{{Short description|Musical motif spelling BACH}} {{Redirect|BACH|other uses|Bach (disambiguation)}} [[File:B-a-c-h Reger.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|"b–a–c–h is beginning and end of all music" (Max Reger 1912)]] In music, the '''BACH motif''' is a succession of notes important or characteristic to a piece, which consists of the notes B{{music|flat}}, A, C, B{{music|natural}}:

:<score sound="1"> { \override Score.TimeSignature#'stencil = ##f \set Score.proportionalNotationDuration = #(ly:make-moment 2/1) \relative c'' { \time 4/1 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 1 = 60 bes1 a c b! } } </score>

In German musical nomenclature, in which the note ''B natural'' is named ''H'' and the ''B flat'' named ''B'', it forms Johann Sebastian Bach's family name. One of the most frequently occurring examples of a musical cryptogram, the motif has been used by countless composers, especially after the Bach Revival in the first half of the 19th century.

==Origin== Johann Gottfried Walther'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:<ref>Johann Gottfried Walther [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_7_k-AAAAcAAJ#page/n85/mode/1up ''Musicalisches Lexicon oder Musicalische Bibliothec'', p. 64.] Leipzig, W. Deer. 1732.</ref>{{quotation|...all those who carried the name [Bach] were as far as known committed to music, which may be explained by the fact that even the letters '''b&nbsp;a&nbsp;c&nbsp;h''' in this order form a melody. (This peculiarity was discovered by Mr. Bach of Leipzig.)}}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, Ulrich Prinz lists 409 works by 330 composers from the 17th to the 20th century using the BACH motif.<ref>Ulrich Prinz, Joachim Dorfmüller and Konrad Küster (1985). ''Die Tonfolge B–A–C–H in Kompositionen des 17. bis 20. Jahrhunderts: ein Verzeichnis'', in: ''300 Jahre Sebastian Bach'' (exhibition catalogue), pp.&nbsp;389–419. {{ISBN|3-7952-0459-3}}</ref> A similar list is available in Malcolm Boyd's volume on Bach: it also contains some 400 works.<ref>Malcolm Boyd (1999). ''Bach''. Oxford University Press. 2006 edition: {{ISBN|0-19-530771-2}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=November 2019}}

===Johann Sebastian Bach=== Johann Sebastian Bach used the motif in a number of works, most famously as a fugue subject in the last ''Contrapunctus'' of ''The Art of Fugue''. The motif also appears in other pieces.<ref name="grove">{{Cite Grove |last=Boyd |first=Malcolm |title=B–A–C–H}}</ref> Later commentators wrote: "The figure occurs so often in Bach's bass lines that it cannot have been accidental."<ref>Marshall, Robert (2003). ''Eighteenth-Century Keyboard Music'', p. 201 and p. 224n18. {{ISBN|0-415-96642-6}}. See Godt 1979.</ref>

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"<ref>Schulenberg, David (2006). ''The Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach'', p. 197. {{ISBN|0-415-97399-6}}.</ref> a version of the motif. This five-note version appears transposed: a{{music|b}}'–g' (rest) g'–b{{music|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{{music|b}}: as B–A–(rest)–A–C–H. * His arrangement of a motet for SSATB singers [[File:Kuhnau.tristis.jpg|thumb|center|upright=2.6|Excerpt of the ''Tristis est anima mea'' motet attributed to Kuhnau (F&nbsp;minor)]] [[File:Musik.beispiel.b-a-c-h.jpg|thumb|center|upright=2.6|Bach's E&nbsp;minor arrangement of the same passage: B–A–C–H appears in the alto voice]] * Near the end of the Augmentation Canon of Bach's Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her", BWV&nbsp;769:<ref name="grove" /> thumb|center|upright=2.6|B–A–C–H (and its inversion) in the last bars of the Augmentation Canon of BWV&nbsp;769 * Near the end of Contrapunctus IV of ''The Art of Fugue'':{{sfn|Cumming|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rXLXEhrBFLcC&pg=PA256 256]}} thumb|center|upright=2.6|B–A–C–H in the tenor part of the last bars 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'':{{sfn|Brandstätter|1990}} thumb|center|upright=2.6|B–A–C–H opening the third and last subject of the 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 main subject begins with C♯-B♯-E-D♯, a transposed and altered version of the B-A-C-H motif. * In the last bar of Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist, BWV 667 * In the Dorian Toccata (at the exact midpoint in bars 49 and 50) and Fugue (many references, but the most obvious is probably in the pedal in bars 175 and 176)

Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht goes as far as to reconstruct Bach's putative intentions as an expression of Lutheran thought, imagining Bach to be saying, "I am identified with the tonic and it is my desire to reach it&nbsp;... 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,"<ref>{{harvnb|Eggebrecht|1985|p=15}} {{in lang|de}}, or {{harvnb|Eggebrecht|1993|p=8}} (translated), cited in {{harvnb|Brandstätter|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gfXMDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 163]}}, {{harvnb|Kivy|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pgnLU09qaEYC&pg=PA380 380]}}, and {{harvnb|Cumming|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rXLXEhrBFLcC&pg=PA256 256]}}.</ref> through his use of the motif rather than a standard changing tone figure (B{{music|b}}–A–C–B{{music|b}}) in the final measures of the fourth fugue of ''The Art of Fugue''.{{sfn|Brandstätter|1990}}{{sfn|Kivy|2000|loc="The Solution", pp.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=pgnLU09qaEYC&pg=PA380 380]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=pgnLU09qaEYC&pg=PA381 381]}}{{sfn|Cumming|2000|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rXLXEhrBFLcC&pg=PA256 256]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=rXLXEhrBFLcC&pg=PA257 257]}}

===Other composers=== [[File:Schumann, Sechs Fugen über den Namen B-A-C-H, op. 60, no. 4, mm. 1-3.png|thumb|upright=1.75|BACH motif followed by transposed version from Schumann's ''Sechs Fugen über den Namen B–A–C–H'', Op. 60, No. 4, mm. 1–3<ref name="Reynolds">Christopher Alan Reynolds (2003). ''Motives for Allusion: Context and Content in Nineteenth-Century Music'', p. 31. {{ISBN|0-674-01037-X}}.</ref>File:Schumann, Sechs Fugen über den Namen B-A-C-H, op. 60, no. 4, mm. 1-3.mid<br>Note that C and H are transposed down, leaving the spelling unaffected but changing the melodic contour.]] [[File:Schumann, Sechs Fugen for organ, op. 60, no. 5, mm. 1-4.png|thumb|upright=1.75|Schumann, Sechs Fugen for organ, Op. 60, No. 5, mm. 1–4File:Schumann, Sechs Fugen for organ, op. 60, no. 5, mm. 1-4.mid<br>The motif may be used in different ways: here it is only the beginning of an extended melody.<ref>Daverio, John (1997). ''Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age"'', p. 309. {{ISBN|0-19-509180-9}}.</ref>]] [[File:Charles Ives, 3-Page Sonata, 1st mvt., Bach motif.png|thumb|upright=1.75|Charles Ives, ''3-Page Sonata'' (1905), first mvt., first fugal complexFile:Charles Ives, 3-Page Sonata, 1st mvt., Bach motif.mid<br>The BACH motif from ''The Art of Fugue'' Contrapunctus XIXc is the "1st Theme'/fugue subject" of Ives' combined sonata-allegro and fugal procedures.<ref>Crist, Stephen (2002). ''Bach Perspectives: Vol. 5: Bach in America'', p. 175. {{ISBN|0-252-02788-4}}. "The reference could not be more clear."</ref>]] {{Image frame|content=<score sound="1"> { #(set-global-staff-size 17.5) \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \override Score.SpacingSpanner.strict-note-spacing = ##t \set Score.proportionalNotationDuration = #(ly:make-moment 3/1) \relative c'' { \time 4/1 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 1 = 60 bes1 a c b! dis e cis d ges, f aes g } } </score>|width=390|caption=Webern's String Quartet, Op. 28, tone row, composed of three tetrachords: P I RI, with P = the BACH motif, I = it inverted, and RI = it inverted and backwards.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}|max-width=}}

