MOZART’S LE NOZZE DI FIGARO: A HIDDEN DRAMATIC DETAIL

Extract

In two earlier articles I have written of finding identical or very similar themes in two different compositions, either in two works of the same composer or in the work of two different composers. The conclusion presented was that such events are rarely meaningful, that citing a particular melodic affinity to assert some kind of relationship between the two compositions is almost always misguided. The amount of melodic duplication that may be found when comparing any two pieces (by any two composers from any two eras) is so considerable that one might conclude it is largely meaningless and accidental.