Your Thoughts On Blatant Plagarism In VGM

I don't mind it. Personally, I'd think it's great for the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and heck, anything instrumental section of music, period, to have an occasional insertion of a theme. I think it helps makes Classical music (not referring to the period) much more accessable to a larger audience. After studying music for over 10 years, I can still listen to Beethoven or Mozart and be in complete awe of the complexity that is still difficult to understand. Many people are unable to get past this. But with game music (or other modern music) allowing for insight into the past with these themes, it allows people to say "Hey, this sounds sorta like _______ from _______" and it may allow them to understand that piece of classical music better. From there, it's even possible to branch off further, and see what else the composer wrote.

You can also run into a situation where a composer could write a piece of music which came to him or her and simply has no idea whether or not it's been done before. It's impossible for every composer to have listened to every musical work of eternity and have knowledge of the melodies. It's even difficult for a single performer to have knowledge of every piece in existance for their instrument. I played a college Viola audition, and none of the 4 faculty members (violin, viola, cello, orchestra director) had ever heard of the piece, and were barely even familiar with the composer. Sure, it's less likely in a case like Rachmaninoff, but you never know.

Jam it back in, in the dark.