Classical/Opera made popular

[Henry]

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.

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!

I stand corrected on the "Song of India" date. I am only familiar with the Tommy Dorsey version from the '30s ('40s?). No excuse, though.

While this is not intended to start a new thread, an example of a work that quotes snippets from an earlier work is the ballad "Back Home Again in Indiana," publ. before WWI (and recorded in 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in a rather raucous style); it was originally composed as a "reply song" to "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" (publ.1897), and quotes several melodic phrases and lyric lines from the latter work.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

In terms of real classical made into real pop before 1930 how about Song of Love based on a theme from the Schubert Unfinished Symphony? Lucy Isabelle Marsh and Royal Dadmun recorded it. This was from the New York show Blossom Time from..I think..1922,which was about Franz Schubert and from what I read played fast and loose with the facts, but never mind. Blossom Time was based on a German Operetta Das Drimaderhaus...which spawned both Blossom Time and the London version Lilac Time. Confused? I THINK the London show had the same plot as the New York production but both differed greatly from the original German version which wasn't nearly as maudlin as the other two in which Schubert dies with angel acompaniment.
Here's the blurb from the May 1922 Victor Supplement.

Jim