Origin of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" Intro - Originally by Giovanni Battista Granata.
Giovanni Battista Granata (1620/1621 – 1687) was an Italian Baroque guitar player and composer. He is generally known as the most prolific guitarist of the 17th century, publishing seven books during his lifetime.[1] Along with many pieces in the standard dance genre of that time, Granata also composed many instrumental toccatas, preludes, and chaconnes. Granata was a barber-surgeon by profession.[2]
Granata's Sonata di Chitarra, e Violino, con il suo Basso Continuo appeared in a surprising connection with a 1970 rock music work, Stairway to Heaven, by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of the rock group Led Zeppelin. After Stairway to Heavenachieved tremendous success, a dispute arose about whether part of the work was plagiarised. Commentators cited numerous earlier works with some degree of similarity,[4] including Granata's Sonata.[5] However, similarity was not evidence that Page and Plant plagiarised Granata.[4]
Granata's Sonata di Chitarra, e Violino, con il suo Basso Continuo appeared in a surprising connection with a 1970 rock music work, Stairway to Heaven, by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of the rock group Led Zeppelin. After Stairway to Heavenachieved tremendous success, a dispute arose about whether part of the work was plagiarised. Commentators cited numerous earlier works with some degree of similarity,[4] including Granata's Sonata.[5] However, similarity was not evidence that Page and Plant plagiarised Granata.[4]
The trust of the late Randy Craig Wolfe claimed that Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page lifted a passage that Wolfe, better known as Randy California, wrote for “Taurus,” a short work he recorded with his band Spirit in 1968.
The “Taurus” recording contains a section that sounds like the instantly recognizable start of “Stairway,” but it was never played for jurors. In trying to show the works were substantially similar, the trust had the tricky task of relying on expert renditions from the sheet music filed with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Jurors, who deliberated about five hours, reached their verdict shortly after having videos of a guitarist performing both passages in question replayed in court. Those renditions seemed more like distant cousins than twin siblings.