Further Remarks on the Passacaglia and Ciaccona

Author(s): Richard Hudson

Source: Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Summer, 1970), pp.
302-314
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological Society
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 Further Remarks on the Passacaglia
and Ciaccona

BY RICHARD HUDSON

IN CONNECTIONWITHThomas Walker's article "Ciacconaand Passacag-

lia: Remarks on Their Origin and Early History," which appeared
in this JOURNAL, XXI (1968), 300-320, I would like to offer some ad-
ditional information. Mr. Walker and I were working concurrently but
independently on this subject, and the same issue of the JOURNAL that in-
cluded his article also recorded the completion of my dissertation (p.
348).1 Although we are in substantial agreement, I think a few com-
ments might be of interest.
First of all I want to suggest a possible connection between Juan
Carlos Amat and the passacalle (see Walker's article, p. 306, footnote
33).
Available for my study was a reproduction of the copy of Amat's
Guitarra espainola at the Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of
Music.2 This copy was published in Valencia; it gives no date on the title
page, but contains a letter dated 1639 which mentions the first Barcelona
edition of 1586. This copy includes no pasacalles or chaconas, but does
present the chord succession (but without meter, rhythm, or stroke pat-
tern, and hence is no real "tablature" in the sense of the later guitar
books) for two forms: the paseo and the vacas (referring to Gudrdanme
las vacas on the chordal scheme of the romanesca).
Amat depicts all the major and minor triads on a circular chart, num-
bered in the order of their appearance in the cycle of fifths.3 Both major
and minor chords are numbered from one to twelve, those with the same
root receiving the same number. At the end of his book Amat includes a
section entitled Tractat breu y explicacid dels punts de la guitarra en
idioma valencid, in which he gives the equivalence between his numbers
Variations on the
1Richard Hudson, "The Development of Italian Keyboard
Passacaglio and Ciaccona from Guitar Music in the 17th Century," Ph.D. disserta-
tion, University of California, Los Angeles, 1967 (Ann Arbor: University Micro-
films, No. 68-219).
2 University of Rochester Library, Microcard Publications in Music, Collection
of Early Music Books, microcard UR-54 2977.
3 This chart and other excerpts from Amat's book are printed in Felip Pedrell,
Catdlech de la Biblioteca Musical de la Diputaci6 de Barcelona (Barcelona: Palau
de la Diputaci6, 90o8), I, i8i-i88; also in Emilio Pujol, de Joan Carlos
Amat (1572-1642)en historia de la
la Anuario "Significaci'n
musical, V (1950), 125-146.
guitarra,"

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 THE PASSACAGLIA AND CIACCONA 303
and the lettersmade popularby Montesardoin 16o6.4After showing how
to produce all the chords, Amat says: "Puedensecon estos Puntos hacer
vacas, paseos, gallardas,villanos, italianas,pabanillasy otras cosas seme-
jantes, por doce partes . ."5 (With these chords one can make vacas,
paseos, etc. in twelve keys.)
He then demonstrates the use of the chords in this way:
Tratar6 aqui c6mo y de que manera se tafie un paseo que anda por aqui
comun (y esto para acomodarmea toda manera de sugetos) por las doce
partes; que entendido esto, y lo que tratar6 despues, facilmente se tocara
qualquiercosa por todos los doce Puntos.
Este paseo que digo est~ compuesto de tres Puntos: el uno se toca dos
veces, y los dos no mas de una ...
El primero se hace, quando se toca el Punto primero, y de este al
segundo,y despuesal doce, y de este otra vez al primero.6
I will treat here on how and in what manner one plays a paseo, which is
common around here (this I will do in order to accommodate myself to
all sorts of subjects), in the twelve keys; once this is understood and that
which follows, it can be very easy to play anything with the twelve
chords. This paseo of which I speak is composed of three chords: the first
is played twice, and the other two no more than once. The first one is
made when one plays the first chord, and from this goes to the second,
and then to the twelfth, and from this, back again to the first.
The musical result of these instructions is the progression
I-IV-V-I.7
Amat describes the identical harmonic construction of the other eleven
paseos and states: "He querido traer estos doce modos de hacer un
paseo, por ser comunes a tantos tonos casi infinitos; y tambien porque
sabiendo mudar de uno en otro, se sabraitafier por las doce partes muchas
tonadillas que andan por aqui, como son vacas, gallardas, pabanillas,
sezarillos (I have wanted to present here these twelve ways of
".
making a paseo, because they are common to so many pieces, almost in-
finite in number; one will be able to play, using the twelve keys,
many
pieces that are current, such as vacas, etc.)
Because of the double system of numbering, it is not clear whether
he presents paseos only for the major keys, or whether one is
supposed
to utilize the puntos b mollados (minor triads) to create paseos also in
the minor mode. In any event the paseo displays some striking similari-

