Passamezzo antico

The passamezzo antico is a ground bass or chord progression that was popular during the Italian Renaissance and known throughout Europe in the 16th century.

[2] The progression is a variant of the double tonic: its major mode variant is known as the passamezzo moderno.

The sequence consists of two phrases as follows: (For an explanation of this notation see Chord progression) Though usually in the key of G minor,[1] in the key of A minor this gives: The romanesca is a variant of the passamezzo antico, where the first chord is the III (e.g., a C major chord in A minor).

The passamezzo antico chord changes are found, knowingly or not, in modern popular music culture: Carrie Underwood's debut album Some Hearts has two examples, "Before He Cheats" (a big U.S. hit in 2006) and "Starts with Goodbye".

This music theory article is a stub.