Commenting on my post the other day (in which I provided three tables listing Zappa’s borrowings from Stravinsky), Brett writes:

I’ve heard the claim before (don’t remember where) that the melody from “Magdalena” is based on the Violin Concerto.  I’m not convinced, as its just a simple scale from 1 to 5.  One could claim hundreds of pieces as models.  Any comments by Zappa backing that up?

Good question, Brett! I wasn’t able to find any primary sources to confirm the borrowing, but took the opportunity to listen to the two pieces again. There are a few notable differences, but I remain convinced that Zappa had the Violin Concerto in mind with “Magdalena.” Here’s why…

Continue reading ““Magdalena”/Violin Concerto in D” →

It’s that time of year again! The deadlines are fast approaching for a number of upcoming conferences. I’ve got my eye on three right now:

• The International Association for the Study of Popular Music US Branch (IASPM-US) is holding their annual conference in New Orleans next year. (April 9-11, 2010)

• The Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle (EMP/SFM) will be holding a conference entitled “The Pop Machine: Music and Technology.” (April 15-18, 2010)

• The Steinhardt School’s Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at NYU will be holding their annual Music and the Moving Image conference. (May 21-23, 2010)

I’ve been working on a couple of abstracts and am getting close to final drafts. It’s a tough process: coming up with a topic and then following through with devising an argument for a paper not yet written! I’ll post the abstracts that I come up with over the next few weeks or so.

As promised in my last post, here are several tables that account for most (if not all) of Zappa’s borrowings from Stravinsky. I’ve tried to provide as much information about each instance as possible and have listed the track title, the album title, the recording date and location, the title of the borrowed composition, the borrowing strategy employed, and details regarding timing and nature of the borrowing.

(You can sort the tables by clicking on the header cells, though in some cases, that won’t accomplish anything productive!)

Continue reading “Zappa’s Stravinsky Borrowings (part 2)” →

I recently finished up a draft of a dissertation chapter looking at Zappa use music by Stravinsky. “Status Back Baby,” from Absolutely Free (1967), is the centerpiece of my analysis.: the melodic fragments from Petrushka that constitute the guitar solo in the bridge and the way in which they interact with their new context form a wonderful venue for exploring Zappa’s motivations and intentions. But there are a heck of a lot of other Stravinsky borrowings as well! Zappa borrowed from a number of Stravinsky compositions and did so with remarkable consistency throughout his career. Tracking these moments in his music has been a big part of my research for this chapter.

Continue reading “Zappa’s Stravinsky Borrowings (part 1)” →