A chaconne is a type of musical piece that uses a short, repeated harmonic pattern, often with a repeating bass line called a ground bass. This bass line provides a structure for musicians to create variations, add decorations, and develop melodies. It is similar to another musical form called the passacaglia. The chaconne became popular during the Baroque era, and many examples from the 17th and 18th centuries remain today.

If a ground bass is used, it may typically move step by step from the tonic (the first note of a musical scale) to the dominant (the fifth note of the scale). The upper parts of the music may focus on harmonies that follow the circle of fifths or patterns related to it.

History

The chaconne began in the late 1500s in Spanish culture. It was thought to have come from the New World. At first, it was a fast dance with playful movements and humorous words. By the early 1700s, it became a slow, three-beat instrumental piece.

Alex Ross explains that the chacona was a lively dance in South America at the end of the 1500s. It quickly spread to Europe and became popular in both royal courts and among the general public. "Un sarao de la chacona" is one of the earliest known written examples of the chacona. It was composed by Spanish musician Juan Arañés.

Important examples of early Baroque chaconnes include "Zefiro torna" by Claudio Monteverdi and "Es steh Gott auf" by Heinrich Schütz. One of the most famous chaconnes is the final movement of the Violin Partita in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. This piece has 256 measures and uses a simple four-bar phrase to create a wide range of musical expressions in both major and minor keys. Some scholars recently suggest that Bach's "Ciaccona" (he used the Italian name instead of the French "Chaconne") may follow the structure of a French theatrical dance called the "passacaille," though it also includes Italian and German musical styles.

After the Baroque period, the chaconne became less popular in the 19th century. However, Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor shows its lasting influence. In the 20th century, the chaconne experienced a major revival, with over two dozen composers creating new examples.

Chaconne and passacaglia

The chaconne was sometimes thought by 19th- and early 20th-century experts to be a series of changes based on a harmonic progression, rather than a series of changes based on a repeating melodic bass pattern (called passacaglia). However, other experts from the same time period made the opposite distinction. In real music history, the terms "chaconne" and "passacaglia" were not always clearly different in how the music was structured. Modern efforts to define clear differences between them are considered arbitrary and not supported by historical evidence. In some cases, the two styles were combined in one piece, such as in Cento partite sopra passacagli (1637) by Girolamo Frescobaldi, the first suite of Les Nations (1726), and Pièces de Violes (1728) by François Couperin.

Frescobaldi, likely the first composer to compare chaconne and passacaglia, often (but not always) used major keys for his chaconnes. His chaconne variations typically had two compound triple-beat groups, giving the piece a more forward-moving rhythm. His passacaglia variations usually had four simple triple-beat groups. Both forms were often in triple meter, starting on the second beat of the measure, and featured a theme of four measures (or a multiple of that length). In more recent times, the chaconne, like the passacaglia, is not limited to 4/4 time. For example, Francesco Tristano Schlimé’s Chaconne/Ground Bass uses seven-beat patterns in each section.

Examples

• Antonio Bertali (1605–1669): Ciaccona in C major for violin and continuo (undated)
• Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644–1704): Ciacona in D major for violin and basso continuo (undated); another in the Partita no. 3 in A major for seven string instruments, from Harmonia artificioso-ariosa (written 1696)
• Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1638–1707): Prelude, fugue, and chaconne in C Major (BuxWV 137), chaconne in C minor (BuxWV 159), and chaconne in E minor (BuxWV 160); all for organ (probably 1690s)
• Francesca Caccini (1587 – c.1641): Ciaccona
• Maurizio Cazzati (1616–1678): Ciaccona a tre con il suo balletto for two violins and violone, from Correnti, balletti, galiarde a 3 è 4 (1659)
• Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704): Chaconne from the opera Les arts florissants (1685); another from the opera David et Jonathas (1688); another from the opera Médée (1694)
• Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713): Chaconne in G major in the Sonata op. 2, no. 12, from the Sonate da camera a tre: doi violini, e violone o cembalo (1685)
• Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643): Four ciaccone (in F major, A minor, G major, A minor again) for harpsichord from Toccate d’intavolatura di cimbalo et organo, partite di diverse arie . . . (1637)
• Jean-Nicolas Geoffroy (1633–1694): Eighteen chaconnes for harpsichord, all unpublished in the composer's lifetime, perhaps the most chaconnes written by any known 17th-, 18th-, or 19th-century composer
• Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687): Chaconne from the opera Phaëton (1683); another from the opera Roland (1685); another from the opera Acis et Galatée (1686)
• Marin Marais (1656–1728): Chaconne in G major for two violas da gamba and continuo, no. 47 from the Pièces de violes , premier livre (1686–89)
• Tarquinio Merula (1594/95–1644): "Ciaccona" for voice and continuo, from the madrigal collection "Madrigali" (1630)
• Girolamo Montesardo (dates unknown): "Ciaccona" for lute (undated)

• Johann Nepomuk David (1894–1967): Chaconne in A minor for organ (1933); "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland: kleine Chaconne" on "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" for organ
• Robert Davidson (1927–2014): Chaconne for orchestra (1994)
• Norman Dello Joio (1907–1998): Variations, Chaconne, and Finale for orchestra
• David Diamond (1915–2005): Chaconne, for violin and piano (1951)
• Cornelis Dopper (1887–1961): Ciaconna gotica (1920)
• Marcel Dupré (1886–1971): Triptyque, op. 51 (Chaconne, Musette, Dithyrambe), for organ
• Jean Françaix (1912–1997): Chaconne for harp and string orchestra (1976)
• Gunnar de Frumerie (1904–1987): Chaconne op. 8, for piano (1932)
• Philip Glass (born 1937): Echorus for two violins and string orchestra (1995); Symphony No. 3, third movement (1995); Violin Concerto No. 1, second movement (1987)
• Alexander Goehr (born 1932): Chaconne, for organ (1985)
• Sofia Gubaidulina (born 1931): Chaconne, for piano (1962)
• Lou Harrison (1917–2003): Suite for Violin and American Gamelan (1974)
• Hans Werner Henze (born 1926): Il Vitalino raddoppiato: ciaccona per violino soloista e orchestra da camera (1977); Concerto for Double Bass, third movement (1966)
• Heinz Holliger (born 1939): Chaconne for solo cello (1975)
• Gustav Holst (1874–1934): "Chaconne" from First Suite in E-flat major for Military Band (according to one writer, technically a passacaglia, but according to others, technically a chaconne)
• Arthur Honegger (1892–1955): Chaconne de l'impératrice, from the film music for Napoléon (1926–27)
• Ernst Krenek (1900–1991): Toccata und Chaconne: über den Choral "Ja ich glaub an Jesum Christum," op. 13, for piano
• György Ligeti (1923–2006): Hungarian Rock: Chaconne, for harpsichord
• Douglas Lilburn (1915–2009): Chaconne, for Piano (1946)
• Frank Martin (1890–1974): Chacon