4GirolamoMontesardo,Nuova inventione d'intavolatura (Florence, i606). The

letters in Montesardo's system, however, appear in no apparent order except pos-
sibly the relative frequency of occurrence of the chords. Luis de Briqefio in his
Metodo mui facilissimo (Paris, 1626) indicates the chords with numbers, again in
no particularorder, nor in the same order that Montesardoused.
5 Juan Carlos Amat, Guitarra espaiiola (Valencia), p. 25.
6 Ibid., p. 26.
7 A transcription of the chords of the first paseo is given by Emilio Pujol in the
article "La guitare" in Albert Lavignac and Lionel de la Laurencie, Encyclopedie
de la musique (Paris: C. Delagrave, 1922-31), Part II, Vol. III, p. 2005.
8 Amat, op.
cit., p. 28.

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304 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MIUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

ties to the pasacalle: the probable common etymology of their names,

the same harmonic pattern (Walker, p. 306), and the presentation of a
complete series immediately following the identification of the chords
(Walker, p. 309, footnote 38). In addition, the words quoted above, in
which the paseo is described as fitting many different pieces, seem to in-
dicate ritornello function.
The later Spanish composer Gaspar Sanz clearly equates the paseo
and the pasacalle in his Instruccidn de sobre la guitarra espaiiola
states:
minsica
(Saragossa, 1674)." Sanz
En Barcelona Juan Carlos, Doctor en Medicina, compuso un librito,
con titulo de Guitarra Espafiola ... es muy bueno, pero corto, pues le
,
falta lo mejor, que es multiplicar partidas, y diferencias sobre uno de
los doze Passacalles, sin salir del tono ...
En este mi Tratado hallarais reglas que no he visto en ninguno de los
referidos Autores, porque a mas de ensefiar a multiplicar un Passacalle
en veinte y quatro modos diversos, como otros han discurrido, y ensefia
el Doctor Carlos, aqui hallarhs forma de mayores quilates, pues sobre
cada uno de los veinte y quatro Passacalles, y demas sones, te ensefiare a
que te inventes tantas diferencias como quisieres.10
In Barcelona Juan Carlos, Doctor of Medicine, composed a little book
with the title of Guitarra espafiola; it is very good, but short, because the
writer omits the best, which is to reproduce variations on one of the
twelve pasacalles, without departing from the key. In my book you will
find rules that have not been seen in any of the previously mentioned
authors, so that in addition to showing how to reproduce a pasacalle in
twenty-four different ways, as others have presented, and as Doctor Car-
los shows, here you will find a form of great value, which teaches you
not only each one of the twenty-four pasacalles, but also how to invent
as many variations as you wish.
Furthermore, Sanz uses the words passacalle and passeo (both spelled
with two s's) interchangeably in his titles. Two sets of variations called
Passacalles on the pages of the score are listed in the Table of Contents as
Partidas de passeos and Partidas de passeos de proporcidn." In another
case a page of music bears at the top the title Passacalles por la G; y B;
but in the middle of the page, as title for the second piece, stands the
designation Passeos por la B.12 Cabanilles also uses both terms for key-
board works, but not for the same composition. He has five works en-
titled Pasacalles and four called Paseos.1-: Moreover, the paseo, like the
' Facsimile of the third edition of Libros I & II (1674) and the eighth edition
of Libro III (1697), ed. Luis Garcia-Abrines (Saragossa: Instituci6n "Fernando el
edition
Cat61ico" de la Excma. Diputaci6n Provincial [C.S.I.C.], 1952; another
1966). All three books appeared originally in 1674.
10 Sanz, Libros I & II (3rd. ed., 1674), fol. 6.
1x Sanz, Libro III (8th ed., 1697); the two pieces are on fols. 49 and 57, the Table
of Contents on fol. 48.
Ibid., fol. 55.
12
13Johannis Cabanilles, Opera omnia, ed. Hyginii Angles (Barcelona: Institut
d'Estudis Catalans: Biblioteca de Catalunya, 1933), Pasacalles: pp. 40-61, Paseos:
pp. 120-129.

