A chaconne (/ʃəˈkɒn/; French: [ʃakɔn]; Spanish: chacona ; Italian: ciaccona , pronounced [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.
I spend quite a bit of time trying to educate myself in music theory; I have a good ear for music, but I don’t have the vocabulary or experience I want in order to be able to discuss things with others who ARE more experienced and/or educated and who play and/or compose professionally. I know that we have many Dopers who are involved with music, so I’m turning here to discuss these terms a bit.
These definitions seem to describe an awful lot of modern popular music. I’m reading often that these are popular forms for jazz, but what about the other genres? If they aren’t chaccones or passacaglias, why not?
And what is relationship between Debussy’s compositions and chaccones/passacaglias?
Not a musicologist, but from my amateur perspective there are a few things that set modern pop music apart from the style of the chaconne/passacaglia.
Most pop music alternates between refrain and the other section (what’s that called?). A chaconne has only the repeated bass progression, no alternate sections.
A chaconne typically consists of a single bass theme which is varied upon with increasingly more baroque variations. E,g, the well-known examples of Pachelbel and Händel, or the Bach Passacaglia in C minor. Pop music typically simply repeats the section with slight variations.
The bass theme of a chaconne is typically sounded clearly (even solo) at the start as consisting of relatively long notes, while pop music usually starts with all instruments on top of the bass theme which is also already elaborated in its final form.
That said, I can see where you are coming from. If we abstract from the specific form of the chaconne a lot of pop music can indeed be characterised as slight variations on a repeated bass theme. For instance, in Billie Jean, there is a very short (rather rhythmic) bass beat that is complemented with the other instruments, similar to a chaconne. But the harmonic progression only develops after the other instruments started, and it is distinct from the rhythm. A baroque chaconne would start with the harmonic bass theme, and would add rhythm only after that.
I didn’t realize that the form was so rigid and that it was so important to follow that form. I really appreciate that insight and the particulars you listed; I’m sure it’ll help me as I listen to more pieces. It’ll certainly help me to better distinguish between the two forms.
Dance music, then, like EDM, would not be a chaccone because the bass line shows no variation?
I think my core question is actually: must there be variations in the bass line at every passage? Do the variations need to be melodic/harmonic or can they also be rhythmic?
And are there terms for music that does the same thing but uses a different voice than bass as the foundation?
AFAIK: if the bass line doesn’t change at all it is simply a basso ostinato.
The variations in the bass melody may also be simply rhythmic, but usually they are both melodic decorative and rhythmic as otherwise it would be boring. Take for instance Händel’s passacaglia from his suite in g minor or his chaconne from the suite in d minor: the melodic variations are often slight but they are there, the rhythmic variations draws attention. In the famous Bach Passacaglia in C minor you can see at the start that the bass line is more an ostinato, but then varies with similar frills, and after a while the harmonic sequence is only implicit under the scales played in the upper voices.
If there is a constant melody in the higher voices I would tend to characterise that simply as ‘variations’, but maybe there is some other term. An example are Mozarts variations on Ah, je vous dirai maman.
Excellent examples and a very succinct explanation; thanks again (Baroque is da bomb, eh).
It’s really great having the notation displayed. I’m not very good at reading music (hasn’t been a regular practice for me since I was about 16) but I can eventually find the part I’m looking for and then I can generally follow along okay. I’m recently spending more time on that as a skill; I’d quite like to be able to communicate more effectively and I just don’t have enough facility with the “language” yet. But practice is what helps, so I now love seeing the notation.
There is no other form, or named form, which features a drum ostinato or a flute ostinato, etc.; they would simply be called variations of some kind?
Verse, chorus, bridge; thanks, couldn’t remember the English words.
I really can’t think of a name for a form with a repeated line in another voice. Indeed the only example that comes to mind is Ravel’s Bolero which is built on sustained rhythmic theme in the drums.
I’m wondering if I’m thinking about things wrongly tho.
I think EDM is mostly based on repeated lines in the drums and/or bass, with variations occurring mostly in vocals, keyboards, etc. But the bass/drums are usually fairly static which causes the ear to notices the changes in the other voices more easily, IMO.
Seems a shame that there’s no dedicated term for a “chaccone” that uses a sax riff as it’s base tho, or a guitar riff, or a piano or drums.
I agree that there is a similarity in EDM where there is a repeated bass line, you might argue that it can be classified as a kind of chaconne where the bass is not varied. The technique of a repeated bass is common and appealing. Arguably Pachelbel’s canon is more a chaconne than a canon; Satie’s Gymnopédie’s also use a repeated bass theme to great effect. In modern music I’ve heard it in Tiersen’s Amelie soundtrack or in Einaudi’s Il giorni, although in all these cases I wouldn’t call those a chaconne. But some EDM tracks may indeed evoke similar feelings as the classic chaconnes.
It is one of my favorite pieces of music (especially Pt. 2) and I’m guessing that it would be called a variation or variations is all, even tho structurally it is very similar to a chaccone.
It is a piece for guitar and drums, but the guitars are all tuned the same and only play one note. They also play the same rhythm with naturally occurring variations from performer to performer incorporated as part of the intent of the music. The drummer has free reign to play so long as the basic rhythm is maintained.
I listen to and create a lot of music that utilizes repitition (repetition = intent eh) which, for me, naturally leads to the type of layering that I’m hearing in these chaccones so I’m intensely interested in the form now that I’ve learned the concept exists.
Never heard of Rhys Chatham, interesting piece, I’ll need to listen to it more leisurely.
Have you heard of minimal music? The Guitar Trio is similar in concept and execution (maybe it is actually considered minimal music). Philip Glass and John Adams are well-known composers of minimal music.
Personally I’m partial to Simeon Ten Holt, Canto Ostinato which indeed has such a layered effect. At 46.50 it is almost magical when finally a lyrical theme blossoms.
Note that there are actually two contemporary American composers by that name: John Coolidge Adams, who is the minimalist that I assume @Tusculan was referring to, and John Luther Adams.
I remember Become Ocean! But I didn’t remember that the composer was John Luther Adams; thanks for that. It would have been months or years before I stumbled across that on my own. That’s a neat bit of trivia.
I always thought the 8-bar synth solo in Rush’s song “Xanadu” was inspired by the melody of this piece.
Anyway…I’ve seen “ostinato” in modern popular music analysis used to describe what Keith Richards would call a “riff” (typically guitar, but could be bass or piano). Makes sense.
In music, an ostinato[ostiˈnaːto] (derived from Italian: stubborn , compare English, from Latin: ‘obstinate’) is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch.
Ostinati play an important part in improvised music (rock and jazz), in which they are often referred to as riffs or vamps .
Hmmm, a blues bass line (and lots of other bass lines) could be described as an ostinato, but even those often have breaks and stuff like that in them. I thought the an ostinato had to usually do nothing but repeat itself.
Because music in general employs a lot of repetition, you can’t just point to a song with repetition and say it is a chaconne. It needs to employ a specific type of repetition in order to be a chaconne. It’s like 12 bar blues arrangements are very common in music but that doesn’t make a song that loosely follows a blues progression a blues song.
