In music a passacaglia (French: passacaille, Spanish: pasacalle, German: passacalia; Italian: passacaglio, passagallo, passacagli, passacaglie) is a musical form and the corresponding court dance. Its name derives from the Spanish pasar (to walk) and calle (street), deriving either from street performance or musicians taking a few steps during one. Typically, the Spanish pasa-calle is a solemn, stately accompaniment to the parading of floats in religious processions. For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... The term musical form refers to two related concepts: the type of composition (for example, a musical work can have the form of a symphony, a concerto, or other generic type -- see Multi-movement forms below) the structure of a particular piece (for example, a piece can be written in... Historical dances are dances that reenact what was danced in times long past, together with music and costumes. ...

Origins and features

Originally a slow Spanish and later Italian dance in 3/4 time, the passacaglia denotes a musical work in 3/4 based on a ground bass pattern (that is, a melodic fragment (usually 4, 6 or 8 bars long, rarely an odd number such as 3, 5 or 7) which repeats unchangingly throughout the duration of the piece, while the upper lines get varied freely, over this bass pattern that serves as a harmonic anchor). The passacaglia is very closely related to the chaconne, except that the chaconne more often than not is in a major key, while the passacaglias are usually in a minor key (there are numerous exceptions). The chaconne is usually based on a harmonic sequence rather than a ground bass pattern. But there are passacaglias titled as chaconnes and vice versa in many original baroque sources, leading to some confusion. Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) generally refers to movement used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... In music, an ostinato (derived from Italian: stubborn, compare English: obstinate) is a motif or phrase which is persistently repeated at the same pitch. ... Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In music a chaconne is a musical form. ...

In modern music, the term passacaglia is often used to denote a piece that doesn't necessarily conform to the baroque ideal of the form (and not even necessarily in 3/4 time), but which has a more or less fixed bass pattern (ground bass) or chord progression, sometimes both, that is repeated consecutively throughout most or all of the piece. Sometimes it departs entirely from the form, but retains its essentially grave character (cf. passacaglias by Shostakovich) A chord progression (also chord sequence and harmonic progression or sequence), as its name implies, is a series of chords played in order. ... Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich (Russian Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович) (September 25, 1906 – August 9, 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet period. ...

Composers

One of the best known examples of a passacaglia in western classical music is the one in C minor for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 582. Other examples are the organ passacaglias by Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Pachelbel, Johann Kaspar Kerll, Georg Muffat, Gottlieb Muffat, Johann Kuhnau, Max Reger. Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... Organ in Katharinenkirche, Frankfurt am Main, Germany The organ is a keyboard instrument played using one or more manuals and a pedalboard. ... Bach in a 1748 portrait by Haussmann Places in which Bach resided throughout his life Johann Sebastian Bach (pronounced ) (21 March 1685 O.S. – 28 July 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the... The Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor (BWV 582) is the name of a piece of music by Johann Sebastian Bach for the organ. ... The only surviving portrait of Buxtehude, from a 1674 painting by Johannes Voorhout. ... Johann Pachelbel (IPA: []) (baptized September 1, 1653 – March 3, 1706) was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. ... Johann Kaspar Kerll (1627 - 1693) was a German Baroque composer. ... Georg Muffat (baptized June 1, 1653 - February 23, 1704) was a Baroque composer. ... Gottleib Theophil Muffat (1690 - 1770) was a Austrian composer/organist and son of Georg Muffat. ... Johann Kuhnau, (born 1660) was a German composer, organist and harpsichordist. ... Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (March 19, 1873 – May 11, 1916) was a German composer, organist, pianist and teacher. ...

The first page of the autograph manuscript of the Passacaglia by Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 582

The French clavecinists, especially Louis Couperin and his nephew François Couperin, le grand, were noted for their use of the passecaille form, even though they tended to deviate from the passacaglia form to a considerable degree, often assuming a form of recurring episodes in rondo. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Bach in a 1748 portrait by Haussmann Places in which Bach resided throughout his life Johann Sebastian Bach (pronounced ) (21 March 1685 O.S. – 28 July 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the... The Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor (BWV 582) is the name of a piece of music by Johann Sebastian Bach for the organ. ... Harpsichord in the Flemish style A harpsichord is any of a family of European keyboard instruments, including the large instrument currently called a harpsichord, but also the smaller virginals, the muselar virginals and the spinet. ... Louis Couperin was a French musician of the Baroque period. ... François Couperin (born Paris November 10, 1668 – September 12, 1733 in Paris) was an esteemed French composer in the Baroque style. ...

