Improvisation on the theme B A C H

In German Baroque music notation “B” indicates B flat, and the “H” indicates B natural. Thus it is possible playing the sequence, B-flat, A natural, C natural, B natural, to play a musical cryptogram of the name Bach.  This clever little musical motif was first used by Johann Sebastian Bach in his famous work “The Art of Fugue.” It was then picked up and used in compositions by other members of the Bach family, and soon became cemented in western music tradition as one of the most honored and enduring motifs for pipe organ and keyboard improvisation.  Most famously Franz Liszt used it for his gargantuan “Fantasy and Fugue on the theme B-A-C-H.” Other notable uses are by Robert Schumann in his “Six Fugues on B-A-C-H”, Johannes Brahms, Arnold Schoenberg, and more recently Arvo Pärt.