (1785)

[beginning at 0:13]

&

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major (1783)

[beginning at 1:07]

Heard here...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – March No. 3 in C major (1782)

[beginning at 0:05; second example beginning at 0:37]

★

This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

Flora and Arnolfini, Chatterton and Satan

These images, particularly the Dore, have been modified for the sake of comparison. One is reminded of how frequently the painter looks to art of a previous era for models in producing a new work. In these paintings, it is not stylistic similarity which is worthy of examination but the degree to which the younger artist adopts the pose of the other's subject, and, to a lesser extent, a strong thematic resemblance, such as that of fertility in example one, death in two, boredom in three.

The tilted, egg-like shape of the head in the Arnolfini portrait and the rotation of the torso, hand on belly clutching cloth, mirrored closely in Rembrandt's depiction of Flora; the dissected square window top-center in the Chatterton scene known to Wyeth, faced straight-out, beneath the ledge of which is tucked the subject's hip with crescent right arm; the universal pose, hand supporting head from one side (dwelling, not thinking), brow and shoulders set low with a distant, concentrated stare borrowed from Dürer.

First Comparison

Rembrandt van Rijn – "Flora" (c. 1650s)

Seen here... 
Jan van Eyck – "The Arnolfini Portrait" (1434, right)

Second Comparison

Andrew Wyeth – "Overflow" (1978)

Seen here...

Henry Wallis – "The Death of Chatterton" (1856, top)
 

Third Comparison

Gustave Dore – "Satan" from Dante's Inferno (1861)

Seen here...

Albrecht Dürer – "Melancholia I" (1514, right) 

★

[Art Edition] This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

Chopin Plays Chopin (as does Scriabin)

This is post is dedicated to Chopin's recycling within his own oeuvre. As always, the page is divided into sections of vis-à-vis comparisons. The majority of comparisons found derive from Chopin's earliest works, such as the rondo, his first publication. It is remarkable to note how such relatively amateur material was excerpted and assimilated into, respectively, the autumnal fourth ballade. Like Beethoven, the composer's early explorations are later mined for their particularly good bits and put to use in mature works.

In the case of the seldom heard first piano sonata, so much of later compositions comes to the listener's attention that it is impossible to separate out each instance without careful comparisons of the scores. In the same vein, it is worthwhile to keep aware of appropriations other than those pointed out in this and subsequent posts. It is my experience that such a piece, in which reference is made to the work of another or the same composer, is likely to contain other such material, if perhaps to a less explicit degree. Referring to my previous post, the Mendelssohn concerto, for instance, contains a handful of other (rather uninspired) borrowings which I do not mention for reasons of difficulty, as suggested above.

First Comparison

Ballade No. 4 in F minor (1843)
[beginning at 8:13]

Heard here...
Rondo in C minor (1825)
[beginning at 4:29]

Second Comparison

Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor (1830)

[beginning at 19:46]

Heard here...

Rondo à la Krakowiak in F major (1828)

[beginning at 3:53 and repeated throughout]

As a bonus...

Scriabin – Prelude No. 16 in B-flat minor (c. 1896)

[from beginning]

Heard here...

Chopin – Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor (1839)

[from beginning]

★

This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

Ballet of the Chicken Scratch

To poke at what may be the worst popular composition in the classical keyboard repetoire, Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" appears to borrow from the work of at least one of his contemporaries. In the fifth movement, entitled "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks," a passage from Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 can be clearly heard. My personal opinion is that Mussorgsky lifted a simple theme for a trite composition, but that is another post.

It is worth pointing out how strongly the second movement of the Mendelssohn concerto (not featured in the clip) resembles that of Chopin's first concerto, which borrows from both the second and third movements. The two were begun in the same year, 1830, Mendelssohn finishing in 1831. The two composers knew each other and the admiration was mutual. I have hyperlinked the text to one instance where the similarity I mention can be heard, but there are others and one can compare the movements entirely, if desired. Pay careful attention to the respective orchestras.

Modest Mussorgsky – "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" (1874)
[beginning at 0:37]

Heard here...
Felix Mendelssohn – Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor (1831)
[beginning at 13:54]

★

This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

Passing Through a Mantel

Despite its rotated point-of-view, Balthus' painting closely resembles that of Magritte's in a number of details. In the Balthus: the white mantel with new embellishments retains its frontal view, thus appearing cubist, the centerpiece, changed from clock to blue vase, the square patterning of the baseboards, and, not least of all, the large, gold-framed mirror.

