Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich often used a four-note motif in many of his musical works to represent himself. The four notes, D-Eb-C-B, correspond to the German notation D-Es-C-H, chosen to match the German transcription of the composer’s name, Dmitri Schostakowitsch.
It is thought that the prevalence of Shostakovich’s “musical signature” increased with increasing pressure from the Communist Party under which the composer was forced to write. Artists who did not do the will of the state were imprisoned and even killed during Stalin’s purges and their names were stripped of their work; Shostakovich’s musical invention ensured defiantly that no such thing would befall his compositions.
After having been twice denounced by the Soviet government, Shostakovich was forced to join the Communist Party against which he had so strongly but privately struggled. The event was said to have reduced him to tears and is largely regarded as the tipping point for the composer’s mental illness and suicidal tendencies. His use of the DSCH motif culminated in his String Quartet no. 8 composed in only three days, which he cited as his own epitaph and dedicated to “the victims of fascism and war.”
“If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.”
