Chaconne

A chaconne (/ʃəˈkɒn/ shə-KON, French: [ʃakɔn]; Spanish: chacona [tʃaˈkona]; Italian: ciaccona [tʃakˈkoːna]; earlier English: chacony)[1] 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.

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 or a derivative pattern thereof.

Alex Ross describes the origins of the chacona as actually having been a sexily swirling dance that appeared in South America at the end of the sixteenth century and quickly spread to Europe.

[4] Outstanding examples of early baroque chaconnes are Monteverdi's "Zefiro torna" and "Es steh Gott auf" by Heinrich Schütz.

This 256-measure chaconne takes a plaintive four-bar phrase through a continuous kaleidoscope of musical expression in both major and minor modes.