The fourth movement of Luigi Boccherini's Quintettino #6, Op. 30, (also known as "Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid") is titled "Passacalle". Director Peter Weir included the piece at the end of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Luigi Boccherini Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini (February 19, 1743 – May 28, 1805) was a classical era composer and cellist from Italy, whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. ... Peter Lindsay Weir (born August 21, 1944) is an Australian film director. ... Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin. ...

There are lute passacaglias by Alessandro Piccinini, G.H.Kapsberger, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Esaias Reussner, count Logy, Robert de Visee, Jacob Bittner, Philipp Franz Lesage De Richee, Gleitsmann, Dufaut, Gallot, Denis Gautier, Ennemod Gautier, Roman Turovsky-Savchuk and Maxym Zvonaryov, a passacaglia for bandura by Julian Kytasty, passacaglias for baroque guitar by Paulo Galvao, Santiago de Murcia, Antonio de Santa Cruz, Francisco Guerau, Gaspar Sanz, Marcello Vitale et al. A medieval era lute. ... Alessandro Piccinini (1566-1638), Italian lutenist and composer. ... Johann(es) Hieronymus Kapsberger (also: Giovanni Girolamo or Giovanni Geronimo Kapsperger), (1580 - January 17, 1651) was a German-Italian virtuoso performer and composer of lute, theorbo and chitarrone music during the early Baroque period. ... Sylvius Leopold Weiss. ... Informally, an ology is a field of study or academic discipline ending in the suffix -ology. ... Robert de Visée (c. ... Roman Turovsky-Savchuk Roman Turovsky-Savchuk is a painter and lutenist-composer. ... Julian Kytasty is an Ukrainian-American composer, singer, kobzar, bandurist and flute player. ... Santiago of Murcia was a Spanish guitarist born in Madrid around 1682 and died arround 1732. ... Francisco Guerau (1649 – 1717/1722) was a Spanish Baroque composer. ... Gaspar Sanz (April 4, 1640 - 1710) was a Spanish composer and priest born in Calanda in the region of Aragon. ...

There are such ensemble examples of the form as the Passacaille "Les plaisirs ont choisi" from Lully's opera Armide (1686) and Dido's lament, "When I am Laid in Earth", in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and others, such as aria "Piango, gemo, sospiro" by Antonio Vivaldi, or "Usurpator tiranno" and "Stabat Mater" by Giovanni Felice Sances, et al. Jean-Baptiste de Lully, originally Giovanni Battista di Lulli (November 28, 1632 – March 22, 1687), was an Italian-born French composer, who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. ... Armide is an opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully. ... Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (IPA: [1]; September 10 (?) [2], 1659–November 21, 1695), a Baroque composer, is generally considered to be one of Englands greatest composers. ... The Composer, Henry Purcell Dido and Aeneas is an opera by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell, from a libretto by Nahum Tate. ... Portrait of Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (March 4, 1678 – July 27 or 28, 1741), nicknamed Il Prete Rosso (The Red Priest), was a Venetian priest and baroque music composer, as well as a famous violinist. ...

Another important passacaglia is one in g-minor for unaccompanied violin and one in c-minor for violin and continuo by Heinrich Ignaz Biber. Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervallic content (the intervals which make up a sonority), later chords, in relation to a bass note. ... Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (August 12, 1644 – May 3, 1704) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. ...

A 19th century example is the c-minor Passacaglia for organ by Felix Mendelssohn, or the finale of Josef Rheinberger's 8th organ sonata. Perhaps the most frequently heard passacaglia, however, is the finale of Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 4 (although Brahms did not call it a passacaglia, it follows the rules of one and the repeated figure is based on one found in Bach's Cantata No. 150, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich). The Norwegian Johan Halvorsen also composed a passacaglia that is based on a Handel theme and written for a duet of violin and viola, considered among the most popular pieces for both instruments due to its simplicity and depth. A number of symphonies and concertos by Dmitri Shostakovich notably make use of the Passacaglia form. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born and known generally as Felix Mendelssohn (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847) was a German composer and conductor of the early Romantic period. ... Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (March 17, 1839, in Vaduz - November 25, 1901, in Munich) was a Liechtensteinian composer. ... Sonata (From Latin and Italian sonare, to sound), in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to cantata (Latin cantare, to sing), a piece sung. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Symphony No. ... A cantata (Italian, sung) is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment and generally containing more than one movement. ... Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (To Thee, Lord, I Lift my Soul) is a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. ... Johan Halvorsen (March 15, 1864–December 4, 1935) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and musician. ... Dmitri Shostakovich   (Russian: , Dmitrij Dmitrievič Å ostakovič) (September 25 [O.S. September 12] 1906–August 9, 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet period. ...

