How is it that Bach, Handel and Mozart all used the same fugue subject?

A short discussion with examples from Bach, Handel and Mozart of the three composers using the same fugue theme.
Bach: Well Tempered Clavier Book 2, A minor, BWV 889 (Andras Schiff - Decca)
Handel: Messiah, And with His Stripes, F minor, HWV 56 (Chicago SO/Solti - Decca)
Mozart: Requiem, Kyrie, D minor, K 626 (Berlin PO/Abbado - DG)
A new analysis of a standard Western classical work is uploaded every 2 weeks

[@MakerfieldConsort]

Mozart wrote a German-language adaptation of "Messiah", so was very familiar with "And with his stripes", which in Mozart's version is "Durch seine Wunden sind wir geheilt".

[@composernotes]

Thank you. I knew Mozart had orchestrated Messiah. I did not know that it was also translated into German

[@paolots]

Excellent, sometimes I see some motifs or ideas as kind of archetypes, they just repeat through time, different than simply plagiarism. Brilliant to explain this, +1

[@ramonruizcontreras7779]

True.

[@evamatango6573]

Gran trabajo de enseñanza
Muchas gracias
Felicitaciones 🎶🎶🎶

[@NidusFormicarum]

Well, all the themes are completely different. Handel's and Bach's theme begin with the same motive. Mozart's doesn't. The structure of the three compostions are also very different.

[@castelodeossos3947]

Most interesting and indeed, horripilating. Fail, however, to understand why composers wouldn't use the same bits and pieces in their compositions, writers do it all the time. After all, it's impossible to be truly original in any medium.

[@handavid6421]

absolutely true, that's a new word for me by the way... "horripilating".

[@castelodeossos3947]

@@handavid6421 Very sorry, can only think of another way of saying it that is clumsy.