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, A, C, B:

:<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: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. 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 subject in the last Contrapunctus of The Art of Fugue. 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

thumb|center|upright=2.6|Excerpt of the [[Tristis est anima mea (attributed to Kuhnau)|Tristis est anima mea motet attributed to Kuhnau (F&nbsp;minor)]]

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: 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.

Other composers

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[[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.]]

thumb|upright=1.75|Schumann, Sechs Fugen for organ, Op. 60, No. 5, mm. 1–4[[File: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.]]

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.]]

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.

The motif's wide popularity came only after the start of the Bach Revival in the first half of the 19th century.

  • 1855 – Franz Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, for organ (later revised, 1870, and arranged, 1871, for piano)
  • 1856 – Johannes Brahms: Fugue in A-flat minor for organ, WoO 8
  • 1937–38 – Anton Webern: String Quartet (the tone row is based on the BACH motif)
  • 1942 – Charles Koechlin: Offrande musicale sur le nom de Bach, Op.187
  • 1951–55 – Luigi Dallapiccola:
  • 1951–55: "Canti di liberazione"
  • 1952: Quaderno musicale di Annalibera for piano
  • 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.
  • 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.