Don't feel bad, Tony. ALW ripped off Meyerbeer and
Roger Waters too.
TheatreNerds has a whole page devoted to his various *ahem* misdeeds.
Like I said: ALW is an
impresario, not a serious musician. He "borrows" from other people all the time. But heck, Handel borrowed from himself constantly: for instance, his
"For unto us a child is born" (from "Messiah", 1742) is almost identical to his
"No, di voi non vo' fidarmi" (from his earlier opera, "Les Sirènes", HWV 189, 1741). The same duet provided material for his later chorale,
"All we like sheep" (from "Messiah" again).
Similarly, Handel wrote the music (or at least most of it) for "And he shall purify" and "All we like sheep" (from Messiah - again, written in 1742)
a year earlier, when he wrote the Italian cantatas for
Quel fior, HWV 192. Listen to that, then listen to
"All we like sheep" and
"And he shall purify". The soprano and alto lines are virtually identical, while the tenor and bass lines are "borrowed" from the accompaniment for "Quel fior".
Handel wasn't the only one to "recycle" his own music. Rossini did it all the time, I'm sure. But there are two major differences:
1. There is a major difference, ethically speaking, between re-using your own work and re-using other people's.
2. More importantly, before 1926 -- in the USA, at least -- copyright laws as regards books, film, photography and music (among others)
simply didn't exist. That inevitably created a creative free-for-all. Even today, any books, music, film or photographs that were created before 1926 are in the public domain. (See
US Copyright law from wiki).
So
legally speaking, ALW is within his rights to re-use a bar or two of Puccini, Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn etc. and get away with it. (Note that I said "a bar or two". He is definitely NOT allowed to take an entire song, re-write the lyrics, and pass it off on his own. Nor is he allowed to sample Pink Floyd's "Echoes" and re-use it in the "Phantom" signature tune, as above -- but he did it anyway, and it's too late now).
Legally speaking, that's what he is allowed and not allowed to do.
Ethically, of course, what he's done is monstrous -- but I doubt either he or any of his fans care, which is a pity.