Jun 13, 2019
BACH Motif & DSCH Motif
Another striking resemblance between Johann Sebastian Bach and Dmitri Shostakovich (obviously influenced by the former): they both made musical motifs from their names.
Here is the famous BACH motif, most notably heard in Die Kunst der Fuge, Contrapunctus XIV:
And here is the DSCH motif, composed from German musical letter names. These would be D, E flat (Es in German), C, and B (H in German):
Just as with Bach, Shostakovich introduced this motif as his personal signature within a piece, finding several opportunities to introduce it throughout famous works.
Also, other composers have used both these motifs, too.
