The Passacaglia: a form of great integrity, grandeur, and power

[prémont]

Is Beethoven's C minor variations WoO 80 a passacaglia? I'm not sure I really know what one is.

In a passacaglia a musical subject usually of four or eight measures is repeated a number of times. The subject is most often in the bass part but it may in between occur in other parts. It may also become varied to some extent.

Contrary to this a chaconne tends to be variations upon a repeated harmonic progression often of eight bars without a strict recurring subject.

Intermediate forms often exist, making the definitions imprecise.
The e minor organ ciacona by Buxtehude BWV 160  e.g. qualifies at least partly as a passacaglia.
Beethovens c-minor variations are a chaconne if they must be categorized in this way.

[DavidW]

The passacaglia is just a Spanish dance, it is not a form of great integrity and blah blah blah.  It is a form that is sometimes imbued with such majesty by great composers.  Why the word integrity anyway?  How can a musical form possess integrity?

[kyjo]

The passacaglia is just a Spanish dance, it is not a form of great integrity and blah blah blah.  It is a form that is sometimes imbued with such majesty by great composers.  Why the word integrity anyway?  How can a musical form possess integrity?

True.....

[prémont]

The passacaglia is just a Spanish dance, it is not a form of great integrity and blah blah blah.  It is a form that is sometimes imbued with such majesty by great composers.  Why the word integrity anyway?  How can a musical form possess integrity?

You have to distinguish between the original Spanish dance and the stylished form later composers made of it. I tried to define the stylished form called Passacaglia by a number of composers.

From Wikepedia:
The passacaglia was redefined in late 1620s by Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi, who transformed it into a series of continuous variations over a bass (which itself may be varied).[3] Later composers adopted this model, and by the nineteenth century the word came to mean a series of variations over an ostinato pattern, usually of a serious character.[4] A similar form, the chaconne, was also first developed by Frescobaldi. The two genres are closely related, but since "composers often used the terms chaconne and passacaglia indiscriminately [...] modern attempts to arrive at a clear distinction are arbitrary and historically unfounded".[5] In early scholarship, attempts to formally differentiate between the historical chaconne and passacaglia were made, but researchers often came to opposite conclusions. For example, Percy Goetschius held that the chaconne is usually based on a harmonic sequence with a recurring soprano melody, and the passacaglia was formed over a ground bass pattern,[6] whereas Clarence Lucas defined the two forms in precisely the opposite way.[7] More recently, however, some progress has been made toward making a useful distinction for the usage of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, when some composers (notably Frescobaldi and François Couperin) deliberately mixed the two genres in the same composition.

[Karl Henning]

... (notably Frescobaldi and François Couperin) deliberately mixed the two genres in the same composition.

Aye, two of my fave boys.

[Karl Henning]

Not forgetting Ronald Stevenson.

Good on ya for noting this extraordinary work!

[Dax]

Many thanks! For those not aware of this work and who should be, see
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passacaglia_on_DSCH

[kishnevi]

Besides the works already referenced, Britten also used the form in the last movement of the Cello Suite No. 3 and for one of the movements of Nocturnal after John Dowland; moreover, the Second String Quartet and Second Cello Suite both contain explicitly titled chaconnes ("Chacony" and "Ciaccona" respectively).  The form apparently had a strong attraction for him.

[Mandryka]

In a passacaglia a musical subject usually of four or eight measures is repeated a number of times. The subject is most often in the bass part but it may in between occur in other parts. It may also become varied to some extent.

Contrary to this a chaconne tends to be variations upon a repeated harmonic progression often of eight bars without a strict recurring subject.

Intermediate forms often exist, making the definitions imprecise.
The e minor organ ciacona by Buxtehude BWV 160  e.g. qualifies at least partly as a passacaglia.
Beethovens c-minor variations are a chaconne if they must be categorized in this way.

I wonder if anyone knows whether Beethoven had studied baroque chaconnes in preparation for the c minor variations.

[Parsifal]

What strikes me about the passacaglia and the closely related chaccone is how restrictive the form is.  The same brief melodic line or harmonic progression is repeated over and over, which interferes with the introduction of contrasting material, wide ranging changes of key, and other things in the classical composers bag of tricks.  This lends itself to a piece which has a relentless quality.  But the restrictive nature of the form tends to make any successful piece in the form a compositional tour de force, and the works by Bach, Brahms and Britten (among others) in this form are favorites of mine.  But I think the passacaglia, like italic letting, is something that is best employed infrequently.

[Dax]

The 80-minute Passacaglia by Ronald Stevenson (mentioned above) might convince you that your comment about contrast, at least, ain't necessarily so.

[Parsifal]

The 80-minute Passacaglia by Ronald Stevenson (mentioned above) might convince you that your comment about contrast, at least, ain't necessarily so.

I didn't say it makes it impossible to introduce contrasts, but the form complicates it.  Some pieces named "passacaglia" adhere to the form most strictly than others.

[Karl Henning]

Of course, the strictness of the form creates a certain tension which is one musical strength to play to.

[Cato]

Webern ...(Passacaglia) one of the greatest ever written.

Amen, and it is his Opus 1.

Walter Piston (if I recall correctly) composed a Passacaglia for piano.

[Karl Henning]

So he did, Cato . . . and I for one am now keen to hear it . . . .

[Mirror Image]

Let's not forget Schnittke's Passacaglia -

http://www.youtube.com/v/AxWd1Gk1E7E

[snyprrr]

I always think of DSCH's Piano Trio 2 and Piano Quintet (and also Sviridov's Piano Trio- inspired by DSCH).

[kyjo]

Walter Piston (if I recall correctly) composed a Passacaglia for piano.

Yeah, I have that in an anthology of 20th-century piano music somewhere. Never attempted to play it, though! Interestingly, it is in 5/8 time.

[vandermolen]

Jeffrey, have you heard the Irgens-Jensen? I would think you'd really like it!

Yes, fine work. Must listen again.

[listener]

a (ca.) 17-minute Chaconne by John CORIGLIANO for violin and orch. based on music from the film The Red Violin.