Chaconne, from Partita in d for Solo Violin

Certain forms seem to evoke a particular time period in music history: the fugue in Germany’s Baroque era, symphonies in late-18th-century Austria, art song in the 19th century. Like fugue, the chaconne developed primarily during the Baroque period (ca. 1600-1750), though its origins go back even earlier. And also like fugue, chaconne is both a form and a compositional technique.
Chaconne, often called by its Italian name ciaconna, is a variation form at heart. Many listeners today will recognize the Chaconne in D minor for solo violin by J. S. Bach (1685-1750), the piece which opens tonight’s program. Magisterial, imposing, and brilliantly diverse, Bach’s Chaconne demonstrates the emotional power that can be built up over the course of numerous variations. The underlying skeleton (chord progression) remains fixed, while the fleshing out of the melodic material is limited only by the imagination of the composer and the endurance of the performer. It is a captivating work that has achieved unrivaled fame in the world of solo violin music, a fame which extends into the piano world courtesy of transcriptions by Brahms (for left hand alone) and Busoni (for two very busy hands!). Going one step further, several composers have sensed a basic similarity in structure and mood between Bach’s Chaconne and his chorale tune, Christ lag in Todesbanden, “Christ lay in death’s embrace.” Tonight we hear this intriguing synthesis of two powerful works.
It should be noted that Bach’s Chaconne is very far from the form’s origins. The chaconne likely started in Spanish colonies of Latin American during the 16th century. It was a popular dance form. The earliest extant examples are in triple meter (like Bach’s) and a brusque major mode (unlike Bach’s). Eventually the dance made its way to Europe; Spain and Italy developed a distinct passion for it in the late 1600s. Repetition of a basic chord progression, made necessary by the dance’s own repetition of certain steps, gave the chaconne a life of its own beyond dance. Composers from Monteverdi to Lully wrote chaconnes both in balletic situations and in more abstract or “pure” musical settings.

(c) Jason Stell