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 THE PASSACAGLIAAND CIACCONA 305

pasacalle, still seems to survive as a ritornello in the present-day folk

music of Latin America.14
The term passeo occurs in the Discursos sobre ei arte del danfado
(Seville, 1642) of Juan de Esquivel Navarro.15 Here it seems to be
synonymous with mudanfa and refers to the complete cycle of steps
that constitute any particular dance. Thus he says: "Ensefiasecomunmente
el Alta, quatro mudanqas de Pavana, seis passeos de Gallarda, quatro
mudanqas de Folias, dos de Rey, dos de Villano, Chacona, Rastro, Can-
ario, Torneo, Pie de gibado, y Alemana."1• At that time, however, the
word paseo ordinarily meant (and still does) "promenade," referring to a
street or to the act of walking along the street.17 Thus paseo was a word
from everyday language, whereas pasacalle, although derived in the same
manner (Walker, p. 305), appears in the literature of the early I7th
century to be exclusively a technical guitar term. All of these similarities
between the two forms suggest that the paseo, as a ritornello with the
harmonic progression I-IV-V-I, was the immediate forerunner in Spain
of the pasacalle. Both forms are preceded in Italy by the I6th-century
dance ritornello called the ripresa, which often displays the same har-
monic pattern."8

Concerning the chacona, I would like to add to the literary refer-

ences mentioned by Walker one that is slightly earlier. The chacona
is named in a poem by Mateo Rosas de Oquendo called Satira becha a las
cosas que pasan en el Peru aniode 1598. Here it appears in a list of dances:
"La zarabanda y balona, el churunba y el taparque, la chacona y el

14 For
present-day passacaglie, see Enciclopedia universal ilustrada, XLII, 450,
especially the description of the Cuban bolero, in which the pasacalle is a "tafiido
intermedio de la guitarra despues de la primera parte cantada del bolero, para
continuar luego la segunda. Consta generalmente de la t6nica, subdominante y
dominante, invirticndose en cada una dos compases de 3 por 8." (interlude played
on the guitar after the first sung part of the bolero, in order to continue afterwards
the second. It consists generally of the tonic, subdominant, and dominant, with each
chord occupying two measures of .) For the paseo, see Otto Mayer-Serra, Mzisica
y r"usicos de Latinoamerica (Mexico: Editorial Atlante, S.A., 1947), I, 240, and II,
620.
15 Facsimile edition in Publicaciones de la Asociacidn de Libreros y Amigos del
Libro, Vol. IV (Madrid, 1947).
16 Esquivel Navarro, fol. 26v.
17 The paseo as a promenade occurs
today as part of a dance in Puerto Rico
(see Mayer-Serra, op. cit., II, 745).
18 Keyboard riprese beginning around 1530 are described in Willi Apel, Geschichte
der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700 (Kassel: Birenreiter, 1967), P. 234 and else-
where, as listed in the index. For lute riprese starting about mid-century see Gerald
Lefkoff, Five Sixteenth-Century Venetian Lute Books (Washington, D. C.: Catholic
University of America Press, 196o). The relationship between the ripresa and the
passacaglia is discussed in Manfred Schuler, "Zur Friihgeschichte der Passacaglia,"
Die Musikforschung, XVI (1963), 121-126; and Giorgio Mainerio, II primo libro de
balli (Venice, 1578), ed. Manfred Schuler (Musikalische Denkmiler, V [Mainz:
B. Schott's S6hne, 1961 ]1), pp. I2-13 of the Einleitung.

