# Tchaikovsky's "Marche Slave Op. 31" = Disney's Aladdin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [June 21, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tchaikovskys-marche-slave-op-31-disneys-aladdin/361611 "2006-06-21T19:00:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tchaikovskys-marche-slave-op-31-disneys-aladdin/361611/1 "2006-06-21T19:00:37Z")
[This thread about Disney songs](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=376626) reminded me of something that has plagued me for days. DAYS, I tells ya. While at Border’s a week or so ago, I bought a CD of Tchaikovsky’s work to study to. Listening through the CD, I came across the _Marche Slave_ which is beautiful and really tells a story. That said, my oh my did it sound familiar. [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000001GDT/104-1529868-9888765?v=glance&n=5174) has a clip of the part I’m talking about. Isn’t that the same song used in Disney’s Aladdin? Did Disney rip off Tchaikovsky or do they admit to sampling? Or is this just a coincidence? [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavonic_March) says that Tchaikovsky himself borrowed the melody for Serbian folk songs, so perhaps that is where Disney also borrowed from? Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tchaikovskys-marche-slave-op-31-disneys-aladdin/361611/2 "2006-06-21T20:02:08Z")
I was already familiar with _Marche Slave_ at the time I saw Aladdin, and quite fond of it. I’d think I would have recognized it if I’d heard it in the movie, but I didn’t. Could you be a bit more specific what song in the movie you think sounds like it? ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tchaikovskys-marche-slave-op-31-disneys-aladdin/361611/3 "2006-06-21T20:08:24Z")
I agree that it does sound a lot like Aladdin. However: I think it’s just the style. It also sounds vaguely like pieces of the Prince of Egypt soundtrack (which I coincidentally just started a thread on) and a number of Jewish songs. I _think_ (anyone feel free to correct me-- I haven’t bothered to actually check) that it’s the harmonic minor scale, which is sort of the stereotypically Semitic scale, just as the pentatonic is typically associated in our culture with the Far East. ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tchaikovskys-marche-slave-op-31-disneys-aladdin/361611/4 "2006-06-21T20:10:12Z")
Actually, forget that last post. I’m sort of half taking out of my ass and rather ill-informed, and I hate it when people do that. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tchaikovskys-marche-slave-op-31-disneys-aladdin/361611/5 "2006-06-21T20:11:40Z")
I’m guessing if they did borrow from Tchaikovsky, they would have noted so. After all, in Disney’s _Sleeping Beauty_, almost all of the songs came from Tchaikovsky’s ballet. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tchaikovskys-marche-slave-op-31-disneys-aladdin/361611/6 "2006-06-21T20:23:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I was already familiar with _Marche Slave_ at the time I saw Aladdin, and quite fond of it. I’d think I would have recognized it if I’d heard it in the movie, but I didn’t. Could you be a bit more specific what song in the movie you think sounds like it? I haven’t watched the movie in a while, so I’ll try when I get home to verify. Looking at Aladdin’s Amazon page, the closest sounding is Arabian Nights, but I could have sworn there was something a bit more similar. It sounds a bit like the song Prince Ali (the reprise where it’s darker). I just remember it was a “scary” part of the movie, so Jafar was probably doing something not very nice ;). I’m totally not being helpful at all in this thread, am I? All I know is, I heard Marche Slave and thought, “Whoa- ALADDIN!” and everyone that I’ve made listen agrees. Perhaps it is just a very similar style. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tchaikovskys-marche-slave-op-31-disneys-aladdin/361611/7 "2006-06-21T21:24:23Z")
There is a general similarity. They’re both simple themes, but since simple themes tend to resemble one another, I wouldn’t call it a rip-off. They’re in the same key, as it happens (C minor?) - excerpt of “Prince Ali” [here](http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=3095933&title=Aladdin%3a+Special...+%5bECD%5d+%5bRemaster%5d&artist=Original+Soundtrack) for comparison. That theme from “Marche Slav” resembles the “Prince A-LI”, starting on the “-LI”. The next note in “Prince Ali” is a full step down, while in the other it’s a half step. They’re both descending phrases - “Marche Slav” is straightforward, and “Prince Ali” inserts a couple of quick ascending turns. The first phrase of the “Marche Slav” theme ends on the tonic note (?) (C?), while “Prince Ali” continues to the dominant below (?) (G?). ---
**Author:** ![UltimaWeaponRoxas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/779978/32.png) [@UltimaWeaponRoxas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltimaWeaponRoxas)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tchaikovskys-marche-slave-op-31-disneys-aladdin/361611/8 "2022-09-04T23:30:34Z")
I was just listening to Tchaikovsky and searched hard and this is the only discussion of this I found. I don’t know about Disney giving or not giving credit, but to give more context, the specific song in which Disney seems to rip off or riff on the main first melody of Tchaikovsky’s March Slave is in “Arabian Nights.” The main chorus of Arabian Nights is sort of a reverse of March Slave, and the final melody dropping at the very end I think is nearly identical to March Slave. You could probably find other instances of them using this theme elsewhere in the film. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lIYL-PQa010/maxresdefault.jpg "Aladdin - Arabian Nights [HD]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIYL-PQa010) ---
**Author:** ![Nescia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9a140/32.png) [@Nescia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nescia)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tchaikovskys-marche-slave-op-31-disneys-aladdin/361611/9 "2023-02-10T21:41:19Z")
The similarities really are striking. But ‘Goodbye Brother’ from The Prince of Egypt have also reminded me of Marche Slave, so it could really be the general eastern motives.