Everyone knows the main melody of the Intermezzo (Ratcliff’s Dream) from Mascagni’s opera Guglielmo Ratcliff (1895) even if they have never heard of this opera or the composer before, and this is because it is very similar to the song we all know – “Over the Rainbow”, composed by Harold Arlen for the classic film The Wizard of Oz (1939). I have always been interested in music/film similarities, and possible plagiarism claims, and have decided to investigate this further in this ranty post.
Thoughts on Papyrus 