Musical Borrowing
An Annotated Bibliography

Contributions by Eytan Uslan

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[+] Baker, David. "From The Composer's Perspective: Three Saxophone Concertos." International Jazz Archives Journal 1 (Fall 1993): 104-13.

In a discussion of three of his saxophone concertos, David Baker describes Ellingtones: A Fantasy for Saxophone and Orchestra as "an attempt to capture the spirit and feel of Duke Ellington." In the first movement, the piece features quotations of the A sections of Ellington's Caravan,Drop Me Off in Harlem, and Minnehaha, while fragments from other songs are used as linking materials. The second movement uses Ellington's All Too Soon not only as one of the themes but also as music heard underneath the saxophone solo. Movement III introduces Ellington's It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing in the introduction. Baker describes his treatment of the theme as "Morse-code-like." He then presents six variations on the borrowed tune's ground bass, which he refers to as a passacaglia.

Works: Baker: Ellingtones: A Fantasy for Saxophone and Orchestra.

Sources: Ellington: Caravan (106), Drop Me Off in Harlem (106), Minnehaha (106), All Too Soon (106), It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing (107).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Barbera, C. André. "George Gershwin and Jazz." In The Gershwin Style, ed. Wayne Schneider, 175-206. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

In a study of George Gershwin's historical relationship with jazz, it is suggested that the composer's songs continue to be attractive to jazz musicians because of their rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, and formal characteristics. For instance, Gershwin tended to repeat notes in his melodies, allowing for the performer to embellish harmonically and rhythmically, as was exemplified by Billy Holiday's recording of Oh, Lady Be Good! In other instances, Gershwin songs are favored because their harmonies can be separated from their melodies, as in Nice Work If You Can Get It. Songs like Somebody Loves Me and The Man I Love contain repeated four-measure phrases, a characteristic musical succinctness that improvisers have long found inviting.

Works: George Gershwin: How Long Has This Been Going On? (188, 200), I Got Rhythm (188, 190, 201), They Can't Take That Away From Me (188-90, 200), A Foggy Day (188-90, 198, 201), Fascinating Rhythm (188,199), Oh, Lady Be Good! (189-90, 193-94, 196-97, 200), Nice Work If You Can Get It (190, 195-96, 198, 201), Bess, You Is My Woman Now (193, 200), The Main I Love (193-94, 197, 200-201), But Not For Me (193), Summertime (195,197, 201), Embraceable You (197, 199, 200-201), Somebody Loves Me (197-98, 200-201), Liza (198), Someone To Watch Over Me (198), Soon (198), Our Love is Here To Stay (198), 'S Wonderful (200).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz, Popular

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Berlin, Edward A. King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Within a study of Scott Joplin and his compositions, several cases of borrowing or modeling are explored. The most imitated Joplin piece was Maple Leaf Rag, his biggest hit. Also imitated to some extent were Elite Syncopations,Palm Leaf Rag, and Original Rags. Many imitations were little more than plagiarisms. Joplin's imitations of himself, however, were brilliant. Gladiolous Rag,Rose Leaf Rag, and Cascades preserve what Joplin apparently felt were attractive structural elements of the Maple Leaf Rag. Also noteworthy is the possibility of Irving Berlin's Alexander's Ragtime Band borrowing from Joplin's Treemonisha.

Works: Settle: X.L. Rag (51, 68); Etter: Whoa! Maud (52, 69); Butler: The Tantalizer (67); Donaldson: Latonia Rag (68); Nonnahs: That's Goin' Some (68); Tournade: Easy Money (113); Scott: A Summer Breeze (113); Morton: Fuzzy Wuzzy Rag (113-14); Verge: Who You Heiffer (131); Joplin: Cascades (136-38), Gladiolous Rag (169-72), Rose Leaf Rag (169-72); Berlin: Alexander's Ragtime Band (210-12).

Sources: Joplin: Original Rags (50-51), Maple Leaf Rag (67-69, 136, 152, 169-70, 179, 182-83), The Entertainer (108-10), A Breeze From Alabama (110-12), Elite Syncopations (113-14), Palm Leaf Rag (130-32), Treemonisha (210-12).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Berrett, Joshua. "Louis Armstrong and Opera." The Musical Quarterly 76 (Summer 1992): 216-41.

