The fact that Willow's Theme is derived from Robert Schumann's 3rd Symphony "Rhenish" is now old news. I recently bouhght the Schumann and upon hearing it my initial feeling was that - although it is admittedly very similar - Willow is not totally identical to it as the Schumann does not contain the four-note statement which opens the Willow Theme. This took me by surprise because I had read in various forums that Willow is an exact duplicate of this Schumann music. I was also somewhat surprised by the different "feel" of it. Did anyone else feel the same way?
I have also read somewhere that Elora Danan's Theme is a "note-by-note" copy of an old Bulgarian harvest song. However, Wikipedia claims that it resembles the "Redemption Motif" in Wagner's "Ring". Does anyone have an opinion on this??

(Message edited on Saturday, April 14, 2007, at 9:58 a.m.)

> The fact that Willow's Theme is derived from Robert Schumann's 3rd
> Symphony "Rhenish" is now old news. I recently bouhght the
> Schumann and upon hearing it my initial feeling was that - although it is
> admittedly very similar - Willow is not totally identical to it as the
> Schumann does not contain the four-note statement which opens the Willow
> Theme. This took me by surprise because I had read in various forums that
> Willow is an exact duplicate of this Schumann music. I was also somewhat
> surprised by the different "feel" of it. Did anyone else feel
> the same way?
> I have also read somewhere that Elora Danan's Theme is a
> "note-by-note" copy of an old Bulgarian harvest song. However,
> Wikipedia claims that it resembles the "Redemption Motif" in
> Wagner's "Ring". Does anyone have an opinion on this??

Isn't it just the first five notes of the Schumann Symphony? It's not like it's the whole symphony copied.

> I have also read somewhere that Elora Danan's Theme is a
> "note-by-note" copy of an old Bulgarian harvest song.

I'm not sure which theme you're referring to, but two major themes besides the Schumann motif and 4-note danger motif (that comes from Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 1) also come from classical sources. Part of the soft choir theme Horner uses is directly taken from the end of Bartok's Cantata Profana, and the loud motif in the horns used in "Bavmorda's Spell is Cast" comes from Prokofiev's October Revolution Cantata. Funnily enough, a major theme from The Land Before Time can be found in Prokofiev's Cantata, along with the obvious "Philosophers" ripoff that was used in Red Heat.

> The fact that Willow's Theme is derived from Robert Schumann's 3rd
> Symphony "Rhenish" is now old news. I recently bouhght the
> Schumann and upon hearing it my initial feeling was that - although it is
> admittedly very similar - Willow is not totally identical to it as the
> Schumann does not contain the four-note statement which opens the Willow
> Theme. This took me by surprise because I had read in various forums that
> Willow is an exact duplicate of this Schumann music. I was also somewhat
> surprised by the different "feel" of it. Did anyone else feel
> the same way?
> I have also read somewhere that Elora Danan's Theme is a
> "note-by-note" copy of an old Bulgarian harvest song. However,
> Wikipedia claims that it resembles the "Redemption Motif" in
> Wagner's "Ring". Does anyone have an opinion on this??

Dear roybatty:

You are absolutely correct. It is a harvest song from the Thracian Valley. Its name is "Mari Stanke Le". It took me about 30 minutes to recognized it, although I am from Bulgaria.

Sincerely,
Emilia