A chaconne (; ; es, chacona, links=no; it, ciaccona, links=no, ; earlier English: ''chacony'') is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for
variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (
ground bass) which offers a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and melodic invention. In this it closely resembles the
passacaglia. It originates and was particularly popular in the
Baroque era; a large number of Chaconnes exist from the
17th- and
18th- centuries.
The ground bass, if there is one, may typically descend stepwise from the
tonic to the
dominant pitch of the
scale; the harmonies given to the upper parts may emphasize the
circle of fifths
In music theory, the circle of fifths is a way of organizing the 12 chromatic pitches as a sequence of perfect fifths. (This is strictly true in the standard 12-tone equal temperament system — using a different system requires one interval of ...
or a derivative pattern thereof.
History
Though it originally emerged during the late sixteenth century in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
culture, having reputedly been introduced from the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
, as a quick dance-song characterized by suggestive movements and mocking texts, the chaconne by the early eighteenth century had evolved into a slow
triple meter instrumental form.
Alex Ross
Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which he collaborated wit ...
describes the origins of the ''chacona'' as actually having been a sexily swirling dance that appeared in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...
at the end of the sixteenth century and quickly spread to Europe. The dance became popular both in the elite courts and in the general population. "Un sarao de la chacona" is one of the earliest known examples of a "chacona", written down by Spanish musician
Juan Arañés.
Outstanding examples of early baroque chaconnes are Monteverdi's "Zefiro torna" and "Es steh Gott auf" by
Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...
.
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
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
. This 256-measure chaconne takes a plaintive four-
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar ( ...
phrase through a continuous
kaleidoscope of musical expression in both major and minor
modes
Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine
* ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...
. However, recently it has been proposed that the form of Bach's "Ciaccona" (he used the Italian form of the name, rather than the French "Chaconne") is really cast in the form of a French theatrical dance known as the "passacaille", although it also incorporates Italian and German style features as well.
After the
Baroque period
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires includin ...
, the chaconne fell into decline during the 19th century, though the
32 Variations in C minor by
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
suggest its continuing influence. However, the form saw a very substantial revival during the 20th century, with more than two dozen composers contributing examples (see below).
Chaconne and passacaglia
The chaconne has been understood by some nineteenth and early twentieth-century theorists 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 assigned the term ''
passacaglia''), while other theorists of the same period make the distinction the other way around. 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, and "modern attempts to arrive at a clear distinction are arbitrary and historically unfounded." In fact, the two genres were sometimes combined in a single composition, as in the ''Cento partite sopra passacagli'', from ''Toccate d’intavolatura di cimbalo et organo, partite di diverse arie ...'' (1637), by
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi (; also Gerolamo, Girolimo, and Geronimo Alissandro; September 15831 March 1643) was an Italian composer and virtuoso keyboard player. Born in the Duchy of Ferrara, he was one of the most important composers of k ...
, and the first suite of ''Les Nations'' (1726) as well as in the ''Pièces de Violes'' (1728) by
François Couperin
François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented ...
.
Frescobaldi
The Frescobaldi are a prominent Florentine noble family that have been involved in the political, social, and economic history of Tuscany since the Middle Ages. Originating in the Val di Pesa in the Chianti, they appear holding important post ...
, 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. Both are usually in
triple meter, begin on the second beat of the
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar ( ...
, and have a theme of four measures (or a close multiple thereof). (In more recent times the chaconne, like the passacaglia, need not be in time; see, for instance,
Francesco Tristano Schlimé's Chaconne/Ground Bass, where every section is built on seven-beats patterns)
Examples
17th century
*
Francesca Caccini
Francesca Caccini (; 18 September 1587 – after 1641) was an Italian composer, singer, lutenist, poet, and music teacher of the early Baroque music, Baroque era. She was also known by the nickname "La Cecchina" , given to her by the Florence, Fl ...
(1587 – c.1641): Ciaccona
*
Antonio Bertali
Antonio Bertali (March 1605–17 April 1669) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era.
He was born in Verona and received early music education there from Stefano Bernardi. Probably from 1624, he was employed as court musi ...