It may be interesting, furthermore, to note the relationship of the paintings, were one to place them together, the female figure and train confronting one another in a quasi-sexual manner. Balthus, however, has conceded to lower his mantel, so that his lady can see the reflection which is given in neither of the two works.

Balthus – "Figure in Front of a Mantel" (1955)

Seen here...
René Magritte – "Time Transfixed" (1938)

★

[Art Edition] This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

The Return of Mantegna

Slightly modified for the sake of comparison, one easily identifies Mantegna's "Dead Christ" in this screencap from the decade-old "The Return," their most striking similarity, other than the iconic foreshortening, being the turned down hands. Moreover, the work is something of a key needed for an otherwise vague, loosely mythological plot. It concerns the tension between two brothers and a long-absent father. The Mantegna connection refashions the stranger as Christlike, who teaches the children difficult lessons and will die for their sins of suspicion and distrust.

Note, general agreement among art historians indicates that the women depicted in the painting are likely later additions, which helps support Zvyagintsev's cinematography.

Andrey Zvyagintsev – "The Return" (2003, left)

Seen here...
Andrea Mantegna – "Dead Christ" (c. 1480s)

★

[Art Edition] This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

The Titan and Brother John

Instantly recognizable, this well-known appropriation by Mahler uses the French nursery rhyme "Frère Jacques" in a minor key, with added note or two. The theme recovers its original bouyancy when, so the symphony's program goes, a funeral procession of forest animals realize their deceased is none other than the hunter.

Gustave Mahler –  Symphony No. 1 in D major (1888)
[beginning at 0:18]

Heard here...
"Frère Jacques" (c. 18th century)
[from beginning]

★

This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

Sonata for Arpeggione

This rollicking theme, what is probably better described as a mood, of Schubert's sonata in A minor, composed for friend and arpeggione virtuoso Vincenz Schuster, appears more than once in Beethoven's first sonata for violin, however briefly. The piece is itself more frequently performed on violin, as it is in the clip provided below. Listen carefully to the piano in the D major sonata, comparing it with that of the accompanist in the Schubert.

Franz Schubert – Arpeggione Sonata in A minor (1824)
[beginning at 1:31]

Heard here...

Ludwig van Beethoven – Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major (1798)
[beginning at 11:12] 

★

This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

Le Prélude

Not easily detected, nevertheless I find enough of the prelude in Liszt's composition to warrant this post. He was, of course, a great admirer of Chopin's work. I've come across nothing in Chopin's work specifically resembling that of anyone but the composer himself, who on occasion quotes his own nocturne or waltz. I will try to include examples of such in future posts.

Franz Liszt – Grand Concert Solo, S. 176 (1851)
[beginning at 1:17]

Heard here...
Frederick Chopin – Prelude Op. 28 No. 4, in E minor (1839)
[from beginning]

★

This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

Pathétique Old and New

A well-known appropriation by no means unique to this blog. I did, however, notice it before Robert Levin made mention of it in a lecture on Mozart.

Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor 'Pathétique' (1798)
[from beginning]

Heard here...
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor (1784)
[beginning at 0:08]

★

This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

The Allegro and the Scherzo

A performance of Liszt's transcription of the seventh symphony for piano may be useful to hear, in addition. Although Beethoven was not one to borrow frequently from the work of other composers, his most well-known series of variations, the Diabelli Variations, is based on an original waltz by Anton Diabelli.

Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 7 in A major (1812) 
[from beginning]

Heard here...
Domenico Scarlatti – Keyboard Sonata in F major, K. 525 (1757)
[from beginning] 

★

This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.

Theme from Schindler's List

Mahler, who was himself a Jew until 1897, regularly included elements of klezmer in his symphonies, most notably in the third movement of his Symphony No. 1, so it comes as no surprise that Williams would look to such a source while composing the soundtrack to Schindler's List. Despite being not a large appropriation, the act per se is convincing given the certainty we can have regarding the Tchaikovsky trio's inclusion, which may be more clearly heard.

First Comparison

John Williams – "Theme from Schindler's List" (1993)
[ending at 0:20]

Heard here...

Pyotr Tchaikovsky – Piano Trio in A minor (1882)
[beginning at 0:05]

Second Comparison

John Williams – "Theme from Schindler's List" (1993)
[beginning at 0:15]

Heard here...
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major (1906)
[beginning around 5:45]

★

This blog is intended as a space within which I will share my findings related to classical music appropriation. Many composers in the past have quoted, borrowed, and recycled the themes and melodies of others. Having already noted many such instances, I hope to include the more interesting, and convincing, examples herein.