Klarinet Archive - Posting 000048.txt from 1997/05

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: "Stolen" music
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 18:17:04 -0400

On Thu, 1 May 1997, David B. Niethamer wrote:

> I always thought the one bit of original music John Williams wrote was
> the Jaws theme. While it is similar to Dvorak 9, it bears an even more
> striking resemblance to Prokofiev's "Battle on the Ice" from Alexander
> Nevsky - plagiarized, even.
>
> But Stravinsky said that good composers borrow from other composers -
> great composers steal!

Since we're on the subject of stolen music, are any of these
correlations authenticated? Is the Star Wars theme *really*
from Manon Lescaut? What about Jaws and Dvorak/Prokofiev?
When I first saw the movie E.T., I nearly jumped out of my
seat at the end, when the spaceship flew away and The Firebird
started blaring out of the theater speakers. Granted, it
wasn't *really* The Firebird, but it almost seems impossible
that Williams did that all by himself, if you know what I mean.

Neil

   
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