[1] The Renaissance cyclic mass, which incorporates a usually well-known portion of plainsong as a cantus firmus in each of its sections, is an early use of this principle of unity in a multiple-section form.
[3][4] Nevertheless, in the Classical period, cyclic technique is found in several works of Mozart: In String Quartet in D minor K. 421, all the four movements are unified by the motif, "F-A-C-C-C-C".
[6] In sacred vocal music of Baroque and Classical periods, there are several examples of cyclic technique, such as Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor and Mozart's Mass in C major, K. 317, Spatzenmesse in C major K. 220, Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento K. 243,[citation needed] and especially Requiem in D minor K. 626, where the "DNA"[clarification needed] of the Lutheran hymn motif, "D-C#-D-E-F", permeates the entire work.
By the 1840s, the technique is already quite established, being found in several works by Robert Schumann, Fanny Hensel, Niels Gade, Franz Berwald, and the earliest compositions of César Franck.
[8] Mid-century, Franz Liszt in works such as the B minor Piano Sonata (1853) did a lot to popularize the cyclic techniques of thematic transformation and double-function form established by Schubert and Berlioz.
By late in the century, cyclic form had become an extremely common principle of construction, most likely because the increasing length and complexity of multiple-movement works demanded a unifying method stronger than mere key relation.