Louis Armstrong's prolifically wide-ranging tastes regarding art and music find their outlet in his incorporation of operatic fragments in his improvised solos. Armstrong was inclined to imitate operatic gestures such as recitative style, as exemplified by his solo in Blue Again. Armstrong also played operatic cadenza-like passages in certain breaks, such as in I Can't Give You Anything But Love (234). In other instances, Armstrong quoted operatic themes, such as Verdi's Rigoletto quartet and "Vesti la giubba" from Pagliacci. By quoting Pagliacci and Rigoletto, he was showing that his artistic influences were not limited to the pantheon of New Orleans cornet virtuosos of the early twentieth century. Armstrong did not distinguish between "high" and "low" art; it was all jazz to him, and his quotations of well-known music are a demonstration of this belief.

Works: Louis Armstrong: Cornet/Trumpet solos on Araby (220), Blue Again (222, 235), New Orleans Stomp (223), Dinah (223-24, 234, 236), Tiger Rag (225), New Tiger Rag (225); Armstrong and Bechet: Jazz improvisations on Kansas City Man Blues (228), Texas Moaner Blues (229); Louis Armstrong: Cornet/Trumpet solos on Potato Head Blues (229); Armstrong and Bechet: Jazz improvisations on Cake Walking Babies from Home (230, 234); Louis Armstrong: Cornet/Trumpet solos on West End Blues (231-36); Armstrong and Bechet: Jazz improvisations on Mandy Make Up Your Mind (232), Early Every Morn (233); Louis Armstrong: Cornet/Trumpet solos on Beau Koo Jack (235), Once in a While (235), Can't Give You Anything But Love (235).

Sources: Verdi: Rigoletto (218, 222-23, 231-32); Gounod: Faust (220); Ponchielli: Dance of the Hours (221), Gershwin: Lady Be Good! (223); Sindig: Rustle of Spring (225); Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (225); Porter Steele: High Society (227, 232); Bizet: Carmen (231); Eva Dell'Acqua: Villanelle (232-33); Suppé: Poet and Peasant Overture (233).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan, Marc Geelhoed

[+] Block, Adrienne Fried. "Amy Beach's Music on Native American Themes." American Music 8 (Summer 1900): 141-66.

Amy Beach composed five works using Native American music as themes. Her usage reflected an interest, shared by MacDowell, Dvořák, Farwell and others, in developing an American musical idiom. In her Indianist works, Beach integrated source tunes through dissonance, chromaticism, drones, and other devices, facilitating her development of a unique musical language.

Works: Beach: Eskimos, Op. 64 (148-50), An Indian Lullaby, Op. 57, No. 3 (149), From Blackbird Hills: An Omaha Tribal Dance, Op. 83 (150-52), Trio, Op. 150 (152-54), String Quartet, Op. 89 (154-63).

Sources: Native American tunes transcribed by Boas in The Central Eskimo (144, 149-50, 152, 156, 160); Beach: The Returning Hunter, Op. 64, No. 2 (152-53).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Brown, Robert L. "Classical Influences on Jazz." Journal of Jazz Studies 3 (Spring 1976): 19-35.

From the earliest beginnings of jazz, classical music has played a role in its development. Early and pre-jazz musicians were known to have performed classical music publicly, and others, such as Scott Joplin, studied with European teachers. As jazz moved into the twentieth century, the borrowing of classical music instrumentation became prominent. In the 1950s, jazz musicians employed fugal writing, as exemplified by Dave Brubeck's Fugue on Bop Themes, among other works. In the 1960s, twelve-tone rows were utilized, as exemplified by Bill Evans's T.T.T. Also, the procedure known as "jazzin' the classics" has been a constant feature within jazz tradition, from Jelly Roll Morton's recording of a version of the Misere from Il Trovatore through Joe Walsh's synthesized arrangement of Ravel's Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty. An appendix includes selective annotated discography.

Works: Brubeck: Fugue on Bop Themes (22); Lewis: Vendome (23), Three Windows (23), Concorde (23), Versailles (23); Hampton: Fugue (23); Williams: Prelude and Fugue (23); Ferguson: Passacaglia and Fugue (23); Johnson: Music for Brass (23); Schuller: Abstraction (23); Bank: Equation Part I (23); De Franco: 12-Tone Blues (23); Giuffre: Densities I (23); Farberman: . . . Then Silence (23); Smith: Elegy for Eric (23); Schifrin: The Ritual of Sound (23); Coltrane: Miles Mode (24); Evans: T.T.T. (24-25); Heckman: The Twelves (26); Waller: Russian Fantasy (26); Morton/Verdi: Misere (26-27); Gershwin: The Man I Love as performed by Paul Whiteman (27); Ellington: Ebony Rhapsody (27); Walsh/Ravel: Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty (30); Ginastera: Toccata as performed by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (30).

