Chaconne

The Chaconne ( French, chacona Spanish, from Basque chocuna " cute " ) is a Spanish folk dance of the 16th century and is closely related to the Passacaglia. For musical works of the Italian term ciaccona is often used in the title; also modified from spellings as ciacona, chiaccona, ciaconia and similar occur.

After Curt Sachs is the Chaconne Hispanic origin, and had formerly a sensual, wild and rampant character.

In art music is meant by Chaconne an ostinato form with a constantly repeating four to eight -measure harmonic scheme. The difference with the Passacaglia is that the bass line is allowed to change during the course as well. The subject must be in the Passacaglia always clear, this is not the case with the Chaconne. The theme can also go through the voices and be made so difficult to see.

Baroque

Outstanding examples of early Baroque Vokalciaccona are Claudio Monteverdi's " Zefiro torna " (9th book of madrigals, SV 251) and - inspired by it - Heinrich Schutz's "It stand on God " ( " Symphoniae sacrae " II, SWV 356, final part).

The most famous Chaconne is that exist from the Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin ( BWV 1004) by Johann Sebastian Bach, from the transcriptions. So Johannes Brahms composed a work for the left hand alone, which should Reproduce this way, the restrictions of the violin, while Ferruccio Busoni in his virtuoso arrangement ausschöpfte the sonic possibilities of the piano.

Also known is the Chaconne for harpsichord in G major (HWV 435) by Georg Friedrich Händel. The Chaconne in G minor for violin and basso continuo, the 1860 Italian Baroque composer Tomaso Antonio Vitali attributed to the violinist Ferdinand David, probably not from the Baroque period, but was composed in the 19th century. This is mainly due to extensive harmonic modulations speak in the variations.

19th century

Chance of the form has been revived in the 19th century. One of the greatest creations of the chaconne romance part of the final movement of Symphony no. 4 in E minor, Op 98 by Johannes Brahms. The eight-bar theme ( with slight changes ) of the Bach cantata "After you, sir, verlanget me " taken from BWV 150. It is presented at the beginning of the winds, and then artfully varied in more than 30 variations, where the topic is mostly present in the bass instruments. However, even today critics and musicologists disagree on whether they can be described as pure Chaconne. Since the movement is in developing sonata form, the subject is initially interpreted as a passacaglia, but it is in the implementation only difficult to see, and so you get traits of the Chaconne.

20th century

Significant Chaconne compositions from the 20th century come from the Carl Nielsen, Emil Bohnke and Hans Werner Henze ( final movement from Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra ).