Edna Stern / Amandine Beyer CHACONNE

The chaconne, like the passacaglia, is an old dance of Spanish origin, often slow and solemn, which is built on a rhythmic scheme in triple time. The term chaconne came to designate a variation form founded on a theme of four or eight bars stated in the bass, and ending with a clearly marked perfect cadence. Cadential regularity, a slow and solemn tempo, triple time, and the ostinato principle are the essential characteristics of this imposing form whose majestic gait and demonstrative, ostentatious character make it a Baroque phenomenon par excellence. This major genre inseparable from the Baroque style, was to prove ideal terrain for the creators of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Its unrivaled period of expansion, notable for distinguished contributions from such men as Frescobaldi, Couperin, and Buxtehude, culminated in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, with such noted examples as the towering Passacaglia in C minor for organ, BWV582. (Arkiv Music)