structural:scholar_edition, information:classification, structural:expansion
Accusations of plagiarism

Among the accusations of plagiarism that Lloyd Webber has received, the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen stated that he: "has yet to think up a single note; in fact, the poor guy's never invented one note by himself. That's rather poor". Lloyd Webber's biographer, John Snelson, acknowledged a similarity between the andante movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor and the Jesus Christ Superstar song " I Don't Know How to Love Him ", but wrote that Lloyd Webber:

...brings a new dramatic tension to Mendelssohn's original melody through the confused emotions of Mary Magdalene. The opening theme may be Mendelssohn, but the rhythmic and harmonic treatment along with new lines of highly effective melodic development are Lloyd Webber's. The song works in its own right as its many performers and audiences can witness.

An accusation of plagiarism regarded the 1971 Pink Floyd album Meddle. The sixth track of the album, " Echoes ", has a riff on which Lloyd Webber allegedly based the opening organ riff in " The Phantom of the Opera ". The two riffs share very similar notes and the order of the notes played. Lloyd Webber's pipe organ riff from "Phantom of the Opera" plays D, C ♯, C, B, A ♯, then ascending A ♯, B, C, C ♯, D. Pink Floyd's "Echoes" plays C ♯, C, B, A ♯, A, then ascending A, A ♯, B, C, C ♯. Pink Floyd bassist and co-lead vocalist Roger Waters pointed this out and said it was "probably actionable", but stated that he did not care to take it to court.

Noting similarities between Lloyd Webber's " The Music of the Night " and a recurring melody in Giacomo Puccini 's 1910 opera, La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West), in 1987 the Puccini estate filed a lawsuit against Lloyd Webber, accusing him of plagiarism. The case was settled out of court, but details were not released to the public. The songwriter Ray Repp claimed in a court case that Lloyd Webber had stolen a melody from his own song "Till You", but the court ruled in Lloyd Webber's favour.