Raiders of the Lost Composers

[TerraEpon]

To further the classical to Broadway link, there's a motif in Richard Strauss's Burlesque which sounds a lot like "Somewhere" from West Side Story.

[Mark Thomas]

Talking of Strauss, he makes much use of a descending six note stepwise motif in his Alpine Symphony, which was just as prominently employed by Max Bruch 49 years earlier in the slow movement of his First Violin Concerto.

[mbhaub]

Here's one to chew on: the last bar of Holst's beautiful song In the Bleak Midwinter is exactly the same as the last bar of the "goin' home" theme from Dvorak's New World. Same rhythm, same notes (allowing for transposition). I would never accuse Holst of stealing it. Just a coincidence. I wonder if he was aware of the close similarity?

[TerraEpon]

Of course it's a full cadence and a reletively standard rhythm. It's not too surprising a pair of pieces would have the same last bit like that.

[John H White]

I believe Beethoven borrowed and modified the opening theme of his Eroica Symphony from one of C F Abel's symphonies.