Aaron Copland and Star Trek Music?

Hello,

I was just listening to Appalachian Spring, and it just dawned on me how similar the melodic and harmonic styles are to the music of Star Trek, particularly the more atmospheric parts.

It seems to me that, for Star Wars, John Williams was greatly influenced by Holst and Wagner, but for Star Trek, Jay Chatteway and Jerry Goldsmith et al seem to have been more influenced on Copland and some hinsts of Debussy.

What do you guys think?

This isn't really an issue that only you have noticed. Certainly, the Star Trek themes sound quite similar to some of Copland's works among others. I assume you are speaking of the Voyager theme song, although the Next Generation theme is still somewhat similar.

For my part, I would think that Copland may have influenced the themes, but I wouldn't go so far as saying plagiarism. The problem is, in my opinion, that it is quite difficult to determine who has influenced what. "Influence" is such a general word in the first place.

I'm not talking about the mane themes, but the incidental music within the shows. Particularly the strings in Enterprise, for example.

Definitely not the music from the original series - that's based off of old theatre orchestras which are more rooted in Classical and Romantic chamber music. I could see it only very slightly in "The Next Generation" theme music - the final iteration of the theme, with the paired horns and bells, and I suppose in the intervallic content of the theme itself. The Voyager main title's theme, most certainly, though not the bridge/development segment. Similar situation with the Deep Space 9 theme.

ive heard some people saying they think that john williams' star wars incidental musical was very heavily influenced by vaughn-williams

Copland's music was almost a precursor to modern film music. His sound became the unequivocal "American" sound and this tradition was carried on in the scores of many films. Just recalling some typical Star Trek music in my head, I must say you have a point, Monkeysinfezzes.