Sources: Liszt: Rigoletto Concert Paraphrase (26); Rossini: William Tell Overture (26); Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite (26); Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp Minor (26); Verdi: Il Trovatore (26-27); Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (27); MacDowell: To a Wild Rose (27); Rimsky-Korsakov: Song of India (27); Wagner: Tristan and Isolde (27); Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (27), Passacaglia in C (27); Stravinsky: Rite of Spring (28, 30); Ginastera: Toccata (30); Ravel: Mother Goose Suite (30).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Carver, Philip. "The Metamorphosis of a Jazz Standard." Jazz Research Papers (1996): 18-31.

As a well-constructed song, Cole Porter's What Is This Thing Called Love? became a popular source tune for jazz musicians. James P. Johnson's 1930 recording displays stride and boogie-woogie patterns, and only slightly modifies the chord progression. More drastic alterations are exhibited by Clifford Brown and Sonny Rollins in their 1956 recording with the Max Roach Quartet. In this case, the tune was highly ornamented and expanded, non chord-tones were emphasized during solos, and the tempo was twice as fast as prior versions. Brief analyses of treatments by Sidney Bechet, James "Bubber" Miley, Ella Fitzgerald, John Hardee, Bill Evans, Marian MacPartland, and Thad Jones attest to the variety of ways in which jazz musicians developed different perspectives on What Is This Thing Called Love?

Works: Porter: What Is This Thing Called Love?

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Gajewski, Ferdinand. "Lizst's Polish Rhapsody." Journal of the American Liszt Society 31 (January-June 1992): 34-37.

Liszt's Salve Polonia, published in 1884, has long languished in obscurity, overshadowed by the composer's Hungarian rhapsodies. This Polish rhapsody, however, deserves more attention, especially for its incorporation of two Polish national themes. First, Liszt placed the Polish national hymn, Boze, cos Polske in the opening Andante pietoso section. In the second and final section, the Polish national anthem Jeszce Polska nie zgiela appears. Liszt had already composed much of the music from Salve Polonia in his unsuccessful efforts to complete an oratorio, Die Legende vom heiligen Stanislaus.

Works: Liszt: Salve Polonia (34, 36).

Sources: Kurpinsky: Boze, cos Polske (34-36); Oginsky: Jeszce Polska nie zgiela (34-35).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Jacobson, Joshua R. "A Possible Influence of Traditional Chant On a Synagogue Motet of Salomone Rossi." Musica Judaica 10 (1987-88): 52-58.

Prior Salomone Rossi research has suggested that the composer was in no way influenced by the music of the Jewish liturgy, but simply composed his music for the synagogue in the musical language of contemporary church music composers. However, an exception might well be made in the case of Rossi's motet Elohim hasivenu. The canto part to the motet shares a notable melodic likeness to the Elohim hashivenu chant used in the Italian rite. Rossi added melismas to the chant in order to tailor the melody to the motet style.

Works: Rossi: Elohim hasivenu.

Sources: Jewish Liturgy, Italian Rite: Elohim hasivenu, Psalm 80, verse 4 (52-56); Lasso: Cum essem parvulus (57).

Index Classifications: 1600s

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Larson, Steve. "Dave McKenna's Performance of 'Have You Met Miss Jones?'" American Music 11 (Fall 1993): 283-315.

Jazz pianist Dave McKenna's recording of Rodgers and Hart's Have You Met Miss Jones? reveals clever improvisational strategies, procedures, and devices. For instance, throughout the multiple improvised choruses McKenna slowly expands in register, creating a sense of large-scale unity. In one instance, McKenna also borrows melodic material from the song How to Handle a Woman by Lerner and Loewe. McKenna also uses a "polymetric riff" and when returning to the "head," his restatement of the melody recollects salient features from the improvisation. McKenna's insertions of fragments of the melody within his improvised choruses reveal that in this case, the performer does not improvise simply over harmonic changes, but also keeps the original tune in mind.

Works: Rodgers/Hart: Have You Met Miss Jones? as performed by Dave McKenna.

