Ciaccona and Passacaglia: Remarks on Their Origin and Early History

Author(s): Thomas Walker

Source: Journal of the American Musicological Society , Autumn, 1968, Vol. 21, No. 3
(Autumn, 1968), pp. 300-320
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological
Society

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 Ciaccona and Passacaglia:
Remarks on Their Origin and Early History*
BY THOMAS WALKER

FOR OVER THREE AND A HALF CENTURIES composers have written ciaccone
and passacaglie.1 One occasionally encounters the words even in con-
temporary music, where they usually describe pieces based on some sort
of ostinato. But what are they? Where do they come from? Is there-
or was there-any difference between them? Modern definitions afford us
little insight into the historical development either of the terms them-
selves or of the forms associated with them. It seems in order to trace
the ciaccona and passacaglia back as nearly to their origins as possible,
and then to observe, step by step, their early development.
The word "chacona" can be documented in Spanish literature in
1599.2 In Sim6n Aguado's entremes, El Platillo,3 written for the marriage
of Philip III, the chacona provides a band of thieves the means to rob
an Indian chief of his valuables. The thieves ask him if he has ever heard
the chacona of the serving dish ("la chacona del platillo"). He replies
that he has not.4 They assure him that it will be the best dance he has
ever seen, and so new that they have hardly even performed it yet.
Following their instructions, he has his servant bring several plates and

* This article is an expanded version of a paper read in Ann Arbor, Michigan,

December, 1965, at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society.
1 Ciaccona and passacaglia are used throughout as general terms, except in the
discussion of Spanish literature and in direct citations. The normal English spelling
of the former is chaconne, from the French. Since virtually all the music discussed
in the present article is Italian, it seemed better to conform to the usage of that
language.
2 Most of the literary examples have been culled from Cotarelo y Mori (ed.),
Coleccidn de Entremeses, loas, bailes, jdcaras y mojigangas desde fines del siglo
XVI d mediados del XVIII (Madrid, 1910 ). One example cited therein as "siglo XVI"
may be slightly prior to those discussed here (cf. p. clxxviii: "Y en el de La maya...
se baila al tono de la Chacona..."), but contributes nothing more to the picture.
The example of Lorenzo Panciatichi, cited by Kurt von Fischer in "Chaconne und
Passacaglia: ein Versuch," Revue Belge de Musicologie XII (1958), p. 20, as stem-
ming from I56o is misdated by a century. Professor Warren Kirkendale of Duke
University communicates that there does exist an earlier instance of the word which
promises to illuminate its etymology. Some of the examples from Cotarelo y Mori
are discussed by Armand Machabey in "Les Origines de la Chaconne et de la Pas-
sacaille," Revue de Musicologie XXV (1946), 1-21.
s Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn, discussed pp. clxxxi and ccxl and published pp.
226ff.
4 His words are "No, aquello de las escobas he oido" (No, I've heard the one
with the brooms). The remark may have had an obvious referent at the time, but
its meaning is no longer clear.

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 CIACCONA AND PASSACAGLIA 301