(1605–1669): Ciaccona in C major for violin and continuo (undated)
*
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber ( bapt. 12 August 1644, Stráž pod Ralskem – 3 May 1704, Salzburg) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. Biber worked in Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left his employer, Prince-Bishop Karl L ...
(1644–1704): Ciacona in D major for violin and
basso continuo
Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing the ...
(undated); another in the Partita no. 3 in A major for seven string instruments, from ''Harmonia artificioso-ariosa'' (written 1696)
*
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude (; ; born Diderik Hansen Buxtehude; c. 1637 – 9 May 1707) was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal a ...
(c. 1638–1707): Prelude, fugue, and chaconne in C Major (
BuxWV
The Buxtehude-Werke-Verzeichnis ("Buxtehude Works Catalogue", commonly abbreviated to BuxWV) is the catalogue and the numbering system used to identify musical works by the German-Danish Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637 – 9 May 17 ...
137), chaconne in C minor (
BuxWV
The Buxtehude-Werke-Verzeichnis ("Buxtehude Works Catalogue", commonly abbreviated to BuxWV) is the catalogue and the numbering system used to identify musical works by the German-Danish Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637 – 9 May 17 ...
159), and chaconne in E minor (
BuxWV
The Buxtehude-Werke-Verzeichnis ("Buxtehude Works Catalogue", commonly abbreviated to BuxWV) is the catalogue and the numbering system used to identify musical works by the German-Danish Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637 – 9 May 17 ...
160); all for organ (probably 1690s)
*
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
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (; 1643 – 24 February 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his ''Te Deum'', ''Marche en rondeau''. This theme is still us ...
(1643–1704): Chaconne from the opera ''
Les arts florissants'' (1685); another from the opera ''
David et Jonathas
''David et Jonathas'' (''David and Jonathan''), H. 490, is an opera in five acts and a prologue by the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier, first performed at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, Paris, on 28 February 1688. The libretto, by ...
'' (1688); another from the opera ''
Médée
''Médée'' is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Pierre Corneille in 1635.
Summary
The heroine of the play is the sorceress Médée. After Médée gives Jason twin boys, Jason leaves her for Creusa. Médée ex ...
'' (1694)
*
Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli (, also , , ; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence of th ...
(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
Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi (; also Gerolamo, Girolimo, and Geronimo Alissandro; September 15831 March 1643) was an Italian composer and virtuoso keyboard player. Born in the Duchy of Ferrara, he was one of the most important composers of k ...
(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
Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas ...
(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
Tarquinio Merula (24 November 1595 – 10 December 1665) was an Italian composer, organist, and violinist of the early Baroque era. Although mainly active in Cremona, stylistically he was a member of the Venetian school. He was one of the most p ...
(1594/95–1665): "Su la cetra amorosa," aria in ciaccona for soprano and instrumental accompaniment, from ''Madrigali et altre musiche concertate'' (1633)
*
Girolamo Montesardo (dates unknown): Chaconne bass line in three keys (G major, C major, F major) for guitar, from ''Nuova inventione d'intavolatura'' (1606), perhaps the first written chaconne
*
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is consider ...
(1567–1643): "Zefiro torna," ciaccona for two tenors and instrumental accompaniment, from ''Scherzi musicali cioè arie et madrigali'' (1632)
*
Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel (baptised – buried 9 March 1706; also Bachelbel) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secularity, secular music, and h ...
(1653–1706): Two chaconnes (in C major, D major) for organ, from ''
Hexachordum Apollinis'' (1699); four more (in D major,
D minor
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major.
The D natural minor scale is:
Changes needed ...
, F major,
F minor
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp mi ...
) for organ (undated)
*
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer.
Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...
(1659–1695): Chaconne from the semi-opera ''Prophetess, or The History of
Dioclesian'' (1690); two more from the semi-opera ''
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as ...
, or The British Worthy'' (1691); another from the semi-opera ''
The Fairy-Queen'' (1692)
*
Robert de Visée
Robert de Visée (c. 1655 – 1732/1733) was a French lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, as well as a singer and composer for lute, theorbo and guitar.
Biography
Robert de Visée's p ...
