Autograph of the Ciaccona

The Partita in D minor for solo violin (BWV 1004) by Johann Sebastian Bach was written in the period 1717–1723 and is said to have been dedicated to the memory of Bach's first wife, Maria Barbara Bach. The partita is of five parts. Download high resolution version (489x768, 167 KB)Ciaconna of the second partita in D minor in Bachs handwriting. ... Download high resolution version (489x768, 167 KB)Ciaconna of the second partita in D minor in Bachs handwriting. ... The 1748 Haussmann portrait of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685–28 July 1750) was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together almost all of the strands of the baroque style and brought it to its ultimate... // Events January 4 — The Netherlands, Britain & France sign Triple Alliance February 26-March 6 What is now the northeastern United States was paralyzed by a series of blizzards that buried the region. ... Events February 16 - Louis XV of France attains his majority Births February 24 - John Burgoyne, British general (d. ... Maria Barbara Bach (died July, 1720) was the first wife of composer Johann Sebastian Bach. ...

1. Allemanda
2. Corrente
3. Sarabanda
4. Giga
5. Ciaccona

A strong common theme is shared between the first four. In the Allemande, there is a hint at the repeated bass, which from then on continues to haunt the piece until it makes its full appearance in the Ciaconna. However the music, while it defies strict characterization, it could be best generally described as a dark dance in five parts combining different folk traditions (Allemande from Germany, Corrente of European court music, Sarabanda from Central America and the Ciaconna of the spanish tradition). An allemande (also spelled allemanda, almain, or alman) (from French German) is a type of dance popular in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite, generally the first or second movement. ... A dance from the Baroque era and of French origin. ... In music, the sarabande (It. ... The gigue or giga is a lively baroque dance in a compound metre such as 6/8, 9/8 or 12/16. ... In music a chaconne is a musical form. ...

Ciaccona

The Ciaccona (commonly known as Chaconne in English) is only one of five parts of the partita in D minor; however its average time of 14 minutes surpasses that of all the other four movements combined. It is a piece that is considered in many ways singular and while it tends to overshadow the remainder of the partita, it merits the emphasis on it by musicians and composers alike. The theme in the first four measures is the base on which the rest of the piece forms 31 variations in total. The subject of the piece and its chord progression is on D, C#, Bb and A. The piece starts and ends in a harmonic D minor key with a D major mid-section starting and ending in arpeggio.

Ciaccona is considered a pinnacle in the solo violin repertoire covering almost every aspect of violin playing known during Bach's time and thus it is among the most difficult pieces to play on any instrument. During Bach's time, the german tradition of bowmaking differed dramatically from the contemporary bow which originates from the Italian tradition. The german bow that Bach was most familiar with was curved and had lower tension and thus allowed for true chord playing on all four strings (which is impossible with the current straight bow). Different transcriptions of the piece were made for instruments where the chord progression would not be as difficult to master as on the contemporary violin, particularly transcriptions for the piano (by Ferruccio Busoni and for left hand by Brahms) and transcriptions for the guitar including the pioneering work of Andrés Segovia. Also a full orchestral arrangement was famously recorded by Leopold Stokowski (written in 1930). Bow may mean: Bow (knot): A type of knot Bow (music): A device used to play string instruments Bow (ship): The foremost point of the hull of a ship or boat Bow (weapon): An archery weapon that uses elasticity to propel arrows Bow (human): Bowing is the act of lowering... Ferruccio Busoni Dante Michaelangelo Benvenuto Ferruccio Busoni (April 1, 1866 – July 27, 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, music teacher and conductor. ... Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (May 7, 1833 – April 3, 1897) was a German composer of classical music. ... Andres Segovia classical guitarist Andrés Segovia, Marques de Salobreña (February 21, 1893 – June 3, 1987) was a Spanish classical guitarist and is considered to be the father of the modern classical guitar movement by most modern scholars. ... Leopold Stokowski Leopold Stokowski (April 18, 1882 - September 13, 1977) (born Antoni StanisÅ‚aw BolesÅ‚awowicz) was the conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. ...

The Ciaccona has been primarily recorded as part of the complete solo violin sonatas and partitas collection by Bach. Most famous among these recordings are ones by Henryk Szeryng, Nathan Milstein, Arthur Grumiaux, Gidon Kremer, Jascha Heifetz and Yehudi Menuhin. The Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin (BWV 1001–1006) is a set of six works composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. ... Henryk Szeryng (September 22, 1918 – March 8, 1988) was a Polish-born Mexican violinist. ... Nathan Milstein (Odessa December 31, 1903 – December 21, 1992, London) was a Russian-Jewish born violinist who took United States citizenship in 1942 after spending much of his life there. ... Arthur Grumiaux (March 21, 1921–October 16, 1986) was a Belgian violinist who was also proficient in piano. ... Gidon Kremer (born February 27, 1947) is a Latvian violinist and conductor. ... Jascha Heifetz 1740 Guarneri del Gesu, the ex. ... Fritz Kreisler (sitting) with Yehudi Menuhin The Right Honourable Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE (April 22, 1916. ...

See Also

Sonatas and partitas for solo violin (1001-1006) Johann Sebastian Bach composed his six sonatas and partitas for solo violin in 1720. ...

External links

• A transcription of the Urtext of Bach's Chaconne
• Analysis of the Bach Chaconne