HYMN OR OPERA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 137, 22 March 1930, Page 5

HYMN OR OPERA.

ORIGIN OF A TUNE. LITIGATION IN LONDON. LONDON, March 2. A hvmn tune which is alleged to have become the principal love song in the new musical comedy, “Silver Wings,” produced at the Dominion Theatre, forms the subject of a. Chancery Court action, Messrs Iticordi and Company, music publishers, are seeking to restrain Messrs Herbert Clayton and Jack Waller from reproducing the song “Asleep in Mv Heart,” which plaintiffs allege is largely a repetition of the best-known motif in the opera “Madame Butterfly,” of which they hold tlio copyright. . , . Counsel said that Iticordi and Company had filed evidence of well-known that Puccini s ail undoubtedly insnired the song. The defence, in denying the allegation, say that, even if it be true, the melody was not original, but was derived‘from the well-known hymn, “In tiie Sweet Bye-and-bve,” by Moody and Sankey. The Judge asked whether there was a counter-claim. Counsel for the defence replied: “We do not hold the Moody and Sankey copyright.” . The Judge ordered an early trial.