Passacaglia?

[dylanesque]

Hi Everyone,
Whilst listening to Brahms 4th Symphony I was reading on Wiki that the fourth movement is Passacaglia. I tried to understand what the term means from Wiki but am finding it difficult to understand .
Please would someone from this great forum explain it in terms I would understand.
Kind Regards
Darren

[Karl Henning]

A series of variations, but not on a melody (as, for instance, the Brahms Variations on a Theme of Handel), but the variations are built on a harmonic progression.

[Parsifal]

The Passacaglia can also be described as a set of variations above a common bass line.  As a contrast with Brahms' use of the Passacaglia, you might enjoy listening to a more traditional example such as the passacaglia from J. S. Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in c-minor. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passacaglia_and_Fugue_in_C_minor,_BWV_582

The piece is widely recorded and can be found on youtube, etc.  A more modern example might be Britten's passacaglia from Peter Grimes.

[Opus106]

http://www.youtube.com/v/1atQFLYbzuk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWV_582

After that, listen to these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YFEMW-3RHA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCIH53oxXYo

You know, ear cleansers. And a version that actually realises the majesty of this piece.

[Mirror Image]

Passacaglia movement from Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 -

http://www.youtube.com/v/mbzprkgFbtY

[Mirror Image]

Webern's Passacaglia:

http://www.youtube.com/v/hZelEcPZU8A

[North Star]

You haven't posted this one yet, John...

http://www.youtube.com/v/qsxLFbNahiI

[Mirror Image]

You haven't posted this one yet, John...

http://www.youtube.com/v/qsxLFbNahiI

Nope, not yet, but here's another one in the meantime that I love, the Passacaglia from Penderecki's Symphony No. 3:

http://www.youtube.com/v/8eLB9VRtD8w

[North Star]

Nope, not yet, but here's another one in the meantime that I love, the Passacaglia from Penderecki's Symphony No. 3:

Wow, seems like I need some more Penderecki!

[Mirror Image]

Wow, seems like I need some more Penderecki!

I'm not the greatest Penderecki fan in the world, but his Symphony No. 3 is quite good, especially that movement. I own most of the Naxos series, but I'm missing a few of the newer releases.

[Szykneij]

http://www.youtube.com/v/1atQFLYbzuk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWV_582

If a picture is worth a thousand words, Navneeth, this video is worth a million. Excellent visual representation of what's happening musically!

[Mirror Image]

Some other great Passacaglia movements IMHO are the ones from Britten's Violin Concerto and Peter Grimes.

[TheGSMoeller]

Some other great Passacaglia movements IMHO are the ones from Britten's Violin Concerto and Peter Grimes.

Britten must have loved the Passacaglia, add in the Cello Symphony, Cello Suite No. 3, Nocturnal and String Quartet No. 3. 

[Mirror Image]

Britten must have loved the Passacaglia, add in the Cello Symphony and String Quartet No. 3. 

I forgot about those! Nice works!

[TheGSMoeller]

I forgot about those! Nice works!

Just added two more.

[TheGSMoeller]

My favorite Passacaglia with have to go to Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and his Passacaglia for Solo Violin in G major. It's utterly fascinating how Biber sustains the repeated bass line throughout with only one instrument performing, whether it's audible or ghostly floating in support of the melody. I know this is not the only solo instrument passacaglia, but IMO it's the best.


http://www.youtube.com/v/ZCSEEvEm3uc

[Cato]

Webern's Passacaglia:

http://www.youtube.com/v/hZelEcPZU8A

This work RAWKS! 

And here is a great performance, with an equally great performance of Schoenberg's incredible Pelleas und Melisande still available from assorted sellers via Amazon at decent prices:

[Mirror Image]

This work RAWKS! 

And here is a great performance, with an equally great performance of Schoenberg's incredible Pelleas und Melisande still available from assorted sellers via Amazon at decent prices:

Completely agreed, Cato. I think my favorite performance of Webern's Passcaglia is Boulez's Berlin performance on DG. I also admire Eschenbach's on Koch a lot. I have yet to hear the Bamert performance you pictured. I'm sure it's a fine performance. I like Chailly's a lot as well.

[Opus106]

If a picture is worth a thousand words, Navneeth, this video is worth a million. Excellent visual representation of what's happening musically!

There's more where it comes from (both the channel and YT in general). And for those of us who can't read a score, I think this is the next best thing, especially for highly contrapuntal works like Bach's fugues. Of course, for the sake of education, one has to put up with MIDI for a while. A small price to pay.


dylanesque, is your idea of what constitues a passacaglia clearer now than what it was? Let us know before this thread completely turns into an "Passacaglia recordings recommendation thread" .

[Karl Henning]

It's already turned into I can't tell you what a Passacaglia is, but I know how to post a YouTube video.  (Yours was surgically on point, Nav.)