Have you ever listened to a piece of classical music and thought to yourself, “This sounds awfully familiar?” Plenty of people have dissected the main Star Wars theme to discover its classical roots, for example. But I recently found something a bit more obscure.
A Familiar Tune
I like to listen to a local radio station that plays nothing but classical music. About a week ago, I happened to hear a piece I had never heard before. Yet I had heard it before. It was a strange feeling of déjà vu.
Thankfully, I have a radio receiver that displays information on songs, including their names and composers/singers. So I memorized the words “Robert Schumann Rhenish Symphony No. 3.”
That was close enough to find the right piece of music on YouTube. The video I found is entitled “Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major ‘Rhenish,’ op. 97 (1850).”
Listen to the first 30 seconds of this, and tell me if it sounds familiar.
James Horner’s Inspiration?
Keep in mind that this musical work debuted in 1850. As it turns out, 138 years later a composer named James Horner used it as the inspiration for his main theme for the titular character of Willow. At least that’s my theory.
It’s crazy the similarities between the two. If Schumann didn’t inspire Horner, I don’t know what did. Seriously, listen to the beginning of this track from Willow entitled “Willow’s Theme,” and tell me it’s not directly lifted from “Rhenish.” They’re nearly carbon copies.
Borrowing for Willow
Of course, I’m not saying that Horner is a total plagiarist or anything like that. He’s a musical genius who wrote many incredible film scores over his decades-long career. And composers often reference themselves and others as they find their voices. There are plenty of great melodies in Willow that didn’t come from the minds of others.
I’m just saying that I think it’s clear as day that “Rhenish” inspired “Willow’s Theme.” They’re both beautiful pieces of music, and I enjoy listening to them. Hopefully you just found another great composer to listen to if you already enjoy the Willow soundtrack.
This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.
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Deja Reviewer 
It is not just that. He was “inspired” from a lot of other people too 🙂
Check out the playlist that i left you in spotify. You will find a lot of other classical pieces
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Very cool. Thank you. I’ll be sure to do that 🙂
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I just heard Robert Schumann Rhenish Symphony No. 3 on the radio and initially thought “oh it’s the soundtrack to Willow.” I do remember reading that James Horner was inspired, or liked to borrow elements from other classical works. I agree that he composed beautiful scores for movies. But what I always found interesting was that he borrowed themes from his own movies. Sometimes i think I’ll be listening to the soundtrack of one movie only to find it’s from another movie he composed.
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I agree, the style of Willow’s theme is very similar to Schumann’s No. 3, but the re-occurring melody in willow is from a traditional Hungarian folk song “Mir Stanke Le” (it’s on YouTube) . Like everyone else here, I heard this on CBC radio years ago, and instantly recognized it as Willow’s theme. I just watched the movie again today for the 1st time in years. It’s still good!
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That’s very interesting. Thank you. And I agree, Willow holds up very well. Gotta love those classics from George Lucas.
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Similar experience – was listening to Schuman’s symphonies while working on my eternal (seeming) dissertion, so sort of half-listening, but caught the opening of the 3rd and immediately felt the energy from some film – I knew not what at the time, though suspected Willow. I found and played Willow’s main theme and that clearly wasn’t it. Still suspecting Willow, I found the “Willow’s Theme” selection from the soundtrack, and there it was. I did a search to see if anyone else had found the similarities, and there you were. Showed my partner the two pieces and she was duly impressed, which is always nice! Thanks for your article and blog.
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That’s awesome! Clever minds think alike. It’s such a beautiful piece of music, I love that it’s been immortalized in a great movie.
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