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306 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICALSOCIETY

totarque . .
."1' Considering Walker's comments on p. 305, it is curious
that this earliest source should come from the New World. However, its
date is so close to the first Spanish source of 1599 (Walker, p. 300) that
by itself it in no way proves the American origin of the dance.
There is also a set of variations on the ciaccona earlier than the
one cited by Walker (p. 317): La chacona a 7 for lute from Le secret
des muses of Nicolas Vallet. This piece appears in the 1618 edition of
Vallet's book and therefore most likely also in the first edition of 1615.21
It displays a preference for the harmonic scheme I-V-II-V, which can
be set beside the other two early harmonic forms of the ciaccona, I-V-IV-
V and the favored one: I-V-vi-V.21 Vallet, although a Frenchman,
lived in Amsterdam from I613 until his death sometime after 1642.
Foscarini (Walker, p. 314), in describing certain pieces as more ap-
propriate to the lute than to the guitar, states that with the latter instru-
ment he actually makes his profession, "si come e' noto 'a quelli, che
m'hanno conosciuto appresso diversi Prencipi, e dentro e fuori d'Italia,
ed in particolare in Fiandra appresso il Serenissimo Arciduca Alberto"22
(as is known by those who have known me to be with various princes,
both inside and outside Italy, and especially in Flanders with the
Archduke Albert). Foscarini was therefore in Brussels at the court of
Albert sometime before the latter's death in 162 I. One wonders if there
might have been some exchange of ideas between Vallet and Foscarini.
Foscarini on several occasions reveals his knowledge of contemporary
French lute practice. I mention in my dissertation a number of similarities
19Rosas de Oquendo y otros, ed. Ruben Vargas Ugarte (Clasicos peruanos, Vol.
V [Lima, 1955]), p. 29.
20oA facsimile of the chacona from the 1618 edition is printed in Georg Reichert,
"Chaconne,"MGG, II, col. io0 I. This edition is entitled Paradisusmusicus testudinis,
whereas the first edition of I6I5 is called Secretumnmusarum.The latter is listed in
Wolfgang Schmieder, Musik alte Drucke bis etwa 1750 (Kataloge der Herzog-
August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbiittel, XII [Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann,
19671), pp. 338-339 (no. 477). Both editions use the title Le secret des muses on
the pages of music. See also Hans Radke, "Vallet," MGG, XIII, cols. i243-1244.
21 Upper case Roman numerals indicate major triads; lower case minor.
22Foscarini, I quatro libri della chitarra spagnola (no place or date), 3rd un-
numbered page of A i lettori. I know of no reliable source for Foscarini'sfirst two
names. Sanz (Libro I-II, 3rd. ed., 1674, fol. 6) mentions only "Foscarini (que en sus
Obras se intitula el Academico Caliginoso)." Additional information about this
mysterious and important composer is contained in his Intavolatura di chitarra
spagnola, libro secondo (Macerata, 1629), a copy of which I obtained from the
Deutsche Staatsbibliothekin Berlin. On the last page, below the Tavola del presente
libro, appear these words: "Dell'Accademico Caliginoso detto il Furioso, Musico, e
Sonatore, di Liuto, e Tiorba, della Venerabile Compagnia del SantissimoSacramento
d'Ancona." I have found only one brief description of this compagnia in Mario
Natalucci, Ancona attraversoi secoli (Citti di Castello: Unione Arti Grafiche, 1961),
II, 345 (in the section devoted to the I7th century): "Notevole vitalit' mantennero
ancora alcune delle Compagnie o Confraternite, che avevano funzioni caritative e di
assistenza sociale, come quelle del SS. Sacramento e di S. Girolamo . . ." This link
with Ancona gives some support for Walker's theory that Foscarini belonged to
the Accademia dei Caliginosi (Walker, p. 314, fn. 47).

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 THE PASSACAGLIA AND CIACCONA 307
between Foscarini's music and the French treatment of the passacaglia
and ciaccona.
Regarding the use of the musical scheme of the ciaccona as a ritornello
(Walker, p. 317, footnote 56), a number of additional examples can be
cited. Several are mentioned in Helga Spohr's 1956 dissertation, Studien
zur italienischen Tanzkomposition um 16oo.23 She lists ciaccona ritornelli
in the works of Visconti ( 6 6), Corbetta (1639), Carbonchi (1643),
Calvi (1646), Pesori ( 1649) and others. Helga Spohr's dissertation is, in my
opinion, a most excellent and important work. I consider her chapters on
the passacaglia and ciaccona24 to be by far the most significant study of
these forms made up to that time. (Although her work is listed in the
bibliography at the end of the MGG article on the passacaglia25 and
elsewhere, I had not realized its importance until Kurt von Fischer recom-
mended it to me in a letter.) The important literature on the passacaglia
and ciaccona, in addition to the works mentioned by Walker, should
include this dissertation by Spohr, the two works of Manfred Schuler
cited above in footnote 18, as well as two earlier books by Propper26
and Walther.27

