Musical Borrowing and Reuse

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ID: 338355
2026
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Abstract
Professor Emeritus PhD Student Musical borrowing and reuse are general terms for the use in a new piece of music of material taken from one or more specific existing pieces. This embraces a wide range of practices, including (in approximate order of first notated appearance) contrafactum (giving a melody or piece a new text); melodic paraphrase (borrowing some elements, altering or omitting others, and adding new material, often changing the melody’s style, genre, or length); cantus firmus (using a melody or melodic segment as a structural voice, typically in relatively long notes); quotation (incorporating a borrowed melody or passage in a new work, as in literary quotation); patchwork (creating a melody from fragments of existing tunes, often mixed with new material); allusion (meaningful reference to another work through resemblance); modeling or imitating a model (using an existing work as a point of departure, perhaps borrowing its material or structure, while seeking to create something new and different); recomposition or parody (reworking all or most of a piece into a new work); quodlibet (combining segments from several melodies in succession or simultaneously, often creating humorous juxtapositions); variations on a borrowed theme; medley or potpourri (presenting several familiar tunes in succession); pastiche or pasticcio (compiling borrowed pieces or extended passages to create the music for a stage work, film, or other entertainment); thematic borrowing (using a borrowed or paraphrased melody as a theme in an instrumental work); collage (juxtaposing numerous borrowed fragments simultaneously and/or in rapid succession, in a manner akin to visual collage); jazz contrafact (writing a new tune to fit a borrowed chord progression); and methods of manipulating recorded music, such as sampling (appropriating part of a sound recording, sometimes manipulating its pitch, playback speed, or other parameters) and mashup (combining two or more disparate musical recordings into a hybrid work). Some composers reuse material from their own music, a practice called self-borrowing. Borrowing is distinct from creating a new version of an existing piece, as in an arrangement, transcription, or cover song, and from drawing on a common fund of ideas, such as musical topics, schemata, or styles. Musical borrowing and reuse was not regarded as a distinct field of study before J. Peter Burkholder called for treating it as a field encompassing all uses of existing music throughout history (Burkholder, “The Uses of Existing Music: Musical Borrowing as a Field.” Notes 50 [March 1994]: 851–170). That expansive view is reflected in recent musical and legal scholarship that includes comparisons of borrowing practices across different periods, repertoires, and regions, drawing parallels and tracing historical continuities or noting what makes each repertoire distinctive. Yet most studies naturally focus on a body of music defined by historical era, composer, genre, or other shared trait. To reflect this variety, this article begins with overviews, followed by items focused on analytical and interpretive frameworks; on specific periods, composers, or genres; and on legal issues around borrowing.
Reference Key
openalex_W7225196327 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Peter Burkholder, Matthew van Vleet
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Journal Oxford University Press eBooks
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/9780197859124.003.0332
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197859124.003.0332
Keywords Keywords not found

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