passacaglia

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“
A through-composed, one-movement work, the Symphony establishes a moody, gloomy bass line that serves as a passacaglia or ricercare, while a motif in ¾ acts as a dance-like countermelody.

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A musical form of the 17th and 18th centuries consisting of continuous variations on a ground bass and similar to the chaconne.
  2. noun A dance of the period that was performed to such music.

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Examples (9)

  • A through-composed, one-movement work, the Symphony establishes a moody, gloomy bass line that serves as a passacaglia or ricercare, while a motif in ¾ acts as a dance-like countermelody. —  Audiophile Audition Headlines
  • The last movement is a complex two part form which begins quietly and contrapuntally and become a passacaglia somewhat like the last movement of the Fifth Symphony, but with more intensity. —  Sequenza21/
  • The music proceeds as a kind of parody in passacaglia, the same materials given over to shifting textures and rising scales and then more fluid affects. —  Audiophile Audition Headlines
  • The Third Symphony is in two parts: the first consists of a passacaglia and fugue, and the second, a chorale and toccata. —  NewMusicBox
  • The man who shaped not only the deliberately infantine "Ma Mère l'Oye," but also things as quiveringly simple and expressive and songful as "Oiseaux tristes," as "Sainte," as "Le Gibet," or the "Sonatine," as the passacaglia of the Trio or the vocal interlude in "Daphnis et Chloé," has a pureness of feeling that we have lost. —  Musical Portraits Interpretations of Twenty Modern Composers
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Italian, From Spanish pasacalle : pasar, to pass, step; see pase + calle, street (from Latin callis, call-, path).
 

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/pæsəˈkælyə/
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