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Scan 143
Harvard Dictionary Of Music, 1944
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1CHACONNE AND PASSACAGLIA
3could not be put to better use in modern terminology. Unfortunately, modern writers have been entirely unsuccessful in this matter, and the music histories as well as reference books are full of contradictory and frequently arbitrary statements as to the distinction between a chaconne and a passacaglia. The only distinction which can and should be made is that between continuous variations with or without a basso ostinato (*ground). In order to conform with the titles of the two most famous examples, those composed by Bach, the former type will have to be called passacaglia, the latter chaconne. A passacaglia, then, is a continuous variation based on a clearly distinguishable ostinato which normally appears in the bass (ground) but which may also be transferred occasionally to an upper voice, as is the case in Bach's passacaglia. A chaconne is a continuous variation in which the "theme" is only a succession of chords which serves as a harmonic basis for each variation. The difference between these two types may be illustrated by the accompanying examples, the first two of which
5[Ex. 1, 2] show a very frequent ground, the descending tetrachord in its diatonic form and in its chromatic modification, while Ex. 3 shows the use of a (related) scheme of harmonies, without ground. For a 16th-century adumbration of passacaglia, see under *Ostinato (Dump and Horneypye).
7As has been mentioned previously, no clear distinction between passacaglia and chaconne exists in the praxis of Baroque composers. To the class of passacaglia (as defined above) belong the "Passacaglia" of Bach (for organ) and that of Louis Couperin (for harpsichord) as well as "chaconnes" of Buxtehude, J. K. Kerll [TaAM vii, 104] (both for organ), and Pachelbel (for harpsichord; TaAM ix, 59). To the same class belong numerous vocal compositions contained in 17th-century operas and cantatas, e.g., Monteverdi's famous duet Pur ti miro [SchGMB, no. 178; see also *Aria III]. To the class of chaconne belong Frescobaldi's "Cento partite sopra il passacaglio" [TaAM v, 11] and Georg Muffat's "Passacaglia" [cf. HAM, no. 240] as well as Bach's "Chaconne." The interpretation, frequently given, of Bach's chaconne as an ostinato composition is erroneous. Although, with a reiterated scheme of harmonies, it is always possible to reconstruct to some extent a ground bass from the bass notes of these harmonies [cf. RiML, 295], such a procedure leads, in the case of Bach's chaconne, to a decidedly poor melody, such as Bach would never have chosen as a point of departure. Well-known 19th-century examples of chaconne are Beethoven's C minor Variations (1807), and the closing movement of Brahms's Symphony no. 4. More recent examples occur in F. Busoni's Toccata: Preludio, Fantasia, Ciaccona (1921) and in E. Krenek's Toccata und Chaconne, op. 13.
9Finally it should be noticed that French Baroque composers usually applied the terms chaconne and passecaille to pieces in an entirely different form, i.e., that of the rondeau with reiterated refrain and several couplets [see *Rondeau (2)]. Examples are a Chaconne by Chambonnieres [HAM, no. 212], a Chaconne-rondeau by d'Anglebert [TaAM vii, 135; HAM, no. 232], and a Passecaille by Fr. Couperin [Pièces de clavecin ii].
11There is reason to believe that the chaconne originally was a wild and sensual Mexican dance which was imported into Spain during the 16th century. In 1599 we read about "an invitation to go to Tampico in Mexico and there dance the chacona." Queveda calls it the "chacona mulata," and Cervantes the "Indiana amulatada" [cf. C. Sachs, A World His-
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