Sam Morgenstern

Originally published as "Dictionary of Vocal Themes", this work extracts themes, and lists by Composer or source, and accesses all by means of an Index of note Notation, and an Index of Songs and First Lines. The authors limited themselves to recorded American and European works.

Most of the leitmotifs of the later Wagnerian operas appear in the orchestra rather than the vocal line, hence they are not included here. Russian texts are translated, but French and German are literal. Compared to instrumental themes, vocal works are more limited and similar.

Issues of "plagiarism"--possibly unconscious but often frankly admitted by composers--are evident. For example, the U.S. Marine Hymn is almost a copy of "Couplets des deux hommes d'armes" from Offenbach's Genevierve de Brabant. [[iii]] Handel's Ottone parallels the first subject of Bach's G minor fugue in the same key in the Well Tempered Clavichord.… (altro)