Chaconne

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In music, a chaconne (Italian: ciaconna) is a musical form whose primary formal feature involves variation. Originally a kind of dance in a slow triple meter which first emerged in the 16th century and which is probably of Spanish origin, 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 melody (e.g., a ground bass), which is likewise artificially assigned to the term passacaglia. (In actual usage in music history, the term "chaconne" has not been so cleanly distinguished from passacaglia as regards the way the given piece of music is constructed.)

If a stereotypically "classic" chaconne may be described, it is 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 has only the faintest relationship to the understood form.Template:Ref) 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, if not most masterful, examples of the chaconne is the final movement from the Violin Partita in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, a 13-minute work that takes a plaintive four-bar phrase through a continuous kaleidoscope of musical expression, in both major and minor modes. (Bach's Goldberg Variations are also frequently reckoned to constitute a multi-movement chaconne, although Bach did not explicitly label them as such.) After the baroque period, the chaconne fell into decline, though the 32 Variations in C minor by Ludwig van Beethoven belong to the form. Johannes Brahms kept the form alive in the fourth (i.e., last) movement of his Symphony No. 4.

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Examples of Chaconnes

Johann Sebastian Bach: Chaconne from Partita #2 in D minor for Solo Violin
Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D (see that article for more examples using the chord progression of Pachelbel's Canon)
George Frideric Handel: Chaconne from Suite in G minor for clavier
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4, 4th mvt. (1884-85)
Michiru Yamane: Chaconne in C minor from the soundtrack of Demon Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight (note: this piece bears striking resemblances to the Passacaglia of J. S. Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor for organ)
Philip Glass: Symphony No.3, third, slow movement (1995)

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References

Template:NoteHändel, 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.

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