Daniel Christlein to Margaret Mikulska: >>(...) The motif itself comes from plainchant, although I can't recall >>right now from where exactly - I think it's one of the Gregorian Gloria >>movements. > >(...) Of course, the appearance of these notes in various works by >various composers could have been a coincidence, but the plainchant origin >would certainly explain its ubiquity (not unlikely, then, as Steve Schwartz >suggested, that composers would have been regularly exposed to it while >studying counterpoint). I found the famous motive in a book of counterpoint exercises by Cherubini (which I assume he took from previous sources). It appears as a "cantus firmus" (i.e. a given voice) under two versions: a) c-d-f-e-g-f-e-d-c b) c-d-f-e-a-g-f-e-d (this is almost the melodic skeleton of Mozart's 41 finale theme). Pablo Massa [log in to unmask]