# Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery



## EDaddy (Nov 16, 2013)

Ok, I've got an idea. Just for fun...

Share examples of ways people (composers, musicians, artists and the like) have drawn from (or in some cases just plain ripped off) other influential composers, musicians, artists over the years.

Reference the original first, by using written and/or visual examples (i.e. photos, YouTube, etc..). Then follow it with the imitation or influenced version second. Heck, maybe even put a fun caption of your own along side of it. _Be creative!
_

Example:

Which music would you choose for _your_ temple of worship?...








Borodin?








Judas Priest?

Hmmmmm...

OR:

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery:

















This board is full of intelligent, creative people... Come on, let's have some fun!
BRING IT


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Dvorak made no bones about his debts to Brahms. His Slavonic Dances are an homage to Brahms' Hungarian Dances, and the finales to both composers' D major symphonies share a remarkable similarity of tone and structure.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Beethoven's Diabelli Variations are certainly an homage to Bach's Goldbergs (and in passing to Handel and Mozart as well). Certainly no ripping off here.


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2015)

One of my favorite homages ever:


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## CBD (Nov 11, 2013)

Kings Row theme (1942)





Star Wars theme (1977)


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

CBD said:


> Kings Row theme (1942)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


WOW! And since I need a few more characters, I'll even say it backwards. WOW!

I want to post these on Facebook for my fellow SF geeks.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Here's one I posted some time ago. Unfortunately I didn't anticipate the rules, so the imitator comes first, but you get the idea.






Not identical of course, but quite similar. And why not, if Shosty freely quotes Rossini and others too?


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2015)

Weston said:


> Here's one I posted some time ago. Unfortunately I didn't anticipate the rules, so the imitator comes first, but you get the idea.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And himself! Somehow I had never listened to the 2nd Piano Trio until last week... but as a fan of the 8th Quartet...well... you can imagine.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Since the distinction between emulation, imitation, and coincidence can sometimes get a bit murky, especially in the classical era where composers are working within a narrower harmonic vocabulary, I thought it'd be more interesting to post an example of a blatant rip-off(as opposed to arguing that one work is inspired by another simply because one theme is based on the same triad or scale). I actually posted the original second(thought it was more effective that way):






compared to...


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Mendelssohn's Elijah Overture, opening with a blatant rip-off of the Jaws theme.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

nathanb said:


> One of my favorite homages ever:


I'm at 2'00" and don't have 20 more to spare. When does the homage part begin?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The sincerest form of plagiarism:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

A pretty obvoious case.

Britten, Sanctus from the War Requiem, check at 2:22:





Horner, score to Troy, check at 1:14


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> I'm at 2'00" and don't have 20 more to spare. When does the homage part begin?


Patience is a virtue. I was hoping for something around the 4'33" mark, but no, at around 2'30" there does clearly emerge a passage that the composer intended as homage to *Mendelssohn's* _Ein Sommernachtstraum_ Op 61.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

^I missed it somehow. I'll try again this evening.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Sibelius - Night Ride and Sunrise





Peter Maxwell Davies - Orkney Wedding with Sunrise


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

TalkingHead said:


> Patience is a virtue. I was hoping for something around the 4'33" mark, but no, at around 2'30" there does clearly emerge a passage that the composer intended as homage to *Mendelssohn's* _Ein Sommernachtstraum_ Op 61.


Patience also wastes a lot of time. Thanks. Think I'll skip this one.


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## EDaddy (Nov 16, 2013)

Good one, CBD! Ever noticed how much the Storm Troopers Theme sounds like Holt's The Planets, Op. 32: I. Mars, the Bringer of War?

Oops! Forgot to reply with quote. 

Correction: It is Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights where I hear likeness to The Imperial March (which I incorrectly referred to as the Storm Trooper Theme), not so much Holst's Mars. It is the score during the lead up to the trench run in Star Wars where Op. 32: I. Mars, the Bringer of War's influence can be heard the most. That, and the Tantive IV scene.


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## EDaddy (Nov 16, 2013)

Becca said:


> Sibelius - Night Ride and Sunrise
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Undeniable influence there. Great example!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Becca said:


> Sibelius - Night Ride and Sunrise
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks, Becca. This is Maxwell Davies on holiday: great tunes (are they traditional or original?), lively rhythms, twinkle-eyed humor - and that bagpipe, barbaric ecstasy! After a grim session of Schoenberg string quartets there's nothing lovelier than a trip back to music's roots in song and dance.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Woodduck said:


> Thanks, Becca. This is Maxwell Davies on holiday: great tunes (are they traditional or original?), lively rhythms, twinkle-eyed humor - and that bagpipe, barbaric ecstasy! After a grim session of Schoenberg string quartets there's nothing lovelier than a trip back to music's roots in song and dance.


I don't find the Schoenberg quartets particularly grim at all, and all of them have dance-like movements (even if the Second's scherzo is a danse macabre) and lyrical melodies.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

messiaen





takemitsu doing messiaen


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## CBD (Nov 11, 2013)

EDaddy said:


> Good one, CBD! Ever noticed how much the Storm Troopers Theme sounds like Holt's The Planets, Op. 32: I. Mars, the Bringer of War?
> 
> Oops! Forgot to reply with quote.
> 
> Correction: It is Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights where I hear likeness to The Imperial March (which I incorrectly referred to as the Storm Trooper Theme), not so much Holst's Mars. It is the score during the lead up to the trench run in Star Wars where Op. 32: I. Mars, the Bringer of War's influence can be heard the most. That, and the Tantive IV scene.


