A chaconne (; Italian: ciaccona ) is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass) which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and melodic invention. In this it closely resembles the Passacaglia. The ground bass, if there is one, may typically descend stepwise from the tonic to the dominant pitch of the scale, the harmonies given to the upper parts may emphasize the circle of fifths or a derivative pattern thereof.

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History

Though it originally emerged during the late sixteenth century in Spanish culture, having reputedly been introduced from the New World, as a quick dance-song characterized by suggestive movements and mocking texts, ^[1] by the early eighteenth century the chaconne had evolved into a slow triple meter instrumental form.

One of the best known and most masterful and expressive examples of the chaconne is the final movement from the Violin Partita in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. This 256-measure chaconne takes a plaintive four-bar phrase through a continuous kaleidoscope of musical expression, in both major and minor modes.

After the baroque period, the chaconne fell into decline, though the 32 Variations in C minor by Ludwig van Beethoven belong to the form.

Chaconne and Passacaglia

The chaconne has been understood by some nineteenth and early twentieth-century theorists—in a rather arbitrary way—to be a set of variations on a harmonic progression, as opposed to a set of variations on a melodic bass pattern (to which is likewise artificially assigned the term passacaglia ), ^[2] while other theorists of the same period make the distinction the other way around. ^[3] In actual usage in music history, the term "chaconne" has not been so clearly distinguished from passacaglia as regards the way the given piece of music is constructed, and "modern attempts to arrive at a clear distinction are arbitrary and historically unfounded." ^[4] In fact, the two genres were sometimes combined in a single composition, as in the Cento partite sopra passacaglia by Girolamo Frescobaldi, and the first suite of Les Nations (1726) as well as in the Pièces de Violes (1728) by François Couperin. ^[5]

Frescobaldi, who was probably the first composer to treat the chaconne and passacaglia comparatively, usually (but not always) sets the former in major key, with two compound triple-beat groups per variation, giving his chaconne a more propulsive forward motion than his passacaglia, which usually has four simple triple-beat groups per variation. ^[6] Both are usually in triple meter, begin on the second beat of the bar, and have a theme of four measures (or a close multiple thereof). (In more recent times the chaconne, like the passacaglia, need not be in 3/4 time.)

A chaconne's bass line—let alone the chords involved—may not always be present in exactly the same manner, although the general outlines remain understood. (Handel's "Chaconne" in G minor for keyboard ^[7] has only the faintest relationship to the understood form.)

Examples of chaconnes

• John Adams: second movement "Chaconne: Body Through Which the Dream Flows" from Violin Concerto (1993)
• Johann Sebastian Bach: "Chaconne" from Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin in D minor
• Johann Sebastian Bach: "Meine Tage in dem Leide" chaconne from Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 (c.1707-08)
• Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98, finale
• Benjamin Britten: "Chacony", third movement of the String Quartet No. 2, in C (1946)
• Dietrich Buxtehude: Organ chaconne in E minor (BuxWV 160), symphonic orchestration (1937) by Carlos Chávez.
• Dietrich Buxtehude: Prelude, Fugue, and Chaconne in C Major (BuxWV 137)
• Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Sans frayeur dans ce bois, H.467 for soprano and continuo
• John Corigliano: Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra
• François Couperin: "La Favorite, Chaconne a deux tems," Troisième ordre.
• Cornelis Dopper: Ciaconna gotica (1920)
• Philip Glass: Echorus for two violins and string orchestra (1995)
• Philip Glass: Symphony No. 3, third, slow movement (1995)
• George Frideric Handel: "Chaconne" from Suite in G minor for clavier
• George Frideric Handel: "Chacconne" from the Terpsichore prologue added to the second revision of the opera Il pastor fido, HWV 8c (rev. 1734)
• Gustav Holst: "Chaconne" from First Suite in E-flat major for Military Band (according to one writer, technically a passacaglia, but according to others, technically a chaconne) ^[8]
• Jean-Baptiste Lully: Chaconne from Phaëton (1683)
• Marin Marais: Chaconne in G major, for two violas da gamba and continuo, no. 47 from the Première Livre de pièces de violes (1686–89)
• Marin Marais: Chaconne, from Suite no. 1 in C major in the Pièces en trio pour les flûtes, violon, et dessus de violes (1692)
• Marin Marais: Chaconne, from the Suitte d'un goût Etranger , from the [Quatrième Livre de] Pièces à une et à trois violes (1717)
• Claudio Monteverdi: Zefiro Torna from Scherzi musicali cioè arie et madrigali (Venice, 1632) an early example of vocal music sung to a chaconne accompaniment.
• Carl Nielsen: Chaconne, op. 32, for piano (1916–17)
• Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D (see that article for more examples using the chord progression of Pachelbel's Canon)
• Henry Purcell: Chacony for strings and continuo in G minor Z.730 (1680)
• Jean-Philippe Rameau: "L'hymen—Chaconne", Scene VI from Les fêtes d'Hébé (1739)
• Tomaso Antonio Vitali: Chaconne in G minor for Solo Violin (a 19th century musical hoax)

References

1. Alexander Silbiger, "Chaconne", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001).
2. Percy Goetschius, ''The Larger Forms of Musical Composition: An Exhaustive Explanation of the Variations, Rondos, and Sonata Designs, for the General Student of Musical Analysis, and for the Special Student of Structural Composition'' (York: G. Schirmer, 1915), 29 and 40.
3. Lucas, Clarence Lucas, 1908. ''The Story of Musical Form'' (The Music Story Series, edited by Frederick J. Crowest. London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd.; New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908), 203.
4. Manfred Bukofzer, ''Music in the Baroque Era'' (New York: Norton, 1947), 42.
5. Alexander Silbiger, "Passacaglia and Ciaccona: Genre Pairing and Ambiguity from Frescobaldi to Couperin", ''Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music'' 2, no. 1 (1996).
6. Alexander Silbiger, "Chaconne" ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001).
7. Händel, Georg Friedrich. "Chaconne," ''Klavierwerke / Keyboard Works'' IV. Einzelne Suiten und Stücke / Miscellaneous Suites and Pieces. Zweite Folge / Second Part. Herausgebegen von / Edited by Terence Best. Kassel: Bärenreiter, c1975, pp. 47-49.
8. Budd Udell, "Standard Works for Band: Gustav Holst's First Suite in E? Major for Military Band." ''Music Educators Journal'' 69, no. 4 (1982) page 28. (JSTOR subscription access) - Pam Hurry, Mark Phillips, and Mark Richards,[1] (Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0435812580) page 238. - Clarence Lucas, ''The Story of Musical Form'' (The Music Story Series, edited by Frederick J. Crowest. London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd.; New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908) page 203.