Karl Miller responded to Virginia Knight: >>... There's a distinction >>to be made (with a fuzzy area in the middle) between a composer's own >>variations on/exploration of a theme by another, and a more straightforward >>arrangement/re-orchestration/transcription of someone else's piece. > >It is difficult for me to make a distinction. For example, the Foss >Baroque Variations...as far as I recall, he doesn't really change the >notes, hence, they weren't exactly variations...yet one can find some >of the "arrangement" done by Berio...or a work like Ludwig van by Kagel. >The Kagel work is a collage of themes written by Beethoven. As far as >I know Kagel did not change any notes. Just to throw one more potential "variation" in there, there are some pieces that were simply influenced by a specific piece of an another composer. I just happened to be listening to the Dutton release of John McCabe's Sonata on a Motet (1976). To quote from McCabe's own liner notes: "(The work) ... derives from Tallis' great 40-part motet "Spem in Alium". However, this derivation is unlikely to be heard, since the motet provides simply the major source of inspiration for this piece, which is not a set of variations in the usual sense." Here's another that might qualify: Dello Joio's Variants on a Mediaeval Tune for Wind Orchestra (1963). >In short, I am looking to open it up, but don't want to open the door to >works that are clearly Variations...why? I am not sure...perhaps because I >see it would have the potential to make for a VERY long list. And how about concert paraphrases or other reworking of pieces. I was going to ask "where do I upload the database to?". The list of Liszt alone is fairly extensive. :-) FWIW, this may be a complete list of the Bach transcriptions of works by other composers: BWV 592 J.E. von Sachen-Weimar (Violin Concerto) BWV 592a J.E. von Sachen-Weimar (Piano work?) BWV 593 Vivaldi (Violin Concerto RV 522, Op. 3/8) BWV 594 Vivaldi (Violin Concerto RV 208) BWV 595 J.E. von Sachen-Weimar (?) BWV 596 Vivaldi (2 Violin Concerto RV 565, Op. 3/11) BWV 597 Unknown composer BWV 972 Vivaldi (Violin Concerto RV 230, Op. 3/9) BWV 973 Vivaldi (Violin Concerto RV 299, Op. 7/8) BWV 975 Vivaldi (Violin Concerto RV 316, lost) BWV 976 Vivaldi (Violin Concerto RV 265, Op. 3/12) BWV 978 Vivaldi (Violin Concerto RV 310, Op. 3/3) BWV 980 Vivaldi (Violin Concerto RV 381) BWV 1065 Vivaldi (4 Violin Concerto RV 580, Op. 3/10) Dave