(1655–1732/33): Two chaconnes (in F major, G major) for guitar from ''Livre de guittarre, dédié au roi'' (1682); another in G minor, from ''Livre de pieces pour la guittarre, dédié au roi'' (1686)
18th century
*
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
(1685–1750): Chaconne, fifth movement of
Partita no. 2 in D minor for solo violin (1720)
*
Luigi Boccherini
Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and ''galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major Europea ...
(1743–1805): "Chaconne that represents Hell . . . in imitation of the one by M. Gluck," finale to Symphony in D minor, op. 12, no. 4 (1771)
*
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689–1755): Chaconne in A major for two cellos, from ''Neuf petites sonates et chaconne'' (1737); another in G major, from the opera ''Daphnis et Chloé'' (1747)
*
François Couperin
François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented ...
(1668–1733): "La Favorite," chaconne, ninth movement in Ordre 3ème in C minor for harpsichord, from ''Pièces de clavecin'', premier livre (1713)
*
Antoine Forqueray
Antoine Forqueray (September 1672 – 28 June 1745) was a French composer and virtuoso of the viola da gamba.
Forqueray, born in Paris, was the first in a line of composers which included his sons Jean-Baptiste (1699–1782) and Nicolas Gilles ...
(1671–1745): Chaconne "La Buisson", from ''Pieces de viole avec basse continue'' (1747)
*
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...
(1714–1787): Chaconne in the opera ''
Orfeo ed Euridice
' (; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the '' azione teatrale'', meaning a ...
'' (1762); the same chaconne also in the opera ''
Iphigénie en Aulide'' (1774); a different chaconne in the opera ''
Armide'' (1777)
*
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
(1685–1759): Chaconne in G major and 21 variations for harpsichord (written 1705–17, published 1733); another in G major and 62 variations for organ (written 1703–06, published 1733)
*
Marin Marais (1656–1728): Chaconne, eighth movement in Suite 3 in F major; another, final movement in Suite in A major; both for viola da gamba and continuo, from ''Pièces de viole'', quatrième livre (1717)
*
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and ...
(1683–1764): chaconne in D minor from the opera-ballet ''
Les Indes galantes'' (1735); another in D minor from the opera-ballet ''
Les fêtes d'Hébé'' (1739); another in A major from the comic opera ''
Platée
''Platée'' is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d'Orville. Rameau bought the rights to the libretto ''Platée ou Junon jalouse'' (''Plataea, or Juno Jealous'') by Jacques Au ...
'' (1745)
*
Georg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hild ...
(1681–1767): "Lilliputian Chaconne," second movement of "Gulliver's Travels," Intrada-Suite in D major for 2 violins, from ''Der getreue Musikmeister'' (1728–29)
*
Tommaso Vitali (1663–1745):
Chaconne in G minor
The Chaconne in G minor is a Baroque composition for violin and continuo, traditionally attributed to the Italian composer Tomaso Antonio Vitali. A Dresden manuscript that may have been transcribed in the early 18th century is the earliest know ...
for violin and piano (c. 1710–1730)
*
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread ...
(1678–1741): Ciaccona, third movement of Concerto in G minor for flute, oboe, violin, bassoon, strings (c. 1720)
*
Sylvius Leopold Weiss
Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 168716 October 1750) was a German composer and lutenist.
Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, he served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. Until ...
(1687–1750): Chaconne, eleventh movement in Sonata 1; another, ninth movement in Sonata 2; another, seventh movement in Sonata 10; another, seventh movement in Sonata 12; all for lute (all undated)
19th century
*
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
:
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98, finale
*
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
: Chaconne from
Sarabande und Chaconne aus dem Singspiel Almira, S.181 (1879)
*
Heinrich Reimann: Ciacona in F minor, op. 32, for organ
20th century
*
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
: second movement "Chaconne: Body Through Which the Dream Flows" from
Violin Concerto (1993)
*
Malcolm Arnold: second movement "Chaconne" from Recorder Sonatina, Op. 41 (1953)
*Malcolm Arnold: second movement "Chaconne: Andante con moto" from
Quintet For Brass, Op. 73 (1961)
*
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hu ...
: first movement, "Tempo di ciaccona" from the
Sonata for violin solo (1944)
*
Howard Blake
Howard David Blake (born 28 October 1938) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist whose career has spanned more than 50 years and produced more than 650 works. Blake's most successful work is his soundtrack for Channel 4’s 1982 film ' ...
