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]

★

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.

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.

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.