In music, a chaconne (IPA: [ʃæˈkɔn]; Italian: ciaccona) is a musical form whose primary formal feature involves variation on a repeated short harmonic progression. Originally a quick dance-song emerging in Spanish culture, possibly from the New World, in the late 16th century, it was characterized by suggestive movements and mocking texts,^[1] the chaconne eventually became a slow triple meter dance which first emerged in the 16th century. The chaconne is understood today — in a rather arbitrary way — to be a set of variations on a harmonic progression, as opposed to a set of variations on a melodic bass pattern (to which is likewise artificially assigned the term passacaglia).^{[citation needed]} In actual usage in music history, the term "chaconne" has not been so clearly distinguished from passacaglia as regards the way the given piece of music is constructed.

Frescobaldi, who was probably the first composer to treat the chaconne and passacaglia comparatively, usually (but not always) sets the former in major key, with two compound triple-beat groups per variation, giving his chaconne a more propulsive forward motion than his passacaglia, which usually has four simple triple-beat groups per variation.^[2] Both are usually in triple meter, begins on the second beat of the bar, and has a theme of four measures (or a close multiple thereof). (In more recent times the chaconne, like the passacaglia, need not be in 3/4 time.)

If we accept the distinction of a chaconne as variations on a harmonic progression, often this harmonic progression may involve a recurrent bass line (ground bass), but this bass line—let alone the chords involved—may not always be present in exactly the same manner, although the general outlines remain understood. (Handel's "Chaconne" in G minor for keyboard^[3] has only the faintest relationship to the understood form.^{[citation needed]}) The ground bass, if there is one, may typically descend stepwise from the tonic to the dominant pitch of the scale, or the harmony may emphasize the circle of fifths or a derivative pattern thereof.

One of the best known and most masterful and expressive examples of the chaconne is the final movement from the Violin Partita in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. This 256-measure chaconne takes a plaintive four-bar phrase through a continuous kaleidoscope of musical expression, in both major and minor modes.

After the baroque period, the chaconne fell into decline, though the 32 Variations in C minor by Ludwig van Beethoven belong to the form.

Examples of chaconnes

• Jean-Philippe Rameau: L'hymen - Chaconne, Scene VI from Les fêtes d'Hébé (1739)
• François Couperin: La Favorite, Chaconne a deux tems, Troisième ordre.
• John Adams: second movement Chaconne: Body through which the dream flows from Violin Concerto (1993)
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Chaconne from Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin in D minor
• Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98, finale
• Dietrich Buxtehude: Organ chaconne in E minor, symphonic orchestration (1937) by Carlos Chavez.
• Dietrich Buxtehude: Prelude, Fugue, and Chaconne in C Major (BuxWV 137)
• Philip Glass: Symphony No. 3, third, slow movement (1995)
• George Frideric Handel: Chaconne from Suite in G minor for clavier
• Gustav Holst: Chaconne from First Suite in E-flat major for Military Band (technically a passacaglia)^[4]
• Jean-Baptiste Lully : Chaconne from Phaëton (1683)
• Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D (see that article for more examples using the chord progression of Pachelbel's Canon)
• Henry Purcell: Chacony for strings and continuo in G minor Z.730 (1680)
• Tomaso Antonio Vitali: Chaconne in G minor for Solo Violin (a 19th century musical_hoax)
• K. Okada/ J. Karashima/ T. Ohsono: Chaconne in C minor from the soundtrack of Demon Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight, Saturn version. (note: this piece bears striking resemblances to the Passacaglia of J. S. Bach's Passagaglia and Fugue in C minor for organ)
• John Corigliano: Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra

References

1. ^ Alexander Silbiger, "Chaconne", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001).
2. ^ Alexander Silbiger, "Chaconne" The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001).
3. ^ Händel, Georg Friedrich. "Chaconne," Klavierwerke / Keyboard Works IV. Einzelne Suiten und Stücke / Miscellaneious Suites and Pieces. Zweite Folge / Second Part. Herausgebegen von / Edited by Terence Best. Kassel: Bärenreiter, c1975, pp. 47-49.
4. ^ 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)

External links

• Passacaglias and Chaconnes for Lute