Bacchanalian Marginalia

The image of Turner's painting used here is a hand-colored reproduction by engraver John Cousen (b. 1804), identical to the original in terms of basic composition. I found this reproduction of Turner's painting makes for more clearly discernible comparisons, and so have elected to use it over the original. It is compared with the much earlier work by Titian which it resembles merely in the posing of its figures. As such, Turner's version of the episode of Bacchus and Ariadne on the island of Naxos has no amount of the "sacred conversation" so abundant in Renaissance painting. The figures appear artificially posed and totally bereft of any awareness of one another's presence, whereas the whole of Titan's work is comprehensively unified.

J. M. W. Turner – "Bacchus and Ariadne" (1840)

Seen here...
Titian – "Bacchus and Ariadne" (1523)

A Comparison of Details

A faun and his dog. Note his arched stance and brown cloth over left shoulder.

Compare the falling sweep of Ariadne's dress, posed right foot, and position of hands.

Noting similarities in the Bacchi, see Turner's use of the cymbal-player's pose.

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[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.

Chasing Themes

This post concerns the work of Robert Schumann. I have colored the time markers in order to more clearly indicate between which two points one is asked to make a comparison. For instance, the red time stamp of 2:06 in the Schumann Concerto asks one to compare what one hears with that of 3:02 in the Bach Concerto. In this fashion, the remaining three video clips are each compared with the same blue time stamp of 1:48, which refers to the Schumann. In Another case..., the final two video clips are to be compared in turns with the same first magenta time stamp of 0:30-0:48. 

Unbelievably, the only recording of the third of Liszt's Soirées de Vienne available on YouTube is in the form of a piano roll. These pieces were themselves constructed on backs of various waltzes by Schubert, Liszt expanding the material greatly. However, I could not identify in the waltzes which are said to constitute the third soirée that material heard at the time stamp and therefore should be considered Liszt's invention. Furthermore, because the soireés and the concerto appear to have been composed at nearly the same time, I hesitate to say which came first and who borrowed from whom. In the cases remaining, the dates of composition are sufficiently separated so as to claim precedence.

Four Respective Comparisons: The First

Robert Schumann – Piano Concerto in A minor (1845)
[beginning at 2:06 and 1:48, respectively]

Heard here...
Johann Sebastian Bach – Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 in D minor (c. 1739)
[beginning at 3:02]

Four Respective Comparisons: The Rest

Heard here...

Franz Liszt – Soirée de Vienne No. 3, S.427 (c. 1846-52)

[beginning at 7:31]

And here...

Felix Mendelssohn – Rondo Capriccioso in E major (c. 1828-30)

[beginning at 4:55]

And here...
Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat major (1800)
[beginning at 24:23]

Another case...

Robert Schumann – Novelette No. 2 in D major (1838)

[beginning at 0:30-0:48]

Heard here...

Franz Schubert – String Quartet No. 14 in D minor (1824)

[from beginning]

And here...

Ludwig van Beethoven – Violin Sonata No. 9 "Kreutzer" (1804)

[beginning at 35:44]

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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.

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.