BACH Motif
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In
music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
, the BACH motif is the motif, a succession of
notes Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versi ...
important or characteristic to a piece, ''B flat, A, C, B natural''. In German musical nomenclature, in which the note ''B natural'' is named ''H'' and the ''B flat'' named ''B'', it forms
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
's
family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...
. One of the most frequently occurring examples of a
musical cryptogram A musical cryptogram is a cryptogrammatic sequence of musical symbols which can be taken to refer to an extra-musical text by some 'logical' relationship, usually between note names and letters. The most common and best known examples result fr ...
, the motif has been used by countless composers, especially after the
Bach Revival In the 18th century, the appreciation of Johann Sebastian Bach's music was mostly limited to distinguished connoisseurs. The 19th century started with publication of the first biography of the composer and ended with the completion of the publicat ...
in the first half of the 19th century.


Origin

Johann Gottfried Walther Johann Gottfried Walther (18 September 1684 – 23 March 1748) was a German music theorist, organist, composer, and lexicographer of the Baroque era. Life and work Walther was born at Erfurt. Not only was his life almost exactly contempor ...
's ''Musicalisches Lexikon'' (1732) contains the only biographical sketch of Johann Sebastian Bach published during the composer's lifetime. There the motif is mentioned thus:This reference work thus indicates Bach as the inventor of the motif.


Usage in compositions

In a comprehensive study published in the catalogue for the 1985 exhibition "300 Jahre Johann Sebastian Bach" ("300 years of Johann Sebastian Bach") in
Stuttgart, Germany Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
, Ulrich Prinz lists 409 works by 330 composers from the 17th to the 20th century using the BACH motif. A similar list is available in Malcolm Boyd's volume on Bach: it also contains some 400 works.


Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach used the motif in a number of works, most famously as a
fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...
subject in the last ''Contrapunctus'' of ''
The Art of Fugue ''The Art of Fugue'', or ''The Art of the Fugue'' (), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, ''The Art of Fugue'' is the culmination of Bach's e ...
''. The motif also appears in other pieces. Later commentators wrote: "The figure occurs so often in Bach's bass lines that it cannot have been accidental." Instances of B–A–C–H appearing in Johann Sebastian Bach's compositions and arrangements: * Sarabande from his Cello Suite in C major, BWV 1009 (Beat 1 & 2 of bars 21 & 22) * Fugue from his BWV 898 * Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, BWV 1047 (the continuo part at bar 109) * Gigue from his English Suite No. 6 for keyboard * The subject of the '' Sinfonia in F minor'' BWV 795 "incorporates" a version of the motif. This five-note version appears transposed: a'–g' (rest) g'–b'–a'. Eventually, in measure 17, the piece makes its way to a passage in which the five-note version of the motif starts on B: as B–A–(rest)–A–C–H. * His arrangement of a motet for SSATB singers * Near the end of the Augmentation Canon of Bach's Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her", BWV 769: * Near the end of Contrapunctus IV of ''The Art of Fugue'': * As first four notes of the third and last subject of the final unfinished fugue of ''The Art of Fugue'': * In the Fugue in C♯ minor (BWV 849) from the first book of the
Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time ''clavier'' referred to a variety of keyboard instruments, ...
, the main subject begins with C♯-B♯-E-D♯, a transposed and altered version of the B-A-C-H motif.
Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (5 January 1919 – 30 August 1999) was a German musicologist and professor of historical musicology at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg. Life Eggebrecht was born in Dresden. His father was a Protestant mini ...
goes as far as to reconstruct Bach's putative intentions as an expression of
Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
thought, imagining Bach to be saying, "I am identified with the tonic and it is my desire to reach it ... Like you I am human. I am in need of salvation; I am certain in the hope of salvation, and have been saved by grace," through his use of the motif rather than a standard changing tone figure (B–A–C–B) in the final measures of the fourth fugue of ''
The Art of Fugue ''The Art of Fugue'', or ''The Art of the Fugue'' (), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, ''The Art of Fugue'' is the culmination of Bach's e ...
''.


