# Favorite Chaconne/Passacaglias....



## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Many great composers have used this form in their compositions -

essentially, this is a theme in the bass line, the ground bass, which establishes a harmonic structure, repeats over and over, with variations played over it..in form it is very simple, but the possibilities are really extensive....
The most famous is probably 
*JS Bach - Passacaglia in c minor *- justly famous and a wonderful work for organ...however, for a different, and very effective different take - try 
the Chicago Symphony Brass - CSO Resound label - arr by Eric Crees...great arrangement, splendidly played and recorded - the brass instrumentation really brings out the inner voices, and massed sonority with great clarity - a wonderful sound spectacular...

other favorites of mine:

*Brahms - Sym #4/IV* - famous symphonic movement based upon the opening 8-bar ascending line...with a great performance [Reiner, Toscanini] you don't even realize what the simple form is, you just get swept along...
*Hindemith - Noblissima Visione - mvt III* - splendid example - the 8 bar opening phrase is built upon, to a tremendous climax - try Martinon/Chicago for a real knock-your-socks off performance.

*Walton - Sym #2/III *- again, passacaglia form, tho I'm not sure the form persists thru the entire movement - I don't have the score...If you have Szell/Cleve recording - pay special attention to the bassoon and trombone "variations"....Great section playing, really superb - matching of tones articulation, phrasing, outstanding - the trombone version is right at the beginning of the final section, and the excitement begins to build - Szell lets his low brasses loose, and they really get into it, pretty nasty!! 

A favorite "Chaconne" - *Holst*'s exquisite and powerful gem - *Suite in Eb for Military Band #1/I*...The tubas lay out the bass melody in the first 8 bars, then Holst spins a most delicious and powerful structure over it, ebbing, and flowing, ending in a tremendous climax...This is great stuff, all the way...those the claim Holst was a "one-hit-wonder"[planets] are simply wrong...The entire Eb suite is magnificent, and its great chaconne first movement kicks it off to a roaring start - get Fennell/Eastman Wind Ensemble - a real classic - they really sell it...Dunn/Dallas Wind Sym is good too, splendidly recorded, but go for Fennell for the fire, intensity and blazing energy...

What are some other favorite passacaglia/chaconne examples??


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## Eusebius12 (Mar 22, 2010)

The Greatest Chaconne ever penned, and one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, is of course the Chaconne from the Partita in D Minor for solo violin by JS Bach...

Purcell wrote a wonderful Chacony in G Minor, and Couperin's Passacaille in B Minor is a fine piece.


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## Euler (Dec 3, 2017)

Some faves:

Purcell: "When I am laid in earth"
Bach: D minor solo violin partita finale (some might say the best movement ever!)
Webern: Op. 1
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (beginning of part 2)
Shostakovich: Symphony 15 finale
Roberto Gerhard: Chaconne
Ligeti: Hungarian Rock (very funny piece)


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

The Passacaglia from the Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1.


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## qualitywaffles (Apr 16, 2018)

Biber's passacaglia in G minor for solo violin comes to mind.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Shostakovich, String Quartet 10/iii 
Britten, Passacaglia from Peter Grimes
Gubaidulina, Chaconne (piano)


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Ronald Stevenson's _Passacaglia on DSCH_ - all seventy-odd minutes of it!

Anton Webern's op.1

Max Reger's for organ from op.127 and for solo violin from op.117

Any by Bach, Britten, Shostakovich and Hindemith.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

In addition to those listed above:

Second movement from Vaughan Williams' Fifth
"This ae nighte" from Britten's Serenade
Third movement from Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto (which I've never heard described as a passacaglia, but I'm certain could be defined as such)


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## Alkan (Jun 30, 2018)

Eusebius12 said:


> The Greatest Chaconne ever penned, and one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, is of course the Chaconne from the Partita in D Minor for solo violin by JS Bach...