jars of silver, which are then tied to the waists o

the company. The song that accompanies the da
though he seems not to realize it. The refrain
Tampico/antes que lo entienda el mico; / qu
mona"-and the last time, slightly modified, as
leave-plates and all: "y antes que lo entienda el mi
a Tampico,/que alguien mira la chacona, /que ha d
Although the idea of making a fool out of the
to this example, refrains of the same sort usually a
and often suggest journeying to or in the exotic
is a port city on the northeastern coast of Mexico
In the same year we find a reference of a very
de la Cerda, in Vida politica de todos los estados d
of the bodily motions involved in the zarabanda,
"otras danzas." Many references to popular dan
alarmed outbursts of guardians of the public mor
had already been singled out for castigation." In I
though by no means the last, the chacona was inc
The musicians of Cervantes' La Gran Sultana (i6o
zarabandas, zambapalos, lindos, chaconas, p6sam
loa of the same year by Agustin De Rojas tells of
the sound of the chacona, could no more find pea
join the musicians in the dance. The slaves of Sim6
(ca. I602) can do nothing but go about, guitar
chacona.7 Three years later, another reformer,
Artieda, speaks against the zarabandas, mimos, cha
of a similar nature.8 Miguel de Madrigal has a litt
how at the touch of a guitar the king himself co
and zarabanda.9
Already by 1611 the chacona had become fit material for inclusion
in a dictionary. The Tesoro de la lengua Castellana of Don Sebastiin de
Covarruvias Orozco (Madrid, 1674, but privilege and dedication from
1611) does not contain a separate entry for the word, but says of the
"garabanda" that it is a "bayle bien conocido en estos tiempos, sino lo
huviera desprivado su prima la chacona." Thus the chacona was con-
sidered by that date to have dethroned the rather older zarabanda as the
most popular dance.
One of the most extensive descriptions of the chacona comes from

5 AlcalaJ, i599, p. 468. Quoted in Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn, p. cclxviii.

6 By the Actas de la Sala de Alcades de Casa y Corte, 3 August 1583, and else-
where. Cf. Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn, pp. cclxvi f.
SSee Cotarelo y Mori, Colleccidn, pp. clxxviii; ccxl and 339f.; ccxl and 23Iff.
8 Discursos epistolas y epigramas de Artemidoro. Quoted in Cotarelo y Mori,
Coleccidn, p. clxxix.
9 Secunda parte del Romancero. Quoted in Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn, p. cclxix.

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302 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Cervantes' lustre fregona (ca. I6I3).10 On this occasion it is danced b

groups of servants, and calls for castanets. It is personified as a "noble
sefiora" who with the merry zarabanda, p6same and perra-mora ha
entered through the crevices into the houses of God to disrupt decorum
Later in the verse the chacona returns to be described as an "indiana
amulatada," the authoress of great sacrilege and offense. The refra
(with minor modifications upon its return) is this: "El baile de la Chacon
encierra la vida bona."
At the same time Juan Ferrer in Tratado de la comedias11 struck out
at the "canciones deshonestas y torpes," recalling that in a certain city
of Spainl2 a song called the chacona was performed with such dissolute-
ness as to cause a serious scandal, and that now in the same city another
called the escarraman was so shocking that people were leaving the
theater to keep from hearing it.
On 8 April 1615 an edict issued by Juan Gallo de Andrade forbade
licentious dances in the theaters, specifically proscribing escarramanes,
chaconas, zarabandas, carreterias and the like.'3 Though the edict may
have remained effective for theatrical performances at least until the death
of Philip III in i621, mentions of the chacona by no means disappeared
from the literature. Lope de Vega Carpio (La isla del sol, 1616) men-
tions chaconas of Castille and escarramanes danced in Andalusia; the
collection Norte de la poesia espafiola (16i6) gives us three chaconas
for singing ("tres famosas chaconas para cantar").14 They are love songs,
rather than the raucous stuff of El Platillo and Ilustre fregona, but they
have similar refrains, the most pertinent of which is "Asi, vida, vida
bona; /vida, vaimonos & Chacona." Lope affords us an especially inter-
esting chacona verse in Amante agradecido (1618):15 "'Vida bona, vida
bona:'/esta vieja e la Chacona./ De las Indias 'i Sevilla/ha venido por la
posta/en esta casa se alberga, / aquf viva y aqui mora." (The good life,
the good life: this old lady is the Chacona. She has come riding in to
Seville from the Indies. She is staying in this house: here she lives and
here she dies.) Finally, in Valdivielso's El Hospital de los locos (auto
sacramental, 1622)"6 there is a similar refrain in a markedly different
context. Toward the end of this allegorical play, Gluttony suggests going

10 Reproduced in Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn, pp. ccxl f.

11 Quoted in Cotarelo y Mori, Bibliografia de las Controversias sobre la licitud
del teatro en Espaira (Madrid, 1904), P. 253.
12 Perhaps Alcali or Saragossa, the cities in which were published the works
of the two reformers previously cited--or perhaps Barcelona, where Ferrer himself
was writing.
13 Reformacidn de comedias (Arch. municipal de Madrid, 2-475-2), quoted in
Cotarelo y Mori, Bibliografia, p. 626; see also p. 22.
14 Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn, p. ccxl; pp. ccxli and 493ff.
15 Op. cit., p. ccxl.
16 Mentioned by Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn, p. clxxviii and p. ccxli. The edition
here quoted is that of Juana Granados di Bagnasco (Milan, 1950), p. Ii f.

