Chaconne
Variations over a repeated bass or harmonic pattern, usually in triple time
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A chaconne is a set of variations over a repeated bass or harmonic pattern, usually in triple time and at a measured pace. It is often confused with the passacaglia: both build on a ground and variations, and the difference lies in historical usage and accent rather than a hard line.
It differs from theme and variations: the variation frame is the bass or the harmony, not a complete melody. The usual mistake is to treat chaconne and passacaglia as identical — in Baroque practice the border is blurred, but analysis should say which one it means.
Read deeper → passacaglia
Sources
- 恰空与帕萨卡利亚的关系，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Chaconne"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.