The notation and transcription of rasgueado or chordal guitar music

is treated in detail by Wolf.28 Both Wolf and Walker show in their chords
only a single note for each course. The five-course Spanish guitar,
however, has nine strings. Each of the two lowest pitched courses in-
cludes two strings tuned an octave apart; the next two courses tune
both strings in unison; and the highest pitched course has only a single
string.29 This means that if Walker, in his transcription on p. 307, for
example, intends to show all the sounding pitches, then each of the two
lowest tones should sound also an octave higher. Therefore the opening
chord of his Ex. i(a) should include also the D above middle C.

23Unpublished dissertation,
Albert-Ludwigs-Universitit, Freiburg i. Br., 1956,
pp. 141-142.
24 Spohr,
pp. 117-142.
25Kurt von Fischer, MGG, X, cols. 868-877.
26 Lili
"Passacaglia,"
Propper, Der Basso Ostinato als technisches und formbildendes Prinzip,
dissertation, Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitit, Berlin, 1926 (Hildburghausen: F. W.
Gadow und Sohn, 1926). This work contains transcriptions of a number of early
guitar passacaglieand ciaccone.
27 Lothar Walther, Die Ostinato-Technik in den Chaconne- und
Arienformen
des 17. und 18. Jh. (Schriftenreihe des musikwissenschaftlichenSeminars der Uni-
versitit Miinchen, Studien zur musikalischen Kultur- und Stilgeschichte, Vol. VI
[Wiirzburg-Aumiihle: Konrad Triltsch Verlag, 194o]).
28Johannes Wolf, Handbuch der Notationskunde (Kleine Handbiicher der
Musikgeschichte, VIII [Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hirtel, 1919; reprint, Hildesheim:
Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1963]), II, 157-218.
29 The tuning of the nine strings is shown by
Pujol in Lavignac and de la
Laurencie, Encyclop&die,Part II, Vol. III, p. 2005, and also in Anuario musical, V
(1950), 132.

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308 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Walker uses arrows to show the stroke direction as indicated in the

guitar tablatures. It might be worth mentioning that the downward stroke
was actually played with an unfurling of three or four fingers of the
right hand, so that the courses sounded not simultaneously, but in a
rapid arpeggio. This is described by Montesardo, as well as other guitar
composers.30 However, the guitar is held so that the lowest pitched
course is on top. This means that the succession of pitches within a chord
made with a downward stroke moves from the lowest pitch to the high-
est, thus exactly opposite to the direction of the hand. Thus the arrows on
p. 307 refer to the movement of the player's hand and not to the direc-
tion of arpeggiation of the chords.
Actually any transcription of this music into modern notation is
unsatisfactory. For purposes of studying the passacaglia and ciaccona,
however, I have found a simplified method of transcription to be useful.
This is illustrated by my version of Montesardo's ciaccona sopra la G
(Ex. i), which can be compared with Walker's transcription (p. 315).
Since there are no functional triad inversions in exclusively rasgueado
guitar music, each chord can be represented by a root tone and a Roman
numeral.31The stems, like Walker's arrows, indicate the direction of the
hand in executing the stroke.
I have attempted in Ex. I to reflect the rhythm exactly notated in
162o by Sanseverino, which is the rhythm that becomes typical in the
guitar books for the dance of the ciaccona. One of Sanseverino's ciaccone
is transcribed as Ex. 2; it displays a rhythmic structure similar to the first
phrase of Walker's Ex. 7 (p. 316). The addition to this design of the IV
chord, or III and IV (as in Ex. 3), creates a second-beat chord change
also in the third measure. Most Italian ciaccone display in each measure
the down-down-up stroke pattern shown in Ex. 3, thus emphasizing a

Example I
GirolamoMontesardo,Nuova inventioned'intavolatura(Florence, i6o6),
p. 2 I: La ciaccona
I
... sopra
I
la G
I

I V vi V

30 This technique is explained by Richard Keith in "La guitare royale," Recherches

sur la musique franpaiseclassique,VI (1966), 74-75.
31 The chords fill the five courses of the
guitar with no regard for which note
of the triad appears on the bottom. Thus the lowest sounding pitch of each chord
is simply the lowest tone of the triad that can be played by the fifth course. When
this course is tuned to A, the lowest possible pitch of a G major triad is produced
by touching the second fret, resulting in B or the third of the triad. In a C major
chord, C is on the bottom; in a D major chord, A. As far as the study of the
passacagliaand ciaccona is concerned, the important fact is that when the chords are
transcribedby their root tones, the same patterns emerge that occur in other media
and in later guitar music as melodic bass-lines.