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 CIACCONA AND PASSACAGLIA 303

to eat. The Soul asks where they should go. Gl

Chacona." The Soul then says, "Well, let's go by wa
Music then sings about the poor sick woman with
the Flesh for a doctor, and the Earth for a druggi
gives her for medicine the waters of forgetfulnes
to the slaughterhouse, the woman declaims in a lou
vida bona!/Vida, vimonos & Chacona!"

What can we learn from these examples? Firs

was a baile (that is, a dance of popular and activ
panied by song texts of a fairly consistent type. I
in the last years of the I6th century, retaining co
for at least two decades. Alonso Jer6nimo de Salas
1635 that the chacona is old,'7 and indeed thirty-fi
respectable life span for a popular fashion. Noneth
tinue into the I8th century, and possibly even later.s8
The chacona shares with several other bailes an e
character. References to West Indian provenanc
casionally quite specific. The most graphic, from t
vera y Flor (1622, collected by Pedro Arias P6rez),
fascinating-if suspect-derivation of the word
amigos mios, /es la isla de Chacona, / por otro n
entrambos nombres se nombra." The refrain follow
vida bona./Vaimonos todos a Chacona." The im
where the good life is to be found is indeed not f
much older legend of Cucafia (Cockaigne).
Throughout its early history the chacona parades
of the zarabanda. Over half of all references befor
in the same breath. Cervantes (Retablos de maravil
la Zarabanda y de la Chacona," virtually as if they
Covarruvias speaks of the chacona only within his d
and Francisco Fernindez de C6rdoba20 indignantly
17 In El prado de Madrid y baile de la Capona, publish
Coleccidn, pp. 295ff. An earlier reference by Cervantes (Re
lished in i615; cf. Cotarelo y Mori, p. clxxix) is more eq
characterization above as "esta vieja."
s1Blanco White in Letters from Spain IX, 304 (first d
tury), says that in the Corpus procession at Seville there
antiquated Spanish dance-I believe the Chacona-dressed
the 6th century." Quoted in F. G. Very, "The Corpus Chr
(Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1956), p.
19 Quoted in Very, op. cit., p. 154. Jose Simon Diaz, Bib
Hispanica IV (Madrid, '955), pp. I43ff., gives the date of
1582. His table of contents, however, is drawn from a pr
pears to be the only edition consulted. It would be most s
in this edition had appeared at the earlier date.
20 In Didascalia multiplex (early 17th century), p. 273
Mori, Coleccidn, p. cclxviii.

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304 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

