I enjoyed reading Jay on Andrew Lloyd Webber and Puccini. Webber has his detractors, of course — one of them described his style of musical composition as “logo-first,” a hall-of-fame put-down — but there’s no arguing with his ear for melody. If he stole from Puccini, it was an act of good taste. As T. S. Eliot explained: “Immature artists imitate — mature artists steal.”

One of my favorite bits of looting from the classical catalogue comes from the Toys, a largely forgotten 1960s girl group, who released “A Lover’s Concerto” in 1965. It’s a pretty straightforward pop song, typical of the era, except that the music is lifted almost entirely from a Bach minuet, the one that everybody learns when first learning to play guitar. Fans of heavy metal appreciate that the genre would be much diminished if there were no thievery from the classics.

(There was a time when classical music was known as “longhair music.” Some things do change.)

Puccini wasn’t above borrowing — but when you’re Puccini, they call it “quotation,” as in his incorporation of the “Star-Spangled Banner” when introducing an American character in Madama Butterfly.

Here’s Charlie Parker reworking a little bit of Stravinsky. You can’t argue with it.