Classical/Opera made popular

[coyote]

I was wondering what classical or opera pieces were reworked as popular music, say until the Great Depression. Two that come to mind are Franz Drdla's "Souvenir," which appeared as "Among My Souvenirs." Rimsky-Korsakow's "Chanson Indoue-Song of India" was reworked as a popular tune "Song of India," and (much later, outside my parameters) "Enchanted Land" which I remember Billy Eckstine recording. I'm sure there are others...just off the top of your head, please. Thanks!

[Wolfe]

I'd think 'The Last Rose Of Summer' from Flotow's 'Martha' should count.

[Henry]

Puccini's "E lucevan le stelle" from "Tosca" became "Avalon," a popular big band arrangement (e.g., Benny Goodman) in the '30s-'40s. "Full Moon and Empty Arms" was a theme from Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 5 (IIRC). Plus, there was a host of older pop songs that became bebop titles (under different names), e.g., the Paul Whiteman hit "Whispering" became "Groovin' High" (pun intended), as famously recorded by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. The underlying structure of Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" was recorded under many other titles in the bop era. Even r-and-r had its borrowings, e.g.,the 19th century popular weeper "Aura Lee" became "Love Me Tender." The list of such borrowings is a long one indeed.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Speaking of Avalon, Puccini actually sued Jolson et al and I think won a plagiarism suit. And ya know, I think it was stretching a point, but the publicity value was beyond price for both parties. It's like saying " Yes ! We Have No Bananas!" is based on Handel's Hallelujah chorus from his Messiah.

Jim

[Henry]

Reminds me of the last verse of Spike Jones's sendup of "Riders in the Sky": "When Johnnie comes marching home again, hurray! hurray!/He'll make the guy who wrote this song pay! And pay!" Who knew that the melody of "Riders" and "Johnnie" are one and the same! It's true!

[coyote]

Thanks for the fun info! There are also the comic take-offs, like "I'm Looking for the Man Who Wrote the Merry Widow Waltz"

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Or Eddie Cantor's I've Got the Yes We Have No Bananas Blues from 1924. ( Bananas was the " Don't Worry: Be Happy" of the early twenties.)

Lately I've been off my nut
I keep hearing nothing but
"Yes, We Have No Bananas".
I would like to find the guy
Who composed that lullaby
"Yes, We Have No Bananas".
I wish that I could go
To a cabaret or show
Where someone wouldn't come along
And sing that doggone song!


Et cetera.

Jim

[Henry]

I was wondering what classical or opera pieces were reworked as popular music, say until the Great Depression.

We've gone beyond coyote's criteria (above) both as to origin as well as period, and I was the first guilty party here. In fact, coyote's "Song of India" example may be "in violation" of his own date criterion, since I do believe (without fact-checking first: always a precarious act!) that this pop song dates from the 1930s, although of course the Rimsky source is older (he died in 1908). If we take 1929 as a cut-off date, though, that would exclude many examples with which we old-timers may be familiar, such as the wholesale borrowing from Alexander Borodin's "Steppes of Central Asia" of the tunes in "Kismet," ("Stranger in Paradise," "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads," etc.). I'm sure we can come up with lots more examples if we put our collective knowledge together. What say, gang?

[coyote]

I put the date constraint on the topic only as a limit, because there are so many after the depression. Regarding "Song of India," with the exception of the later "Enchanted Land (Song of India)," two re-works were on Diamond Disc, "Song of India" on 51167, and "Play That Song of India Again" on 50916, so they'd fall within the constraint.

I consider 51167 a re-work as it's done with saxophones and is more in the popular realm than the classical. According to Wikipedia, "Play that 'Song of India' Again" was no. 1 for 5 weeks in 1921, by Paul Whiteman, and was adapted from Chanson Indoue, but I've never heard this or the Diamond Disc...if anyone cares to post it.

Another interesting (and daunting) topic would be works that included snippets of a performer's previous songs/melodies, such as Billy Murray singing "Profiteering Blues" which included a few bars of "You'd Be Surprised" among others which Murray did or did not perform. However, I'm not proposing this unless someone wants to open a new thread!

[Guest]

I believe the Last Rose of Summer existed first and was then inserted into Marta.