The Inspiration For Beauty and The Beast Opening Music
Today I was working while listening to classical music instead of my regular musical diet of techno. During Aquarium by Camille Saint-Saens I found it eerily similar to the opening music in Beauty and the Beast, composed by Alan Menken.
This is yet one more confirmation that Everything is a Remix.
Have a listen to the two. It’s not a direct copy, but there’s a clear resemblance. First is Saint-Sens, followed by Menken.
These two pieces do have a lot in common– did not check this but just on the surface they are even written in the same musical key… or if not very close- then the tempo and the choices of notes… REMIX yes- I think you are on to something. Is there a big lawsuit in the future here or does it not matter?
Nope, no lawsuit, just an observation. A lot of people think creative works come out of the blue, but the reality is that many of them are based on former works. Take a look at the Remix videos on the site I linked to for a bunch more illustrations of remixes.
It is from Beauty and the Beast not Little Mermaid. No?
Son of a gun, you’re absolutely right. At least they’re both Disney ;) I corrected the post – thanks for catching that.
No problem. Both are good films.
I too was listening to the same piece while studying and thought how similar it was to Alan Menken’s music he composed for Beauty and the Beast. Most film scores today seem to have a classical/romantic inspiration. Thanks for posting and showing them side-by-side, very interesting. I wish the film composers would acknowledge their muse when they write music (or maybe they do and I am not aware of it).
I looked up the opening music for Beauty and the Beast (and found this) because I was reminded of it by the song from Babe, which I discovered is set to an organ finale by Saint-Saens. The Babe song reminds me very strongly of the melody of vom Himmel hoch by Martin Luther, reworked by JS Bach, doubtless among others. Have a listen.