Hi all, -Sébastien de Brossard (died 1730), gives the following definition for a chacone in his Musical dictionary: Chacone: A kind of dance in the air of a saraband, derived from the Moors. The bass always consists of 4 notes, which proceed in conjoint degrees, wherin they make divers concords and copulets with the same burden. The word is formed of the Italian ciacona or cecone, a blind man, this air being said to have been invented by such a one.
His definition of the passacaglio: A passacaglio is properly no more than a chacone. The only difference between them is that the movement of this is somewhat graver, the tune softer, and the expression less lively: they are for the most part in the less modes or flat keys; wherin the third from its final is flat. This seems to fits the difference between Bach's passacaglia in C for organ and his chacone from the D-minor suite for violin at least in the difference of tempo and mood. I suppose "less modes or flat keys" are what we call minor modes today... De Brossart alludes to the syncopation, but only in the article on sarabande, saying: it is a dance ..that usually ends when the hands that beats rises. Isn't there an italian word like "caccia" meaning "chase" or hunt? Alain At 11:41 AM 12/10/2004, you wrote: > >>=20 > >> How come "pas de passacalle" is in Feuillet's Choregraphie from 1713? > >Evidently by that time the French had created a dance for it, possibly an= > outgrowth of its use in stage and/or chamber music: > >"In France the Hispanic-Italian passacaglia, like the chaconne, was= > transformed during the mid-17th century into a distinctive native genre,= > although before that the genre had already had some impact as an exotic= > Spanish import. A passacalle(in the earlier sense of ritornello) occurs in= > an air to a Spanish text by De Bailly (1614), and in 1623 the Spanish= > expatriate Luis de Bri=E7e=F1o published in Paris a guitar method that= > included in chord tablature brief chaconnes and passacaglias similar to the= > early Italian examples. During the 1640s the promotion of Italian music and= > musicians by Cardinal Mazarin brought wider familiarity with the two genres= > in their newer incarnations. A harpsichord passacaglia by Luigi Rossi (who= > visited Paris in 1646 and whose Orfeo was performed there the following= > year) enjoyed wide manuscript circulation. Francesco Corbetta, who settled= > in Paris around 1648 and became guitar teacher to the future Louis XIV, was= > perhaps the greatest Italian guitar virtuoso of his time, and the composer= > of numerous chaconnes and passacaglias. > >By the late 1650s the French passacaglia tradition was firmly in place,= > already showing many of the characteristics that would mark the genre= > during the later 17th century and the 18th. Like the chaconne, the= > passacaglia was cultivated both in chamber music, especially by guitarists,= > lutenists and keyboard players, and on the musical stage." (New Grove) > >This page from Kellom Tomlinson's dance treatise shows the steps for a= > passacaille. the accompanying music is not the bass line but a melody. >Caroline >http://www.bllearning.co.uk/live-extracts/108337/=20 >********************************* >Caroline Usher, DCMB Administrative Coordinator >613-8155, Box 91000 > >-- > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