The motif was used as a fugue subject by Bach's son Johann Christian, and by his pupil Johann Ludwig Krebs. It also appears in a work by Georg Philipp Telemann.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Ben |title=B–A–C–H motif in Oboe Concerto, TWV 51:D6 (Telemann, Georg Philipp) |url=https://imslp.org/index.php?title=Special:WikiForum&thread=24600 |website=IMSLP |access-date=1 October 2019 |quote=there is a clear B.A.C.H. motif at the beginning of the Adagio}}</ref>

The motif's wide popularity came only after the start of the Bach Revival in the first half of the 19th century.<ref name="grove"/> A few mid-19th century works that feature the motif prominently are: *1845 – Robert Schumann: ''Sechs Fugen über den Namen: Bach'', for organ, pedal piano, or harmonium, Op. 60<ref name="Reynolds"/><ref name="Platt">Platt, Heather Anne (2003). ''Johannes Brahms'', p. 243. {{ISBN|0-8153-3850-3}}.</ref> *1855 – Franz Liszt: ''Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H'', for organ (later revised, 1870, and arranged, 1871, for piano)<ref>Arnold, Ben (2002). ''The Liszt Companion'', p. 173. {{ISBN|0-313-30689-3}}.</ref> *1856 – Johannes Brahms: ''Fugue in A-flat minor for organ'', WoO 8<ref name="Platt"/> *1878 – Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov – {{lang|fr|Valse, Intermezzo, Scherzo, Nocturne, Prelude et Fugue (Six Variations) sur le thème B–A–C–H}} 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 idiom of the Second Viennese School; so it was used by Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and their disciples and followers. A few 20th-century works that feature the motif prominently are: *1926–28 – Arnold Schoenberg: ''Variations for Orchestra'', Op. 31<ref>Stein, Erwin (ed.). 1987. ''Arnold Schoenberg letters'', p. 206. University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-06009-8}}</ref> *1937–38 – Anton Webern: String Quartet (the tone row is based on the BACH motif)<ref>Bailey, Kathryn. 2006. ''The Twelve-note Music of Anton Webern: Old Forms In a New Language'', p. 24. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-54796-3}}</ref> *1942 – Charles Koechlin: Offrande musicale sur le nom de Bach, Op.187<ref>{{Cite book |last=Orledge |first=Robert |title=Charles Koechlin (1867–1950) : his life and works |date=1989 |publisher=Harwood Academic Publishers |isbn=3-7186-4898-9 |location=Chur, Switzerland |oclc=18833927}}</ref> * 1951–55 – Luigi Dallapiccola: ** 1951–55: "Canti di liberazione"<ref name="Fearn">Fearn, Raymond (2003). ''The Music of Luigi Dallapiccola''. 2005: {{ISBN|1-58046-078-X}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=November 2019}} ** 1952: ''Quaderno musicale di Annalibera'' for piano <ref name="Fearn" />{{page needed|date=November 2019}} ** 1954: ''Variazioni'' ("Variations" 1942, orchestral version of ''Quaderno musicale di Annalibera'')<ref name="Fearn" />{{page needed|date=November 2019}} *1966 – Krzysztof Penderecki: ''St Luke Passion'' * 1968–81 – Alfred Schnittke: **1968: *** ''The Glass Harmonica'' soundtrack (repeated motif)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schmelz |first1=Peter J |title=Such Freedom, If Only Musical: Unofficial Soviet Music During the Thaw |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |page=255 <!--|access-date=16 April 2023-->}}</ref> *** ''Quasi Una Sonata'' (repeated motif borrowed from ''The Glass Harmonica'', one reviewer, "noting that B–A–C–H is the victor of the composition")<ref>Schmelz, Peter J. (2009). ''Such Freedom, If Only Musical'', p.&nbsp;255–256. {{ISBN|0-19-534193-7}}.</ref> **1981: Symphony No. 3 – used alongside the monograms of several other composers.<ref>Ivashkin, Alexander (2009) Liner notes to BIS complete symphony cycle, BIS-CD-1767-68</ref> * 1971–2000 – Bertold Hummel: **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 and Eberhard Schoener: ''Continuo On B.A.C.H.'' on the album ''Windows'' *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.<ref name="grove" /> , among others : *2014 - Santiago Lanchares: ''Sobre BACH'' for piano solo *2015 - Ananda Sukarlan: ''Fantasy & Fugue on B.A.C.H'' for piano solo (commissioned by Fundacion Juan March, Madrid)