Also, the establishing shot of Tatooine and the part where Solo is being chased by stormtroopers are accompanied by pretty much direct rips from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Yet the movie still won "best _original_ score" somehow...


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## EDaddy (Nov 16, 2013)

CBD said:


> Also, the establishing shot of Tatooine and the part where Solo is being chased by stormtroopers are accompanied by pretty much direct rips from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Yet the movie still won "best _original_ score" somehow...


Oh yeah. You're absolutely right, now that I think about it. Am I correct in my recollection that the score in the Tatooine shot is like the very beginning of Part One: I. The Adoration of the Earth - Introduction with the high bassoon?


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

EDaddy said:


> Oh yeah. You're absolutely right, now that I think about it. Am I correct in my recollection that the score in the Tatooine shot is like the very beginning of Part One: I. The Adoration of the Earth - Introduction with the high bassoon?


No, it's the beginning of Part II, with the oscillating chords (Stravinsky was himself inspired by Debussy here). I seem to recall that John Williams admitted at listening to the temp score for that scene, which is why the music is so close to Stravinsky.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nathanb said:


> And himself! Somehow I had never listened to the 2nd Piano Trio until last week... but as a fan of the 8th Quartet...well... you can imagine.


You should listen to the 1st symphony, the first cello concerto and Lady Macbeth as well. Quotes from those three pieces are in there too.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Debussy (original): Sonata for flute, viola and harp
Bax: Elegiac Trio 
Takemitsu: And then I knew t'was wind


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2015)

Don't get no better than this:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Originally Posted by Woodduck:

_Thanks, Becca. This is Maxwell Davies on holiday: great tunes (are they traditional or original?), lively rhythms, twinkle-eyed humor - and that bagpipe, barbaric ecstasy! After a grim session of Schoenberg string quartets there's nothing lovelier than a trip back to music's roots in song and dance._



Mahlerian said:


> I don't find the Schoenberg quartets particularly grim at all, and all of them have dance-like movements (even if the Second's scherzo is a danse macabre) and lyrical melodies.


Sadly, at no time during my session with Herr Schoenberg did one of his dance-like movements inspire any dance-like movements. I did not shake my booty, wiggle a finger, slap a thigh, kick up a heel, leap upon a tabletop, trip the light fantastic, or swing my partner round and round. It never even crossed my mind to do such things, I'm sorry to say.

Perhaps it would all have been different if Arnie had met Debbie Doo: 




Because _that's_ what it's all about.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Woodduck said:


> Sadly, at no time during my session with Herr Schoenberg did one of his dance-like movements inspire any dance-like movements. I did not shake my booty, wiggle a finger, slap a thigh, kick up a heel, leap upon a tabletop, trip the light fantastic, or swing my partner round and round. It never even crossed my mind to do such things, I'm sorry to say.
> 
> Perhaps it would all have been different if Arnie had met Debbie Doo:
> 
> ...


But your reaction is irrelevant, and wasn't your original point. You were implying that you were "getting back to music's roots in song and dance" because they were absent in the Schoenberg quartets, which they aren't.


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## Guest (Apr 30, 2015)

violadude said:


> You should listen to the 1st symphony, the first cello concerto and Lady Macbeth as well. Quotes from those three pieces are in there too.


Hmm... I've listened to those too, but SQ #8 is probably the work of his that I've listened to most, so it felt much more blatant in my ears


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Mahlerian said:


> But your reaction is irrelevant, and wasn't your original point. You were implying that you were "getting back to music's roots in song and dance" because they were absent in the Schoenberg quartets, which they aren't.


What do you mean my reaction is irrelevant!

_Roots music_. Folk music. Traditional music. Music of the people. Happy, happy, _very_ happy (and tonal!) songs and dances. WAHOOOOOOO!

Untwist those knickers and dance, Gustav.

Resistance is futile.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Originally Posted by Woodduck:
> 
> _Thanks, Becca. This is Maxwell Davies on holiday: great tunes (are they traditional or original?), lively rhythms, twinkle-eyed humor - and that bagpipe, barbaric ecstasy! After a grim session of Schoenberg string quartets there's nothing lovelier than a trip back to music's roots in song and dance._
> 
> ...












_"I lip-synced 'Waterloo' by Abba- and then I didn't win. They said I had to be dragged off the stage. I was having so much fun. I couldn't stop. I heard I was still dancing on the table. It looked like performance art but it was really just the bottom of a liquor bottle."_


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> What do you mean my reaction is irrelevant!
> 
> _Roots music_. Folk music. Traditional music. Music of the people. Happy, happy, _very_ happy (and tonal!) songs and dances. WAHOOOOOOO!
> 
> ...












_"But I repeat myself."_


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## EDaddy (Nov 16, 2013)

Victor Redseal said:


> Don't get no better than this:


LOL! awesome!!!


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I don't have much to comment from my head for this. I will let another speak for me.

A good composer does not imitate; he steals.

--Igor Stravinsky


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## EDaddy (Nov 16, 2013)

Ok, here's one:

Tommy Dorsey's _Song Of India_... pretty much ripped directly from Rimsky-Korsakov's _Song of the Indian Guest_


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