Potpourri (music)

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In music, a potpourri is a composition that is put together from existing compositions and subsequently forms a new, more or less harmonious musical unit.

origin

The word potpourri was taken from the French pot pourri . Originally the French term referred to a stew dish , literally translated it means "rotten pot".

The musical potpourri emerged from the quodlibet , but differs from it in that with potpourri quotes from known melodies sound one after the other, while with quodlibet the different melodies can also be set at the same time. Regional variants of such piece sequences in the first half of the 16th century were the fricassée in France and the ensalada in Spain . The French “comédies en vaudevilles ” of the Parisian fairground theaters in the 17th and 18th centuries . Century were a kind of potpourri. Since around 1800 it has also become customary to compile theatrical overtures from known melodies (“potpourri overture”).

Composers such as Grieg , Sibelius or Tchaikovsky used the term for a sequence of smaller pieces that were linked by a common theme. The well-known themes and melodies from operas and operettas were often strung together by the composer himself or by arrangers in new orders in order to appeal to the broader public. Great contrasts in style were often used to create parodic effects.

Demarcation

“Medley” and “Potpourri” are often used synonymously, but sometimes also differentiated from one another. Medley / Potpourri differ from musical collage , which is a loose combination of different musical elements.

copyright

According to German copyright law, the creation of a potpourris can result in an editor's copyright ( § 3 Copyright Act). If compositions are used in the potpourri that are themselves (still) subject to copyright protection, the potpourri can only be used with the consent of the authors of the works combined therein .

The GEMA provides its own distribution key for potpourris because of their specific structure. Potpourris are defined as "composite works that consist of 3 or more pre-existing individual works or parts of 3 or more pre-existing individual works that have been compiled by a potpourri arranger and linked by transitions or otherwise musically processed". If a potpourri consists only of works or parts of works that are free of copyright, then the usual share keys for adaptations of works in the public domain apply (cf. §§ 195 ff. GEMA distribution plan in the current version of 23/24 May 2017); In the case of potpourri's protected works, half the distribution of the distribution between the potpourri processor and the authors of the works used is provided, whereby if a music publisher joins the potpourri processor, the potpourri processor loses half of his share to the publisher (Section 193 (4) GEMA distribution plan as amended on 23/24 May 2017).

Web links

Wiktionary: Potpourri  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A. Nordemann in Fromm / Nordemann, Copyright , 12th edition. 2018, § 3 Rn. 23 f .; Schulze in Dreier / Schulze, Copyright , 6th edition 2018, § 3 Rn. 25th
  2. ↑ See § 23 UrhG. See Schulze in Dreier / Schulze, Copyright , 6th edition 2018, § 3 Rn. 50.
  3. ↑ Riemer in Heker / Riesenhuber, Law and Practice of GEMA: Handbook and Commentary , 3rd edition, De Gruyter, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-037249-6 , chap. 8 marginal no. 521.
  4. ↑ § 194 Paragraph 2 GEMA distribution plan i. d. F. from 23./24. May 2017.