# Recycling Material



## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

In conjunction with the thread about similar music between different composers, I thought it might be interesting to explore some works where a composer quotes themselves. Here's the first that came to mind:

*Schubert*: Piano Sonata D. 537, Mvt. 2 & Sonata D. 959, Mvt. 4


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## HerlockSholmes (Sep 4, 2011)

Everything by Vivaldi quotes everything by Vivaldi.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

There you go, Poli...that's good stuff...geez, again though, something I have always heard and liked but am a current blank on! Oh, well, as I can't recall any at the moment...it's always cool when they 'quote' themselves within a piece...prime example, fourth movement of van Beethoven's 9th which brushes all three prior movements...something I absolutely love!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Mahler* does it all the time, esp. in his first 5 symphonies (which are sometimes called the _Wunderhorn _symphonies, referring to his song-cycle, aspects of which is also strongly present in these works).

I think his teacher *Bruckner* had this tendency as well, although I can't think of any specific examples.

*Shostakovich's* use of his DSCH motto "theme" in a number of his works is also like self-quotation to some degree (_Symphony #10, Cello Concerto #1, String Quartet #8_).

*Charles Ives* did quite a bit of recycling, sometimes wholus bolus. Eg. some movements of his _Piano Sonata #1_ exactly correspond with movements in his several "sets" for theatre or chamber orchestra. He also transcribed a number of his songs for chamber orchestra, & a lot of the tunes from his songs found their way into his chamber works proper (eg. the violin sonatas and his only piano trio).

Less directly, *Aaron Copland *reused a number of the traditional song tunes he incorporated into his ballet_ Appalachian Spring _in his later _Old American Songs_ for baritone solo and piano (or orchestra, it was later orchestrated).

*Edgard Varese *quotes his gigantic orchestral work _Ameriques _in one of his much shorter (5 minute) works, I think either (or both, cant remember) _Hyperprism_ or _Tuning Up _(the latter definitely, I think, a musical phrase surrounding the siren is basically the same as that often repeated in _Ameriques_).

That's what I can think of now, but I'll return if some other things come to my mind...


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I came across this similarity this week:

*Mendelssohn* A (listen to all of it, it's very pretty, but the quoted material is at 1:03):





B:


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Schumann quotes Kreisleriana in his 1st Symphony. 

I've also heard that Rachmaninow subtelly referred to his 2nd PC in the 3rd, but I mean that I've heard about it, not catched it myself. 

Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi is largely on recycled material, so are many other operas from that period, especially by Rossini.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

I sing Songs of a Wayfarer when I listen to Mahler 1.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Meaghan said:


> I sing Songs of a Wayfarer when I listen to Mahler 1.


Have you recorded that?

[hint]


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2011)

Berlioz and Prokofiev were both indefatigable recyclers. Many of Berlioz' pieces use bits of his early Mass--Symphony Fantastique, the Requiem, Benvenuto Cellini, the Te Deum, and so on. Many of Prokofiev's use bits from his Eugene Onegin--symphony 7, War and Peace, Bethrothal in a Monastery, and so on. Berlioz most famous tune, the idee fixe (well, the famous one of the two idee fixes) of Symphonie Fantastique comes from an early cantata, Herminie. Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet ballet includes one entire movement from his first symphony. And speaking of symphonies, both 3 and 4 are recyclings, of an opera and a ballet. And there are two different versions of no. 4 as well.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Baroque composers were amongst the biggest "recyclist" of them all. Sometimes this can be very helpful for musicologists trying to identify/confirm authorship of works. JS Bach, Handel for example were big recyclist who often due to the overwhelming amount of compositions demanded, reused earlier works. Thankfully, sometimes it's good for posterity that they did recycle so much. If Bach did not recycle his earlier instrumental solo concertos as harpsichord concertos, we would never have known about them. Someone described Handel's recycling/borrowing as "he takes one man's gems and polishes them into diamonds".


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I mentioned this in another thread, but at risk of being redundant, Brahms' Motet Opus 74, No. 1, is a recycling of his Missa Canonica.

I suppose techinically Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei is a recycling of his Adagio for Strings.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I think I read that *Beethoven* transcribed his string trios into string quintets. I read we don't know why he did it, it could've been just for the money, or maybe something else. Has anyone heard these? His quintets often come up in concerts here, I know people who've heard a few that way, but I myself haven't. I wonder which are considered "better" for want of another word across the board, the original trios or the "rehash" quintets?...


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