Sources: Rodgers/Hart: Have You Met Miss Jones?; Lerner/Loewe: How to Handle a Woman (293).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Meckna, Michael. "Sacred and Secular America: Virgil Thomson's Symphony on a Hymn Tune." American Music 8 (Winter 1990): 465-76.

Virgil Thomson's Symphony on a Hymn Tune is based upon at least two hymn tunes: How Firm a Foundation and Jesus Loves Me. Thomson highlights the similarities of the two tunes and at the finale, they coalesce into For He's a Jolly Good Fellow. Thomson juxtaposed the clear A-major tonality of the hymns with newly composed passages in E-flat major, highlighting a dissonant tritone relationship. This procedure conveys a musical clash that symbolizes "dark forces at work in the New World."

Works: Thomson: Symphony on a Hymn Tune.

Sources: Bradbury: Jesus Loves Me (467-68, 470-73); Traditional: How Firm a Foundation (467-69, 471-73), For He's a Jolly Good Fellow (467, 473-74).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Nisbett, Robert F. "Louis Gruenberg's American Idiom." American Music (Spring 1985): 25-41.

Louis Gruenberg frequently borrowed musical characteristics from American jazz, spirituals, and folk songs. Often, he combined the melodic and rhythmic traits of his sources with procedures associated with art-music. For instance, Gruenberg combines imitative technique with ragtime rhythms in the "Fox-Trot" of his suite entitled Jazzberries. Likewise, he integrated Negro spirituals into his violin concerto. The composer's non-literal use of borrowed idioms differentiated him from his contemporaries, namely Aaron Copland and Roy Harris. Gruenberg's finest attribute is his keenly developed variation technique, displayed in the treatments of borrowed motives in Jazz-Suite, Violin Concerto, and other works.

Works: Gruenberg: Four Indiscretions, Op. 20 (26), The Daniel Jazz, Op. 21 (26, 31-34), Animals and Insects, Op. 22 (26), The Creation, Op. 21 (26-27), Jazzberries, Op. 25 (26, 34-36), Jazzettes, Op. 26 (26), Jazz-Suite, Op. 28 (26, 36-38), Emperor Jones, Op. 36 (26, 28), Americana Suite, Op. 48 (26, 28), Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 18 (28), Six Jazz Epigrams, Op. 30b (28-30), Polychromatics, Op. 16 (30), Concerto for Violin, Op. 47 (38-40).

Sources: Negro Spirituals: I'm A-Rollin (27), Steal Away to Jesus (27), Oh! Holy Lord (38), Reign Massa Jesus (38); Traditional: Arkansas Traveler (38), She'll Be Coming 'round the Mountain (38).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Orledge, Robert. "Satie and America." American Music 18 (Spring 2000): 78-102.

Instances of musical borrowing are identified within a study of Erik Satie's relationship with America and its music. Five works from 1900 through 1905 exhibit ragtime stylistic traits, and in Parade (1917), Irving Berlin's That Mysterious Rag is used as a rhythmic model. Borrowing also occurs in Musique d'Ameublement (1923), which uses a phrase resembling Sing a Song of Sixpence, the English nursery rhyme. This musical reference might have been Satie's method of indicating that his commission was easy to fulfill.

Works: Satie: Prélude de La Mort de Monsieur Mouche (80-82), La Diva de l'Empire (81), Le Piccadilly (81), Légende Californienne (82), Parade (84-85), Musique d'Ameublement (92-93).

Sources: Sing a Song of Sixpence (92-93); Berlin: That Mysterious Rag (84-85).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Patrick, James. "Charlie Parker and the Harmonic Sources of Bebop Composition: Thoughts on the Repertory of New Jazz in the 1940s." Journal of Jazz Studies 2 (1975): 3-23.

In bebop music, especially that of Charlie Parker, new compositions were created by composing new melodies to pre-existing chord progressions and forms. By analogy to contrafactum (the practice of fitting a new text to a pre-existing melody), which dates from the Middle Ages or earlier, this technique is called "melodic contrafact." The two most common songs or forms that provided the harmonic and formal material for contrafacts were George Gershwin's I Got Rhythm and the twelve bar blues. Many bebop contrafacts, like Parker's Ornithology,Perhaps, and Cool Blues, employed previously used improvisational "riffs" (short melodic-rhythmic passages). Pragmatic applications of the jazz contrafact include the "jam session," wherein musicians who did not regularly perform together would congregate and improvise on these familiar chord progressions, and recording sessions in which there was a very limited amount of time to record unrehearsed material. In addition, recording companies could avoid paying royalties to the composer of the source song because the chords of a song were not protected by copyright laws. Contrafacts and their harmonic innovations were an outgrowth of bebop ideology, which was characterized by Afro-centrism and emphasis on virtuosity.