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 THE PASSACAGLIAAND CIACCONA 309

Example2
BenedettoSanseverino,Intavolaturafacile(Milan,I62o), p. 30:
Ciacone[sic] in diversi
modi:Terzomodo

I I I --
I V vi V

basic meter. There is often added to this rhythm, however, a harmonic

8
counter-rhythm, so that in Ex. 2, for instance, the chord changes suggest
a disposition of the phrase into two measures of This is probably the
8.
rhythmic effect that Walker mentions on p. 316.

Finally, I would like to describe my concept of the technique involved

in the variation forms based on the passacaglia and the ciaccona. Although
my study was centered around Italian keyboard music of the i7th cen-
tury, the same process seems to occur to some extent also in the music
of other media and other countries. The passacaglia-ciaccona technique
can be described as an ostinato of derived and selected bass forrmulae.
This special type of ostinato is clearly applied in Frescobaldi's two
compositions of 1627,32 excerpts from which are shown as Ex. 4. The
ostinato is rhythmic in the sense that a short phrase length is obstinately
repeated in the lowest voice. The Partite' sopra passacagli (Ex. 4a)
commence with three-measure phrases in 23 meter, then in variation
no. 24 change to two-measure phrases in 6.3 Each ciaccona variation
(Ex. 4b) is consistently four measures in length. The ostinato, however,
is also harmonic, to the extent that each phrase begins on I and ends on V
(or often IV-V) and in some pieces returns at the end to I. But within
this harmonic framework internal harmonies are free to change, as

32
1 secondo libro di toccate . . . d'intavolaturadi cimbalo et organo (Rome,
1627), pp. 87-88 (Partite sopra ciaccona) and 88-90 (Partite sopra passacagli); printed
in Girolamo Frescobaldi, Keyboard Compositions Preserved in Manuscripts, Part 3
[This volume includes also those printed keyboard works that were not previously
available in a modern edition], ed. W. R. Shindle (Corpus of Early Keyboard
Music, no. 30 [American Institute of Musicology, 1968]), pp. 44-46 and 46-49. The
first editions of Frescobaldi's Toccate . . . Libro primo in I615 and 1616 contained
no pieces on the passacaglia and ciaccona. Therefore those in libro (1627)
II secondo
are his first examples. Frescobaldi issued a new edition of each book in 1637, but
curiously, he removed the passacaglia and ciaccona compositions from Libro II and
added some new ones (including the Cento partite sopra passacagli) to Libro I.
Pierre Pidoux in his edition of Frescobaldi's Orgel- und Klavierwerke (Kassel:
Biirenreiter, 1957-61) uses the 1637 edition of Libro II and therefore omits the varia-
tions sopra passacagliand sopra ciaccona.
33Walker is in error when he describes this work (p. 313) as having a "four-
measure harmonic ostinato." Therefore this piece is another exception to his state-
ment on p. 314 that the length of cursus remains invariable. Frescobaldi has utilized
two different lengths even within the same composition. Both passacaglia and
ciaccona formulae, however, usually encompass four triple groups: hence, four
measures of a simple triple meter such as I or 3, or two measures of I or 6

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310 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Example3
Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana, MS 2804: Intavolatura di canti e balli per chitarra, fol. 20':
Ciaccona