Strongly agree, Eusebius. Curiously, I prefer the piece in the respectful arrangement by Busoni for solo piano.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Vitali's Chaconne:


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

The final movement of Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra starts off with a wonderful Passacaglia


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Beethoven, 32 Variations in C minor, WoO 80 (his only chaconne).

A popular work, then and now. A story says that on hearing the work played late in life, the composer asked what it was. On being told, he said "Mine? That piece of folly mine? Oh, Beethoven, what an *** you were in those days!"

Its lineage is noted in a very favorable AMZ review in 1807: "In this work, B. follows the oldest and particularly German manner of writing variations more than the manner prevalent today. Handel wrote variations in this manner…"


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## endelbendel (Jul 7, 2018)

That Purcell Chacony almost stopped my heart when i hear Landowska play it on harpsichord. But cannot find a recording.


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## endelbendel (Jul 7, 2018)

Oistrakh has the most heart and the best tone. Then, Stern.
Thanks. A great listen.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Anton Webern - Op. 1


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## Eusebius12 (Mar 22, 2010)

KenOC said:


> Beethoven, 32 Variations in C minor, WoO 80 (his only chaconne).
> 
> A popular work, then and now. A story says that on hearing the work played late in life, the composer asked what it was. On being told, he said "Mine? That piece of folly mine? Oh, Beethoven, what an *** you were in those days!"
> 
> Its lineage is noted in a very favorable AMZ review in 1807: "In this work, B. follows the oldest and particularly German manner of writing variations more than the manner prevalent today. Handel wrote variations in this manner…"


Yes, this is a great work, Beethoven's 2nd greatest keyboard variations, behind the Diabelli and ahead of the Eroica. Although I understood it wasn't a true chaconne.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Eusebius12 said:


> Yes, this is a great work, Beethoven's 2nd greatest keyboard variations, behind the Diabelli and ahead of the Eroica. Although I understood it wasn't a true chaconne.


Depends on who you ask. Wiki says, "After the Baroque period, the chaconne fell into decline during the 19th century, though the 32 Variations in C minor by Beethoven suggest its continuing influence."

And in fact, the definitions of chaconne and passacaglia are pretty vague and, historically, the two terms have sometimes been used interchangeably. I tried to puzzle all this out a couple of years ago but quickly got mired in a swamp of ambiguity.

So I'll just say: It's a chaconne to me. Also, I think the comment in AMZ's review ("Handel wrote variations in this manner…") suggests that the reviewer felt the same. And Beethoven did love his Handel!


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## Star (May 27, 2017)

Bach the great Chavonne for solo violin from the second (?) Partita. Saw a young violinist hold the whole Albert Hall in raptures playing it at the promenade concert the other year . Certainly one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. Brahms I think said he'd go mad if he could even think of writing something so good


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Star said:


> Bach the great Chavonne for solo violin from the second (?) Partita. Saw a young violinist hold the whole Albert Hall in raptures playing it at the promenade concert the other year . Certainly one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. Brahms I think said he'd go mad if he could even think of writing something so good


Brahms is worth quoting in full: "On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind."


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Furtwangler performing the final movement passacaglia from Brahms 4 is a thing to behold.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Most people probably don't know Craig Courtney's *Passacaglia Of Praise* though its structure more ideally suits the definition of passacaglia than other music such as Britten's from Peter Grimes. It begins in the bass in 3/4 time and adds a variant later. This is textbook structure.

I like others, namely Webern's Passacaglia For Orchestra Op. 1 (performed by Max Rudolf and Cincinnati Symphony, not Karajan's limp biscuit) even though it doesn't follow the structural guidelines like Courtney.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH. The theme is Shostakovich's musical signature, as found in several of his works.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Anton Webern, Op. 1

Vincent Persichetti, Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 3: IV. Passacaglia


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## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

The passacaglia of VW's 5th Symphony is very lovely.


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## Ras (Oct 6, 2017)

*There is a good cd with Chaconnes and Passacalias (and the like) played by Jordi Savall :*


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