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This one comes out of a conversation I had with Magne (thesongcabinet) on the 'best song of all time' thread...

'Stranger in Paradise' (from Kismet) uses the melody from Borodin's Polovtsian Dances (Prince Igor). Eric Carmen/Celine Dion's 'All By Myself' is inspired by Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto. How many other examples of 'borrowing' from the classical masters are there? Maybe it's a good idea, if all this music is out of copyright

"Borrowing" melodies from classical music to be used in pop music has been going on for quite some time. If you're going to do - as opposed to writing something brilliant and unique on your own - you better make sure that it's in the public domain!

Yes, but can you copyright your own song IF you're using uncopyrighted classical music?

Yeah, so far I've only used PD for christmas songs http://www.pdinfo.com/list.php
But I fail to find classical works in there - anybody knows why?

I think we all subconsciously draw upon classical works, as many are kind of epitome melodies. As far as I recall, harmony was quite abscent in some periods, or at least not as cadenced as we know it from rhytmical music.

So the main influences from classical music would probably be melodic..

I know there are lots of famous examples, "La Mer", AKA "Beyond The Sea", was DeBussy, wasn't it? Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, A Fifth Of Beethoven, Bach's Ode To Joy; I think Verdi had some pop hits, too. I should let experts weigh in here, though. American roots music is my specialty; I only know enough about jazz and classical to be dangerous, heh.

Barry Manilow used a noticeable chunk of a Chopin piece in his early hit, "Could It Be Magic". Obiquously, Chopin has been deceased for a rather long time "ala' before the copyright law(s) came into effect.

Keith emerson (of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer fame) got in a stew when one of his compositions used a part of Dovark's music in his song. The estate on behalf of Dvorak filed litigation against Emerson, but they settled on the matter. Although it wasn't grossly intentional (as ELP have used stabs of other composer's works in their own), if a piece (in any music style of music) is used in your composition, and is covered under the current copyright laws, get permission from the publisher/composer before you use it

There have been many songs which have taken melodies from folk songs which are in the public domain (eg. Simon and Garfunkle's "Scarborough Fair," Elvis Presley's "It's Now or Never" (O Solo Mio), "Love Me Tender" (Aura Lee). I wonder how copyright works in these cases. As for Dvorjak, he passed away in 1904, and I think that songs are copyrighted for 75 years after the last songwriter's death. I'm not sure if extensions can be filed or not after that period of time. Anyone more familiar with music law out there?

Classical composers have been taking main themes from other composers and doing variations on them for centruries. And this was before - long before IP lawyers roamed the land in ravenous packs.

Dan Fogelberg: "Same Old Lang Syne" intro was based on the 1812 Overture.

Phil Collin's "Groovy Kind of Love" was taken note-by-note from Clementi's Sonatina Opus 36, No. 5 Rondo (written in the late 1700s)!