On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:21:21 -0800, Kevin Wampler wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Yeah, that's a nice thing to hear.  I'm often surprised by the number
>> of works that include some variation of the Dies Irae, for example.
> 
> Heh, yeah it does somehow manage to find its way into a lot of works. It
> seems to be one of the few themes which is regularly used by many
> different composers as a part of a work (as opposed to a folk tune which
> will generally not be so widely used).  Come to think of it I can't
> think of any other musical themes like this.  The closest I can recall
> offhand is the BACH theme, but as far as I know that's not nearly so
> widely used as the Dies Irae.

There is the bass theme that Tchaikovsky uses in a lot of his works 
(March Slav, 1812 Overture, I think Cappricio Italien uses it as well) - 
he's not the only one who uses it, but also not as widely used.

Of course, for a real wild ride, you need to listen to the 1712 Overture 
by PDQ Bach.

Jim

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