I V vi iii IV V

can be seen by comparing the second and third measures in the two
phrases of Ex. 4b.
The technique therefore involves more than the ostinato effects of
rhythm and harmony. In its broadest sense the characteristic quality of
the passacaglia-ciaccona ostinato comes from the random recurrence of a
number of familiar bass formulae that are related to one another by har-
monic or melodic derivation. Some of the formulae are associated with
the passacaglia, others with the ciaccona; still others are essentially
neutral. In a set of variations based on the passacaglia, one or more of the
passacaglia formulae are placed in a prominent position, either through an
appearance in the initial phrase or by frequent occurrence throughout
the piece. Once the passacaglia formulae are established as a central idea
in a composition, all other formulae, including those that are neutral and
occasionally even those associated with the ciaccona, appear as variants.
Partite on the ciaccona are similarly constructed, but with ciaccona for-
mulae dominating.
The formulae originated in rasgueado guitar music, as Walker has
shown. The harmonic form of the passacaglia was originally I-IV-V-I;
the favored form of the ciaccona, I-V-vi-V. From these two separate
schemes other formulae are derived and selected, some of which are
shown in Ex. 5. Some are derived harmonically in early guitar music.
C2 in Ex. 5 appears to be formed by the addition of a IV chord to Ci;
C3 similarly results from the insertion of a iii chord in C2. In later
guitar music and in the music of other media the progressions formed by
the roots of the chords of these formulae become melodic bass-lines.34
Freed from the limitations of root-position triads, the formulae then
evolve melodically. P2 and most of the other passacaglia forms fill in with

3 This can be seen by comparing the root progression in Ex. 3 with the bass-line
of the opening phrase of Ex. 4b. In rasgueado guitar music the fourth chord of C3
is invariably a iii chord. Elsewhere, however, the fourth note is part of a bass
melody and may, as in Ex. 4b, sometimes support a Ie chord. These two examples
also differ somewhat in internal rhythmic design. Ciaccona phrases, which in the
original dance display a fairly fixed rhythm, appear in sets of partite with consider-
able rhythmic variety. The passacaglia formulae, which as ritornelli have no set
pattern at all, tend in partite to imitate the rhythmic characteristics of the ciaccona
(adopting, for example, its triple meter and in many cases its inclination for second-
beat accents). The formulae in Ex. 5 are therefore shown without time values,
since, beyond the requirement that the entire pattern usually fits into four triple
groups, the rhythmic values are free to change.

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 THE PASSACAGLIAAND CIACCONA 31I

Example4
GirolamoFrescobaldi,
II secondolibrodi toccate(Rome,1627):
(a) Partite sopra passacagli, mm. i-6 and 79-80

Primaparte
2o

2-" ,*

30!
I
"
(b) Partite sopra ciaccona, mm. I-4 and 41-44

Primaparte

II

-"r
stepwise motion the initial leap of PI.: 5 Sometimes formulae seem to
combine, producing, for example, P4 out of P2 and C2. Some formulae
:35An interest in the insertion of VII in Pi can be traced back even to early
guitar music. Colonna presents in 162o (Intavolatura di chitarra alla spagnuola
[Milan]) a number of passacaglie that begin with III-VII and thus display a pro-
gression much like the second half of the schemes of the romanesca, passamezzo
antico, and the one later called the folia. P2, as a melodic formula, finally emerges
around 1640 in the guitar music of Foscarini, made possible by the
development of
the punteado style (the playing of selected notes on separate courses). P2 also occurs
as a ritornello in some hymn settings of Monteverdi; see Tutte le opere di Claudio
Monteverdi, ed. G. Francesco Malipiero (Asolo, 1926-42), XV, 606-638.

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312 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Example5
Someof thePrincipal
Formulae
of thePassacaglia-Ciaccona
Ostinato
Forms (usuallyminor)
Passacaglia CiacconaForms (usuallymajor)
Pi CI

Pz C2
II

,. "• v

P3
C3 v0 I

P4 NeutralForms(majoror minor)
Ni

P5 N2
.. ,

P6 N3
"'" t "- - ' !i
"'

display both passacaglia and ciaccona characteristics and hence are

usually neutral. NI is much like P2, but is equally close to CI. N3 re-
sembles both P2 and C3. Ex. 5 shows the most commonly occurring, but
by no means all of the formulae that derived from the original guitar
forms.
The selection of formulae is accomplished in a number of ways. One
type of selection occurs simultaneously with the harmonic derivation
of the formulae in guitar music. The insertion of a IV chord in C
means that the passacaglia cannot be identified with all possible expan-
sions of its basic I-IV-V pattern. Therefore derivation is guided by selec-
tion. Extraordinary care seems to be taken in the early guitar books to
maintain a harmonic distinction between the passacaglia and the ciaccona.
Another result of selection is an increasing tendency to favor the minor
mode for the passacaglia as a contrast to the major mode of the ciaccona.
In the variation forms, however, selection also operates continually dur-
ing the process of composition. From phrase to phrase the composer is
free to choose or reject any of the formulae that have developed his-
torically. This selection may be mere whim or may reflect some con-
temporary musical trend or characteristic of style. Frescobaldi, for ex-