mon people of his day have brought back from hell the obscene dances
of the time of Martial, giving them now the name of zarabanda, now of
chacona, which differs from the former only in that it is yet mo
provocative. Robert Stevenson has suggested Latin American provenanc
for the zarabanda.21 Both the close association with the zarabanda and
the frequent Indian references in the poetry suggest that the chacona
may enjoy a similar paternity.
The numerous conflicting and doubtful etymologies reflect the un-
certain origin of the baile itself. The earliest derivation, that from Cucaiia,
is attractive but linguistically remote. M6nage, in the Dictionaire Ety-
mologique of 1694 (p. 173), at first confines himself to the comment that
the "chaconne" is a dance imported from Spain. In his additions and
corrections he modifies his point of view, citing a certain Mr. Beauchamp,
"l'homme de France le plus intelligent dans la Danse," to the effect that
the "chaconne" is of African origin.22 We next encounter the definition
of Antoine Furetiere,23 who blames the word on the Italians, deriving
it from cecone (modern ciecone, augmentative of cieco) on the premise
that the dance had been invented by a blind man. His interpretation
survives in-of all places-the vast modem Spanish Enciclopedia Uni-
versal Ilustrada (vol. XVI). Johann Gottfried Walther24 refutes the con-
nection with cieco, as well as another derivation of obscure origin, namely
from the Italian ciaccherare, to smash, break down.25 Walther instead
takes the part of M6nage, adding his own conjecture that through the
Saracens, formerly dwelling in Spain, the work may have been influenced
by the Persian schach, king, for the reason that it is a kingly, that is
to say splendid dance.
A number of dictionaries, including some current ones, derive chacona
from the Basque chacun, pretty.26 In the Encyclopedie de la Musique et
Dictionnaire du Conservatoire Rafael Mitjana considers (p. 2z101o) that
the dance may be named for the Indians of Chaco, a region of Argen-
tina. Salvatore Battaglia, Grande Dizionario della Lingua Italiana,27 is
one of several to suggest an affinity with the Portuguese word chacota,
21In MGG, vol. XI, col. 139o, and elsewhere. Stevenson's conclusions have been
strongly challenged by D. De Voto in "Encore sur la sarabande," Revue de Mu-
sicologie L (December, 1964), p. 175.
22 Dictionaire, p. 729. Here also he relates that in Paris the word chaconne could
also mean a ribbon attached to the shirt at the neck in such a way that the two
ends dangle freely.This secondary meaning-later taken by some to contain the
origin of the word-comes from the habit of a famous dancer of the opera,
Pecourt, of wearing a ribbon in this manner while dancing the chaconne.
23 Dictionnaire Universel (2d ed., The Hague and Rotterdam, 1702), I, p. 355.
24 Musikalisches Lexikon (Leipzig, 1732), p. 164-
25Ciaccherare is obviously a verbalization of the onomatopoetic ciac. It is,
however, an extremely rare word, which I have not been able to find in any of
the standard Italian lexicographical works.
26 Cf., for example, The American College Dictionary (New York, 1955), p. 198.
27 Turin, 1961-. Vol. III, p. Io5.

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 CIACCONA AND PASSACAGLIA 305

a peasant dance, adding that both have an onomato

ciac (cf. n. 25), in Spanish, chac, from the sound of
is, castanets).28
The derivations summarized above range from t
demonstrated to the extremely remote. Even at t
circulation still another false etymology, it is wor
Chac6n was the surname of several Spanish artists
the 12th and i7th centuries, and in fact exists as a
gating the existence of a Latin American place nam
or of the Spanish place name-if such existed-fr
derived, might well yield results. Another possibi
derives from an Indian word, could only be demon
proof that the baile existed in Latin America befor
Tampico would be an excellent place to begin the s
tions already in circulation probably the most solid
These speculations, however interesting, are periph
of the discussion, which is to portray the charact
its popularity in Spanish theater and poetry of th

The passacaglia like the ciaccona is first docum

original form, pasacalle (from pasar, to walk, and
in the language, both in the general sense of walki
specifically as the sounding of the guitar when on
in the street.30 The word occurs in literature at l
and shows up now and again, though not with t
chacona. What was the pasacalle in the i7th cent
all, not a more pallid companion of the chacona, in
unless one insists that walking in the street to
dancing.32 Nor is there the least foundation to a st
the pasacalle, too, invaded Spain from the Amer
most say, confining the basis of judgment to Spani
pasacalle is music performed while promenading, a
most generally mentioned is the guitar.

To continue the history of the passacaglia and ci

turn to the Italian sources in which their music f
28 Kurt von Fischer (in "Chaconne und Passacaglia," p.
connection with chacota to push back the origin of the
do not find the Spanish equivaleint of ciac in modern dictio
29 Cf. Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada XVI, pp. x377ff.
30 Enc. Un. II. XLII, p. 450. Various Latin American coun
divergent musical definitions, all stemming from a commo
s1 In the anonymous prose fiction Picara Justina. The c
en falsete!"
32 The one reference which might contradict this assertion, found in an entremis
of Navarrete y Ribera, is rather late (1640) and addresses itself actually to a dif-
ferent point. Cf. Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn, p. cclv.