: Chaconne (from Lifecycle, sequence of 24 piano solos) (1975)
*
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
: "Chacony," third movement of the String Quartet No. 2, in C (1945)
*Benjamin Britten: "Ciaccona," fifth movement of the
Cello Suite No. 2 (1967)
*
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 – 16 March 1968) was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In ...
: "El Sueño de la Razón Produce Monstruos", from "24 Caprichos de Goya", Op. 195
*
John Corigliano
John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, an ...
: ''The Red Violin (Chaconne)'' for violin and orchestra
*John Corigliano: Chaconne, 3rd movement of Symphony No. 1 "Giulio's Song" (1990)
*
Johann Nepomuk David: Chaconne in A minor for organ (1933)
*Johann Nepomuk David: ''Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland: kleine Chaconne'' on "
Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
" for organ
*
Robert Davidson: Chaconne for orchestra (1994)
*
Norman Dello Joio: ''Variations, Chaconne, and Finale'' for orchestra
*
David Diamond: Chaconne, for violin and piano (1951)
*
Cornelis Dopper: Ciaconna gotica (1920)
*
Marcel Dupré
Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré () (3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue.
Biography
Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré was titular o ...
: ''Triptyque'', op. 51 (Chaconne, Musette, Dithyrambe), for organ
*
Jean Françaix: Chaconne for harp and string orchestra (1976)
*
Gunnar de Frumerie
Per Gunnar Fredrik de Frumerie (20 July 1908, in Nacka, Stockholm County – 9 September 1987, in Täby, Stockholm County) was a Swedish composer and pianist. He was the son of architect Gustaf de Frumerie and Maria Helleday.
After studying pian ...
: Chaconne op. 8, for piano (1932)
*
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...
: ''Echorus'' for two violins and string orchestra (1995)
*Philip Glass:
Symphony No. 3, third movement (1995)
*Philip Glass:
Violin Concerto No. 1, second movement (1987)
*
Alexander Goehr
Peter Alexander Goehr (; born 10 August 1932) is an English composer and academic.
Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and composer Walter Goehr, a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. In his early twenties he emerged as a centra ...
: Chaconne, for organ (1985)
*
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (russian: Софи́я Асгáтовна Губaйду́лина, link=no , tt-Cyrl, София Әсгать кызы Гобәйдуллина; born 24 October 1931) is a Soviet-Russian composer and an established ...
: Chaconne, for piano (1962)
*
Lou Harrison: ''Suite for Violin and American Gamelan'' (1974)
*
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as ...
: ''Il Vitalino raddoppiato: ciaccona per violino soloista e orchestra da camera'' (1977)
*Hans Werner Henze: ''Concerto for Double Bass'', third movement (1966)
*
Heinz Holliger: Chaconne for solo cello (1975)
*
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...
: "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)
[Budd Udell, "Standard Works for Band: Gustav Holst's First Suite in E♭ Major for Military Band." ''Music Educators Journal'' 69, no. 4 (1982) page 28]
(JSTOR subscription access)
– Pam Hurry, Mark Phillips, and Mark Richards
(Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 2001. ) p. 238. – Clarence Lucas,
The Story of Musical Form
' (The Music Story Series, edited by Frederick J. Crowest. London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd.; New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908) page 203.
*
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 t ...
: ''Chaconne de l'impératrice'', from the film music for ''Napoléon'' (1926–27)
*
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study ...
: ''Toccata und Chaconne: über den Choral "Ja ich glaub an Jesum Christum"'', op. 13, for piano
*
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...
: ''Hungarian Rock: Chaconne'', for harpsichord
*
Douglas Lilburn
Douglas Gordon Lilburn (2 November 19156 June 2001) was a New Zealand composer.
Early life
Lilburn was born in Whanganui and spent his early years on the family sheep farm in the upper Turakina River valley at Drysdale. He attended Waitaki Bo ...
: Chaconne, for Piano (1946)
*
Frank Martin: Chaconne, for cello and piano (1931)
*
Carl Nielsen
Carl August Nielsen (; 9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a Danish composer, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer.
Brought up by poor yet musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he ...