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 THE PASSACAGLIA AND CIACCONA 313

ample,never employs PI, and in general avoids the formulaewith leaps;

later in the century Storace3"again uses PI, evidence that the earliest
forms are not forgotten. Selectionmay also be influencedby the medium.
Early I7th century vocal music, for example,seems to favor a basso os-
tinato, probably because it impartsa sense of musicalorganizationwith
a minimumof interferencewith the declamationof the vocal part.37Basso
ostinatois, of course, one possiblebut highly restrictedmannerin which
the ostinatoof derivedandselectedbassformulaemay be employed.
The selection of formulae is also intimately connected with the
process of form building.The Italiancomposersare most concerned,in
general, with constant variation, so that no phrase is ever repeated
exactly. There is a tendency toward the pairingof phrases;occasionally
phrasesare associatedin larger sections that are marked off by meter,
key, or mode (Frescobaldi'sCento partitesoprapassacagli,38 for example,
or the works of Storace). The French, on the other hand, seem more
interested in sectional form building than in the process of variation
itself. Thus a group of phrasesmay act as a refrainin a rondeauform.
The French treatmentof the passacagliaand ciacconaillustratesthe great
variety of structuresthat can result from the selection of formulae. In
spite of some limitations,then, the passacaglia-ciacconaostinato allows
considerablefreedomfor creativevariation.
No rhythmic characteristicoccurs frequently enough from composer
to composer that it can act as an identifying mark for either the passa-
caglia or the ciaccona. Often, but not always, the two forms are dis-
tinguished by mode. The principal manner, however, in which the
identity of each form is preservedis through the action of the formulae.
The formulae constitute the heart of the special ostinato technique.
Furthermore,the formulae provide a historical continuity that begins
with the single phrasesof Montesardoin 16o6 and leads ultimately to
the complex development of the forms in France and Germany. A
36Bernardo Storace, Selva di varie compositioni d'intavolatura per cimbalo ed
organo (Venice, 1664); transcribed by Barton Hudson in Corpus of Early Keyboard
Music, Vol. VII (Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1965).
37 Two vocal pieces by Frescobaldi, however, do not use a basso ostinato strictly:
Aria di passacaglia:"Cosi mi disprezzate?"from Primo libro d'ariemusicali (Florence,
1630), and Ceccona a due tenori: "Deh, vien da me" from II secondo libro d'arie
musicali (Florence, 1630). They are transcribed by. Helga Spohr in Musikalische
Denkmdler, IV (Mainz: B. Schott's S6hne, 1960), 27-30 and 76-79. Both pieces
clearly illustrate the ostinato of derived and selected bass formulae, but include
modulation and non-ostinato sections of recitative.
38 Concerning this piece, see Walker, pp. 318-319, and also Willi Apel, Geschichte
der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700, pp. 465-467. When the seventy-eight
passacaglia variations of the Cento partite are added to those in the two balletto-
corrente-passacagli groups elsewhere in the same book, the result is one hundred and
three, of which four are modulating phrases. Because this number is so close to
cento and also because of a strange divergence between the Table of Contents, the
title, and the actual contents of the book, I have suggested in my dissertation a
possible rearrangement of the pieces in the book.

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314 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN AMUSICOLOGICAL
SOCIETY

number of the passacaglia forms in Ex. 5 end with the three-note progres-
sion marked by a bracket (6-4-5). This melodic fragment may con-
stitute a link between the ostinato of derived and selected bass formulae,
as it developed in Italy during the I7th century, and the passacaglia
themes of Andre Raison37" and Johann Sebastian Bach.40

University of California,Los Angeles

3 Christe, Trio en passacaillefrom his Messe du deuziesme ton in Livre d'orgue
(Paris, 1687); printed in Alexandre Guilmant, Archives des maitres de l'orgue, II
(Paris: Durand, I898), 37.
40 The evolution of the Bach Passacaglia theme is described in more detail in my
article "The Passacaglia and Ciaccona in Italian Keyboard Music of the i7th Cen-
tury," The Diapason, LX, No. 12 (November, 1969), pp. 22-24, and LXI, No. I
(December, 1969), pp. 6-7.

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