==References== {{reflist}}

==Sources== * {{cite book |last1 = Brandstätter |first1 = Ursula |author-link1 = :de:Brandstätter |date = 1990 |chapter = Hans Heinrich Eggebrechts deutung der 'Kunst der Fuge' von J.&nbsp;S. Bach |trans-chapter = Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht's interpretation of 'The Art of Fugue' by J.&nbsp;S. Bach |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gfXMDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 |title = Musik im Spiegel der Sprache: Theorie und Analyse des Sprechens über Musik |trans-title = Music reflected in language: theory and analysis of the discourse about music |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gfXMDgAAQBAJ |language = de |edition = eBook |publisher = Springer |publication-date = 2017 |pages = 163–180 |isbn = 9783476044600 }} * {{cite book |last1 = Cumming |first1 = Naomi |author-link1 = |date = 2000 |chapter = 8. Culturally Embedded Signs", subsection "2. Skeptical Issues", part "a. Humpty Dumpty and the New Musicology |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rXLXEhrBFLcC&pg=PA254 |title = The Sonic Self: Musical Subjectivity and Signification |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rXLXEhrBFLcC |publisher = Indiana University Press |pages = 254–258 |isbn = 0253337542 }} * {{cite book |last1 = Eggebrecht |first1 = Hans Heinrich |author-link1 = Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht |date = 1985 |orig-year = 1984 |title = Bachs Kunst der Fuge: Erscheinung und Deutung |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aigZAQAAIAAJ |language = de |edition = 4th |publisher = Noetzel |publication-date = 1998 |isbn = 379590725X }} * {{cite book |last1 = Eggebrecht |first1 = Hans Heinrich |author-link1 = Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht |translator-last1 = Prater |translator-first1 = Jeffrey L. |date = 1993 |title = J.S. Bach's The Art of Fugue: The Work and Its Interpretation |publisher = Iowa State University Press |isbn = 0813814898 }} * {{cite book |last1 = Kivy |first1 = Peter |author-link1 = Peter Kivy |date = 2000 |chapter = 'Absolute Music' and the 'New Musicology' |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pgnLU09qaEYC&pg=PA378 |editor1-last = Greer |editor1-first = David |editor2-last = Rumbold |editor2-first = Ian |editor2-link = :d:Q95347516 |editor3-last = King |editor3-first = Jonathan |title = Musicology and Sister Disciplines: Past, Present, Future |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pgnLU09qaEYC |publisher = Oxford University Press |pages = 378–388 |isbn = 0198167342 }} * 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''. {{ISBN|3-8364-9768-9}}. * 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== {{Commons category|BACH motif}} * {{IMSLP|work=List of compositions with the theme "B-A-C-H"|cname=List of compositions with the theme "B–A–C–H"}}

{{Johann Sebastian Bach}} {{Motives (music)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bach Motif}} Category:Motifs (music) Category:Melodic sections Category:Johann Sebastian Bach Category:Musical cryptograms