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306 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

inventione d'intavolatura, per sonare ii balletti sopra la chitarra spagniuola,

senza numeri, e note of Girolamo Montesardo (Florence, 16o6) heralds
the rise to popularity in Italy of the Spanish (that is, five-course) guitar.
Montesardo advertises himself as principally a composer of "madrigals
and other serious compositions." What we know of his other publica-
tions and activities shows him to have been active as a church composer
and performer. Here he claims to have invented a tablature simple enough
for anyone to learn to play without a knowledge of either standard musi-
cal notation or of the figured lute tablature (the "numeri" of the title)
in which guitar music was previously notated. Whether or not Montesardo
actually was the inventor of his tablature, he seems at least to have in-
troduced it into Italy.33 He manifestly addressed himself to amateurs,
as did most of his followers, whose long series of publications reflects
the unabated popularity of the instrument through much of the 7th
century.
The tablature provides only for the exigencies of rasgueado playing
(strumming), since the complexities of punteado (plucking, as a lute or
vihuela) would have been quite beyond the abilities of his clientele.
Montesardo first instructs the student to memorize a series of chords,
each written in numbered tablature, and each with a corresponding
symbol, generally a letter of the alphabet. The letters then form the
basis of his musical notation. The two kinds of strums, downwards and
upwards, are indicated by placing the letters respectively below and above
a horizontal line. Small letters last half as long as big ones; a dot after
a small letter lengthens its time value, though not enough to turn it into
a big one (there are indeed rhythmic uncertainties in some of the exam-
ples).
Using these means Montesardo provides the student a considerable
repertory of necessarily simple pieces. Heading the list of these com-
positions are the first known musical examples of passacaglie. They oc-
cur in great number, occupying the first eleven pages of the music sec-
tion. For each tonality-that is, letter-there are two passacaglie, simple
patterns on I-IV-V-I, differing only in the rhythmic disposition of their
harmonies. The "passacaglie34 del primo modo sopra la lettera, A" is
given as:

33The sole candidate for priority is the Spaniard Juan Carlos Amat (1572-1642;
cf. Grove's Dictionary, 5th ed., I, 130). Copies survive of the 1627 and 1639 editions
of his Guitarra espaiiola y vandola en dos maneras de guitarra . . . , as well as of
an undated version. A letter reproduced in the 1639 edition states that the book
was originally published in 1586; the dedication of the 1627 edition bears the more
probable date of I596. His system of tablature follows principles similar to those
of Montesardo. If the 1596 edition proved to contain the same repertory as the
later versions, we would then have in a Spanish source the earliest examples of
ciaccona and passacaglia. It is likely that Montesardo had as his source either Amat
or other examples (perhaps manuscript) of a similar practice.
84The many inconsistencies in the spelling of passacaglia and ciaccona confirm

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 CIACCONA AND PASSACAGLIA 307

a a b b (see Ex. Ia).

aaA bb C a

The "passacaglie del secondo modo" is:

a b c a (see Ex. ib).
a*a bob c'c a4a
Ex. I

Montesardo, Passacaglie

4 ~ 1t (etc.)