Other composers

The motif was used as a fugue subject by Bach's son Johann Christian, and by his pupil
Johann Ludwig Krebs Johann Ludwig Krebs (baptized 12 October 1713 – 1 January 1780) was a German Baroque musician and composer for the pipe organ, harpsichord, other instruments and orchestras. His output also included chamber music, choral works and concertos. ...
. It also appears in a work by
Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to b ...
. The motif's wide popularity came only after the start of the
Bach Revival In the 18th century, the appreciation of Johann Sebastian Bach's music was mostly limited to distinguished connoisseurs. The 19th century started with publication of the first biography of the composer and ended with the completion of the publicat ...
in the first half of the 19th century. A few mid-19th century works that feature the motif prominently are: *1845 –
Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
: ''Sechs Fugen über den Namen: Bach'', for organ, pedal piano, or harmonium, Op. 60Platt, Heather Anne (2003). ''Johannes Brahms'', p. 243. . *1855 –
Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...
: ''
Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H Fantasie und Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H (also in the first version known as ''Präludium und Fuge über das Motiv B-A-C-H''), title in English: ''Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H'') ( S.260i/ii st/2nd version S.529i/ii iano arrangement o ...
'', for organ (later revised, 1870, and arranged, 1871, for piano) *1856 –
Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...
: ''Fugue in A-flat minor for organ'', WoO 8 *1878 –
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ALA-LC system: , ISO 9 system: .. (18 March 1844 – 2 ...
– Composers found that the motif could be easily incorporated not only into the advanced harmonic writing of the 19th century, but also into the totally
chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, es ...
idiom of the
Second Viennese School The Second Viennese School () was the group of composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils, particularly Alban Berg and Anton Webern, and close associates in early 20th-century Vienna. Their music was initially characterized by late ...
; so it was used by
Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
,
Anton Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...
, and their disciples and followers. A few 20th-century works that feature the motif prominently are: *1926–28 –
Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
: '' Variations for Orchestra'', Op. 31 *1937–38 –
Anton Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...
:
String Quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...
(the
tone row In music, a tone row or note row ( or '), also series or set, is a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets are sometime ...
is based on the BACH motif) *1942 – Charles Koechlin: Offrande musicale sur le nom de Bach, Op.187 * 1951–55 –
Luigi Dallapiccola Luigi Dallapiccola (3 February 1904 – 19 February 1975) was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions. Biography Dallapiccola was born in Pisino d'Istria (at the time part of Austria-Hungary, current Pazin, Croati ...
: ** 1951–55: "Canti di liberazione"Fearn, Raymond (2003). ''The Music of Luigi Dallapiccola''. 2005: . ** 1952: ''Quaderno musicale di Annalibera'' for piano ** 1954: ''Variazioni'' ("Variations" 1942, orchestral version of ''Quaderno musicale di Annalibera'') *1966 –
Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', '' ...
: '' St Luke Passion'' * 1968–81 –
Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer. Among the most performed and recorded composers of late 20th-century classical music, he is described by musicologist Ivan Moody (composer), Ivan Moody as a ...
: **1968: *** ''The Glass Harmonica'' soundtrack (repeated motif) *** ''Quasi Una Sonata'' (repeated motif borrowed from ''The Glass Harmonica'', one reviewer, "noting that B–A–C–H is the victor of the composition") **1981: Symphony No. 3 – used alongside the monograms of several other composers.Ivashkin, Alexander (2009) Liner notes to BIS complete symphony cycle, BIS-CD-1767-68 * 1971–2000 –
Bertold Hummel Bertold Hummel (27 November 1925 – 9 August 2002) was a German composer of modern classical music. Life Bertold Hummel was born in Hüfingen, Baden. He studied at the Academy of Music in Freiburg from 1947 to 1954, taking composition with H ...
: **1971: ''Metamorphoses on B-A-C-H for Organ and winds op. 40'' **2000: ''Aphorisms on B-A-C-H for Percussion solo and Strings, op. 105'' *1974 –
Jon Lord John Douglas "Jon" Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English keyboardist and composer. In 1968, Lord co-founded the hard rock band Deep Purple. Lord performed on most of the band's most popular songs; he and drummer Ian Paice were the only ...
and
Eberhard Schoener Eberhard Schoener (born 13 May 1938, Stuttgart) is a German musician, composer, conductor, and arranger. His activities combine many styles and formats. Originally a classical violinist and conductor of chamber music and opera, he was one of the ...
: ''Continuo On B.A.C.H.'' on the album ''
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
'' *1992 – Ron Nelson: ''Passacaglia (Homage on B–A–C–H)'' for wind ensemble In the 21st century, composers continue writing works using the motif, frequently in homage to Johann Sebastian Bach. , among others : *2014 - Santiago Lanchares: ''Sobre BACH'' for piano solo *2015 -
Ananda Sukarlan Ananda Sukarlan (born in Jakarta, 10 June 1968) is an Indonesian-Spanish classical composer and pianist. Early life and career Ananda is the son of Sukarlan and Poppy Kumudastuti. He started his music lessons at the age of 5 from his older sist ...
: ''Fantasy & Fugue on B.A.C.H'' for piano solo (commissioned by Fundacion Juan March, Madrid)


References


Sources

* * * * * * Orledge, Robert. Charles Koechlin (1867-1950) His Life and Works. Harwood Academic Publishers pp. 197-198. ISBN 3-7186-0609-7.


Further reading

* Seyoung Jeong (2009). ''Four Modern Piano Compositions Incorporating the B–A–C–H Motive''. . * Schuyler Watrous Robinson (1972). ''The B–A–C–H Motive in German Keyboard Compositions from the Time of J.S. Bach to the Present'' (thesis, University of Illinois)


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bach Motif Motifs (music) Melodic sections Johann Sebastian Bach