A harmonic pattern known as La Folia is related to Passacaglia. Many Baroque composers wrote variations on La Folia, also known as La Follia and La folie d'Espagne (the folly of Spain) a chord progression actually based on a Portuguese folk dance. Composers from Jean-Baptiste Lully and Arcangelo Corelli to Sergei Rachmaninoff and Vangelis (in his film score to the motion picture 1492: Conquest of Paradise) have used the La Folia theme, although not always composing a passacaglia based on it. -- is one of the oldest European musical themes. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens. ... Jean-Baptiste de Lully, originally Giovanni Battista di Lulli (November 28, 1632 – March 22, 1687), was an Italian-born French composer, who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. ... Arcangelo Corelli (February 17, 1653 – January 8, 1713) was an influential Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music. ... Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian: , Sergej Vasilevič Rakhmaninov, 1 April 1873 (N.S.) or 20 March 1873 (O.S.) – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, one of the last great champions of the Romantic style of European classical music. ... Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου) [IPA: ] is a world-renowned Greek composer of electronic, New Age and classical music and musical performer, under the artist name Vangelis Papathanassiou (Βαγγέλης Παπαθανασίου) or just Vangelis (a diminutive of Evangelos) [IPA: or ]. He is best known for his Academy Award winning score for the film Chariots of... For the record label, see Film Score Monthly. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as... 1492: Conquest of Paradise is a 1992 American/Spanish adventure/drama film. ...

Modern examples

The passacaglia proved an enduring form throughout the 20th century onward. Other examples of uses of the passacaglia form include the following.

• Passacaglia Op. 1 by Anton Webern (1908)
• "Nacht" in Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire (1912)
• The 10th variation of Ernő Dohnányi's Variations on a Nursery Theme, op. 25 (1914)
• The third movement of Maurice Ravel's Trio in A minor (1914)
• Aaron Copland's Passacaglia (1922)
• Leopold Godowsky's Passacaglia (44 variations, cadenza and fugue on the opening of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony) (1927)
• Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum contains a Passacaglia (1929-30
• The fourth movement of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 (1943)
• "Dirge", from the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, by Benjamin Britten (1943)
• Passacaglia, a short twelve-tone work for solo piano by Walter Piston (1943)
• Passacaglia for large orchestra by Frank Martin (1944)
• The third movement of Dmitri Shostakovich's Second Piano Trio (1944)
• The Passacaglia interlude from the opera Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten (1945), often performed separately
• The final movement of Britten's String Quartet No. 2 (1945, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the death of Purcell)
• The third movement of Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto (1947-1948).
• Mystery of Time, Passacaglia for large orchestra by Miloslav Kabeláč (1953-1957)
• Ronald Stevenson's Passacaglia on DSCH (1960-62)
• Benjamin Britten's Nocturnal after John Dowland for guitar (1963) concludes with a passacaglia followed by the Dowland theme
• Passacaglia And Fugue by Don Ellis, from Don Ellis Live at Monterey (Original release 1966, CD rerelease 1998)
• An American Requiem by John Kenneth Graham (commemorating the dead and wounded of the Iraq War, 2007), uses a passacaglia throughout its setting of the traditional Dies Irae.
• The central episode of the final movement of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15 (1971)
• "Lento e ritmico" from "Oration", the cello concerto (1930) by Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
• The last movement of Britten's String Quartet No. 3 (1975)
• The last movement of the Piano Concerto by Witold Lutosławski (1987-88)
• The fourth mouvement of the Violin Concerto by György Ligeti (1992)
• Sloth: Passacaglia/A Bud And A Slice, from Joe Jackson, Heaven and Hell (1997)
• Wear Your Seatbelt by Cliff Martinez, from the movie Solaris (2002)
• Passacaglia (and variations such as The Shape of Things to Come and Allegro) and A Promise to Return by Bear McCreary, from the Sci-fi Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica (2005)
• Passacalles by Juan Bautista Jose Cabanilles
• The first movement of "First Suite in E♭ Major for Military Band" by Gustav Holst (1909) for military band; entitled "Chaconne," it is actually a passacaglia.^[1]
• "Murder Passacaglia" by Scott Glasgow from the film score to Chasing Ghosts (2005) with expanded variations in all the "murder scenes" throughout the film
• "Passacaglia" by Jóhann Jóhannsson from the CD single The Sun's Gone Dim and the Sky's Turned Black, a 2006 release on the 4AD label.[[1]]

1. ^ Udell, Budd (1982). "Standard Works for Band: Gustav Holst's First Suite in E♭ Major for Military Band." Music Educators Journal, 69 (4):28 (JSTOR subscription access)

• Prado Almeida, José Antonio Rezende(Brazil) - Concerto Fribourgeois (1985), Second Moviment
• Ralph Vaughan Williams, Symphony No. 5 in D: Movement 4, Passacaglia (1938-43).

