Passacaglia
Continuous variations over a ground bass, often minor and triple
Related
A passacaglia is continuous variation over a ground bass: the bass line repeats while the upper parts change again and again. It is often minor and triple, solemn in mood; Bach's Passacaglia in C minor is one summit.
It is often confused with the chaconne: both build on a ground and variations, and the difference lies more in historical context and accent than in a rule. The usual mistake is to hear it as "just a repeating bass" — the bass is the frame; the music happens in each different breath above it.
Read deeper → chaconne
Sources
- 帕萨卡利亚的固定低音与历史用法，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Passacaglia"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.