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the "Gladiator" thing really caught me off guard. i'm guessing the Holst estate never heard "Gunfight Montage" from Silvestri's great score "The Quick and the Dead"?
There could be a whole thread of scores that were based around "Mars." Hell, even Tin Cup used it!
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For a few years there every Christmas we were getting TV commercial music that was clearly cribbing a certain Elfman score. I remember Elfman in an interview stating something to the affect he would sue anybody who did that. I don't know if he ever brought any cases.
The Holst estate could make a living off of just suing people for using Mars, Bringer of War. If they really knew just how much it was used.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH1PLjWZIvs
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And then there's the old chestnut about our friend Franz Waxman, composer of Bride of Frankenstein, writing a short note to old Richard Rogers of South Pacific circa 1949, and remarking how similar the first 6 notes of Bali Ha'i were to his theme for the female creature.
Settled like gentlemen, I believe.
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Posted: |
Jul 26, 2013 - 10:52 PM
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By: |
SchiffyM
(Member)
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So what about parody? Can a composer parody a theme and get away with it? Like Richard Band did with Psycho theme for Re-animator? Great interpretation 
Parody is protected by US law, but getting away with using somebody else's work is not as simple as just saying "this is a parody." There are specific rules about what makes one thing a parody and another thing not. The word lawyers often use is that the new work, to be a parody, must be "transformative" of the original work. What does that mean? Basically, the new work has to comment on the the original one.
Famously, a few years ago, somebody wrote a novel that retold "Gone With the Wind" from the perspective of one of Scarlett O'Hara's slaves. The publisher of the original sued, but the court ruled that the new work was protected as parody, because it commented on, rather than simply exploited, the original. On the other hand, if you made a parody of the Anthony Weiner controversy using Mickey and Minnie Mouse to portray the Weiners, Disney would likely sue you and win, because the thing being commented on was the Weiners and not the Mouses. (Your lawyer would likely argue that you were using the Weiners to somehow comment on Disney films, and it would be up to the court to judge the merits of that argument.)
I have never seen "Re-animator," but if somebody chose to sue over the use of the Herrmann theme, the producers of the film would have to argue that their use of the Herrmann theme was somehow commenting on, and thus parodying, the "Psycho" film or score. The composer/filmmakers might also argue that, though the Herrmann theme was an obvious influence, they had changed it enough to make it an original work. And then it becomes a judgement call on the part of the court.
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is YOR go to sue someone?
You know ROY, the Vegetarian from the Past? He no ever invite Yor to dinner. They have issues.
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And then there's the old chestnut about our friend Franz Waxman, composer of Bride of Frankenstein, writing a short note to old Richard Rogers of South Pacific circa 1949, and remarking how similar the first 6 notes of Bali Ha'i were to his theme for the female creature.
Settled like gentlemen, I believe.
But there's also the famous tale of Waxman's playing a part of 'A Place in the Sun' to Shostakovich on the latter's visit to Waxman's home for one of the festivals, well attested by Waxman's son. Shosty was supposedly stunned by the similarity to one of his own passages. No-one remotely assumes he could've heard Waxman's piece.
Which only proves that these things happen spontaneously.
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It seems to me this thread has de-railed.
The question was: WAS A COMPOSER EVER SUED?
Not: DID TWO PIECES OF MUSIC EVER SOUND ALIKE?
LOTS, yes, LOTS of film music can be tracked back to influences in classical music. Holst's THE PLANETS pops up as an inspiration in LOTS of places. Even HANDS OF THE RIPPER has similarities in parts.
But, there is a HUGE difference between an inspiration, a similarity and PLAGIARISM.
Let's get back to the question: WAS A COMPOSER EVER SUED?
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