DSCH motif
Musical monogram of Dmitri Shostakovich
title: "DSCH motif" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["melodic-sections", "motifs-(music)", "dmitri-shostakovich"] description: "Musical monogram of Dmitri Shostakovich" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSCH_motif" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Musical monogram of Dmitri Shostakovich ::
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \time 4/4 d es c b } } |width=300|caption=The DSCH motif, consisting of the notes D-E-C-B}}DSCH is a musical motif used by the composer Dmitri Shostakovich to represent himself. It is a musical cryptogram in the manner of the BACH motif, consisting of the notes D, E-flat, C, B natural, or in German musical notation D, Es, C, H (pronounced as "De-Es-Ce-Ha"), thus standing for the composer's initials in German transliteration: D. Sch. (Dmitri Schostakowitsch).
Usage
By Shostakovich
The motif occurs in many of his works, including:
- Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77
- Fugue No. 15 in D-flat major, Op. 87 (only once, in the stretto)
- String Quartet No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 92
- Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93
- String Quartet No. 6 in G major, Op. 101 (Played all at once by the four instruments at the end of each movement)
- String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 (appears in every single movement)
- Symphony No. 14 in G minor, Op. 135
- Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141.
- Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61 (questionable)
By others
Many homages to Shostakovich (such as Schnittke's Prelude in memory of Dmitri Shostakovich or Tsintsadze's 9th String Quartet) make extensive use of the motif. The British composer Ronald Stevenson composed a large Passacaglia on it. Also Edison Denisov dedicated some works (1969 DSCH for clarinet, trombone, cello and piano, and his 1970 saxophone sonata) to Shostakovich, by quoting the motif several times and using it as the first four notes of a twelve-tone series. Denisov was Shostakovich's protégé for a long time.
References
Bibliography
- Brown, Stephen C., “Tracing the Origins of Shostakovich’s Musical Motto,” Intégral 20 (2006): 69–103.
- Gasser, Mark. "Ronald Stevenson, Composer-Pianist: An Exegetical Critique from a Pianistic Perspective". PhD diss. [Western Australia]: Edith Cowan University, 2013.
References
- Taruskin, Richard. (2010). "Music in the Late Twentieth Century: The Oxford History of Western Music". Oxford University Press.
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