Works: Bechet: Shag (3); Parker: Dexterity (3, 13), Ornithology (4, 17), Scrapple From the Apple (4, 13, 19), Now's the Time (4), Relaxin' at Camarillo (4), Klactoveedsedstene (4, 13), Billie's Bounce (4), The Jumpin' Blues (7), Perhaps (7-8), Cool Blues (8, 19); Gillespie: Dizzy Atmosphere (8), Salt Peanuts (9-10); Ellington: Cotton Tail (9); Sampson: Don't Be That Way (9), Carter: Pom Pom (10); Parker: Red Cross (12), Tiny's Tempo (12), Bongo Bop (13-14), Dewey Square (13), The Hymn (13), Bird of Paradise (13), Bird Feathers (13), Quasimodo (14-15), Parker/Gillespie: Moose the Mooche (17, 18), Yardbird Suite (17); Parker: Klaun Stance (18).

Sources: Gershwin: I Got Rhythm (3, 5, 8-13, 17); Kern: All the Things You Are (13, 18); Gershwin: Embraceable You (15); Kern: The Way You Look Tonight (18).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Scott Grieb, Eytan Uslan

[+] Plank, Steven E. "Mendelssohn and Bach: Some New Light on an Old Partnership." American Choral Review 32 (Winter/Spring 1990): 23-28.

The "Es ist genug" aria from Mendelssohn's Elijah uses the aria "Es ist vollbracht" from J. S. Bach's St. John Passion as a model. The model was likely chosen because of their similar dramatic purposes: Mendelssohn's aria contains Elijah's desperate plea to God for an end to his life, and "Es ist vollbracht" depicts Jesus' emotions while dying on the cross. Mendelssohn also borrowed Bach's structural scheme, applying stark contrasts between the lamentational A section and the vigorous B section. Also in the shadow of "Es ist vollbracht," "Es ist genug" contains obbligato writing for low strings. In a more specific sense, both arias use a prominent descending sixth in the opening statement, and both statements are followed by a diminished seventh chord on the downbeat. The similarities not only illustrate Mendelssohn's indebtedness to Bach, but Mendelssohn's implication of the theological commonalities between Elijah and the St. John Passion.

Works: Mendelssohn: Elijah (24-26).

Sources: Bach: St. John Passion (24-26).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan

[+] Wohlberg, Max. "The Music of the Synagogue as a Source of the Yiddish Folksong." Musica Judaica 14 (1999): 33-61.

Not only "stray motifs," but many entire Yiddish folksong melodies can be traced to Jewish liturgical music. Most of these folksongs are metrical and rhythmical although derived from motifs that were sung in the synagogue in an improvised manner free of steady meter. For instance, cantillation motifs from the Ashkenazic High Holiday Pentateuch appear in the folksong Ya-amod Reb Yehude. In some cases, the topic of the folk song is similar to the topic of the prayer source, as a folksong about the approach of winter borrows motifs from the autumn prayer for rain. Other folksongs do not borrow motifs, but use the synagogue modes. The synagogue mode known as the Ukranian-Dorian (G-A-Bb-C#-D-E-F) is used not only in prayers like Mi Sheberakh and Ov Horahamim, but also in folk songs like Dos Fertsente Yor.

Works: Folk Songs: Ya-Amod Reb Yehude (34), S'Yomert Peterburg (36), Akdomus (37), Alef, Indiks Est der Nogid (37), Af b'ri s'iz Nito Vos Tu Gebn (39), Tzvelf a Zeyger (40), Eli Tsiyon (40), Eliyahu Ha-Navi (44-45), Aye-le-lyu-leh (46), Dos Fertsente Yor (48).

Sources: Liturgy: Ashkenazic High Holiday Pentateuch (34), Kol Nidre (38), Geshem (39), Omar Rabbi Elozor (42), Bmeh Madlikim (42), Elu Devorim (42), Aimidah (43), B'fi Y'shorim (45), Mi Sheberakh (48), Ov Horahamim (48).

Index Classifications: General, 1900s

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan



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