:
Chaconne, op. 32, for piano (1916–17)
*
Henri Pousseur
Henri Léon Marie-Thérèse Pousseur (23 June 1929 – 6 March 2009) was a Belgian classical composer, teacher, and music theorist.
Biography
Pousseur was born in Malmedy and studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 1947 ...
: Chaconne for solo violin
*
Knudåge Riisager
Knudåge Riisager (6 March 1897 in Kunda, Russian Empire – 26 December 1974 in Copenhagen, Denmark) was a Danish composer. His work was part of the music event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Early life and education
...
: Chaconne, op. 50, for orchestra
*
Poul Ruders
Poul Ruders (born 27 March 1949) is a Danish composer.
Life
Born in Ringsted, Ruders trained as an organist, and studied orchestration with Karl Aage Rasmussen. Ruders's first compositions date from the mid-1960s. Ruders regards his own composi ...
: Chaconne for solo guitar
*
Franz Schmidt: Chaconne in C minor, for organ. (1925) Arranged for orchestra (transposed to D minor) in 1931.
*
Reginald Smith Brindle: ''Chaconne and Interludes: (The Instruments of Peace III)'', for two guitars
*
Leo Sowerby: Chaconne, for tuba and piano (1938)
*Leo Sowerby: ''Canon, Chacony, & Fugue'' for organ (1948)
*
David Van Vactor
David Van Vactor (May 8, 1906 – March 24, 1994) was an American composer of contemporary classical music.
He was born in Plymouth, Indiana, and received Bachelor of Music (1928) and Master of Music (1935) degrees from Northwestern Universit ...
: ''Fantasia, Chaconne, and Allegro'', for orchestra
*
Stefan Wolpe
Stefan Wolpe (25 August 1902, Berlin – 4 April 1972, New York City) was a German-Jewish-American composer. He was associated with interdisciplinary modernism, with affiliations ranging from the Bauhaus, Berlin agitprop theater and the kibbutz mo ...
: ''Dance in Form of a Chaconne'' for piano (1941)
*
Michiru Yamane
is a Japanese video game composer and pianist. Yamane's musical style draws on baroque, classical and rock traditions, with both Johann Sebastian Bach and Yellow Magic Orchestra as prominent influences. She is best known for her two decades ...
: ''Chaconne in C-moll'' for organ (1996)
*
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: opera ''Die Soldaten'' (1965). Act 1, Scene 2 (Ciacona 1). Act 2, Scene 2 (Capriccio, Corale e Ciacona II). Act 4, Scene 2 (Ciacona III)
21st century
*
Paulo Galvão: Chacoinas (2) in A minor for
baroque guitar
The Baroque guitar (c. 1600–1750) is a string instrument with five courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string.
History
The Baroque guitar replaced the Renaissance lute ...
.
*
Jennifer Higdon
Jennifer Elaine Higdon (born December 31, 1962) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. She has received many awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto and three Grammy Award for Best Contemp ...
: "Chaconni," second movement from her
violin concerto (2008)
*
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', ' ...
: ''Ciaccona in memoria Giovanni Paolo II per archi'' (for string orchestra) from ''
Polish Requiem'' (added in 2005).
*
Francesco Tristano Schlimé: Chaconne/Ground Bass for
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
(1997/2004/2012).
*
Roman Turovsky
Roman Turovsky-Savchuk (Ukrainian: Роман Туровський-Савчук) is an American artist-painter, photographer and videoinstallation artist, as well as a lutenist-composer, : Chaconnes in C major, C minor and D minor for baroque
lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
.
*
Simon Andrews: Chaconne, 2nd movement of Symphony No. 1 "For the heart is an organ of fire" (2013)
*
Marc-André Dalbavie
Marc-André Dalbavie (born 10 February 1961 at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) is a French composer.Anne Sédès, "Marc-André Dalbavie", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' He had his first music lessons at age 6.orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
(2002).
*Paulo Ugoletti: Ciaccona per pianoforte.
*
Michael Blake: French Suite for
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
, first dance (1994).
*Michael Blake: Kora for
harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orc ...
(2009).
References
External links
Ciaccona Book trailer
{{Authority control
Baroque dance
Dance forms in classical music
Musical forms