Anton Webern (December 3, 1883 – September 15, 1945) was an Austrian composer and conductor. ... Schoenberg redirects here. ... Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds Pierrot lunaire, (three times seven poems from Albert Girauds Pierrot lunaire), commonly known as Pierrot Lunaire (Moonstruck Pierrot or Pierrot in the moonlight), Op. ... ErnÅ‘ Dohnányi, also known as Ernst von Dohnányi or Dohnányi ErnÅ‘ (July 27, 1877 – February 9, 1960) was a Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist. ... Maurice Ravel in 1912. ... Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer of concert and film music. ... Leopold Godowsky (Leopold Godowski) (February 13, 1870–November 21, 1938) was a famed pianist, composer, and teacher. ... A cadenza is usually now taken to mean a portion of a concerto in which the orchestra stops playing, leaving the soloist to play alone in free time (without a strict, regular pulse) and can be written or improvised, depending on what the composer specifies. ... In music, a fugue (IPA: ) is a type of contrapuntal composition or technique of composition, for a fixed number of parts or voices (referred to as voices regardless of whether the work is vocal or instrumental). ... Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828) was an Austrian composer. ... Franz Schuberts Symphony No. ... Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (August 14, 1892 – October 15, 1988) was a British Parsi composer, music journalist and pianist. ... Opus Clavicembalisticum is a solo piano piece composed by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, completed on June 26, 1930 at 1:30 P.M.. It is characterized by its four (sometimes five) hour duration and its extreme demands upon the pianist. ... Dmitri Shostakovich   (Russian: , Dmitrij Dmitrievič Å ostakovič) (September 25 [O.S. September 12] 1906–August 9, 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet period. ... The Symphony No. ... The Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings is a song cycle written in 1943 by the English composer Benjamin Britten, scored for tenor accompanied by a solo horn and a small string orchestra. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 Lowestoft, Suffolk - December 4, 1976 Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... Walter Hamor Piston Jr. ... CD cover of recordings of Martins cello and violin concertos. ... The Piano Trio No. ... The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. ... Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from George Crabbes poem The Borough. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 Lowestoft, Suffolk - December 4, 1976 Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... The Violin Concerto No. ... Portrait of Miloslav Kabelac Miloslav Kabeláč (1908 – 1979) was a prominent Czech composer and conductor. ... Ronald Stevenson (born March 6, 1928 in Blackburn) is a British composer, virtuoso pianist and writer on music. ... DSCH is a musical motif used by the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich to represent himself, in the manner of the BACH motif of Johann Sebastian Bach. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 Lowestoft, Suffolk - December 4, 1976 Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... Composer John Graham rehearsing one of his works. ... The Symphony No. ... Frank Bridge (February 26, 1879 – January 10, 1941) was an English composer. ... A piano concerto is a concerto for solo piano and orchestra. ... Witold LutosÅ‚awski at his home. ... A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. ... György Sándor Ligeti (May 28, 1923 – June 12, 2006) was a Jewish Hungarian composer born in Romania who later became an Austrian citizen. ... The music of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica is a body of work largely credited to the composers Bear McCreary and Richard Gibbs. ... Bear McCreary (b. ... Battlestar Galactica is a science fiction television program created by Ronald D. Moore that first aired on October 18, 2004 in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Sky One, and January 14, 2005 in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel. ... Juan Bautista José Cabanilles (September 6, 1644 in Algemesi near Valencia – April 29, 1712 in Valencia) was a Spanish organist and composer at Valencia cathedral. ... The First Suite in Eâ™­ for Military Band (Op. ... Scott Glasgow is a Hollywood-based musical composer. ... Jóhann Jóhannsson is an Icelandic-born musician, composer and producer. ... The British indie rock record label 4AD was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records. ... A statue of Ralph Vaughan Williams in Dorking. ... The Symphony No. ...

External links

• La Folia
• Passacaglias and Chaconnes for Lute
• Passacaglias and Chaconnes for Baroque Guitar
• Analysis of Passacaglia and fugue by J.-S. Bach