Far more interesting than the passacaglie themsel

sardo has to say about them. His second rule to the
only to memorizing the alphabet, is this: "Regola Sec
saria per coloro, che vorranno imparare ' sonare
chiamati [sic] a lingua Spagniola; overo ritornelli
(Second rule, easy and necessary for those who w
play the passacaglie-as they are called in Spanish-
our language.) Indeed almost his every reference
phrased in some such way as "passacaglie o vero rito
sociation of the two terms one must conclude that
the elemental passacaglie not as pieces in themselves
(intermediate passages, conclusions) to other pieces.
explanation can account for the inclusion of a passaca
-a prolixity accorded to no other piece in the boo
Luis de Briqefio's Metodo mui facilissimo para a
guitarra a lo espaiol,35 though twenty years later th
tribution, permits us to approach yet more closely t
ish origins. Brigefio produced the first datable work

the fact that both words are transliterations. Thus Montes

(f.) for both singular and plural, but others may use passac
-i (m.), passacaglia, -e (f.), and not infrequently passagag
ciaccona one encounters ciacona, chiacona, ceccone, etc. T
modern Italian are passacaglia, -e (f.) and ciaccona, -e (f.).
a5 Paris, 1626, printed by Pedro [sic] Ballard. Copy in Pa
tionale, Res. Vms .u.l.

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 308 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

in the native language of the passacaglia.36 His system is not far from
that of Montesardo, but even more similar to Amat's, in that he uses a
rather limited repertory of chords (16 as opposed to Montesardo's 28),
represented principally by digits. On folio 14, as the preface to a series
of twelve numbered passacaglie (simple formulae in different tonalities,
with some variation in rhythm, similar to the passacaglie of Montesardo),
we encounter the statement, "Regla para saver todas las entradas de
theatro como son pasacalles. los quales son neqesarios para cantar toda
suerte de letrillas y Romances graves. Espafioles o Frangeses." (Rule for
knowing all the theater entrances, which are called passacaglie; which are
necessary in order to sing every kind of letrilla and serious romance,
whether Spanish or French.) After the list of passacaglie, entitled specif-
ically "Doze pasacalles para comencar a cantar," we read: "Estos son
los Pasacalles contenidos en la Guitarra con ellos se cantaran toda suerte
de tonos Espafioles y Frangeses graves y agudos." (These are the pas-
sacaglie which can be played on the guitar; with these will be sung
every kind of Spanish and French song, both low and high.) The book
concludes with fifteen pages of songs of all types. The first verse of each
poem bears appropriate figures from the tablature, and above these the
rhythmic values. Preceding each song is a rubric giving the number
of a passacaglia whose tonality matches that of the song.37
Thus to Brigefio, and surely to any Spaniard, the passacaglia was
introductory music, walk-on music if you will, a kind of "vamp till
ready." The definition is first of all functional, and only secondarily musi-
cal. The similarity of most of the examples owes more to the simplicity
of the concept than to a fixed notion of musical content. We see this
especially from the Pasacalle o fantasia on fol. 14, a somewhat longer,
harmonically more involved piece, which Briqefio nonetheless seems to
regard as suitable entrance music.
Montesardo's choice of the word ritornello is then a good one. It
describes the Spanish usage, if not perfectly, at least as nearly as differ-
ences in musical and theatrical tradition between Spain and Italy permit.
Montesardo and Brigefio, breaking new ground in Italy and France,
are logically the most careful and explicit in describing the function of
passacaglie. Other, later sources could assume that the player would
understand their use. The guitar books consistently supply passacaglie
in various keys, major and minor. In many cases the passacaglie cover

36 In the same year appeared in Madrid the Concierto of Antonio Rodrigues,

which I have not been able to consult (mentioned in Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn,
p. clxxviii). Cf. also n. 37 below.
37 That a similar usage obtained in Italy as well is shown by a manuscript guitar
book in the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice (It. IV, 1910o [=11701]). Here we find
Montesardo's alphabet, used to notate a repertory similar to his. The book concludes
with a large group of songs to Italian texts. The harmonies are given by letters above
the words. Virtually every song is preceded by a passacaglia in the appropriate key.

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 CIACCONA AND PASSACAGLIA 309

every tonality within the repertory of the particu

times they include only the keys most often used
case is to supply the guitarist with introductory
to other pieces, whatever their tonality.38
Sanseverino, in II Primo libro d'intavolatura
spagnuola, regards yet more flexibly than Montes
his passacaglie. For each tonality he provides four
time-a rare occurrence-as shown in Ex. 2.

Ex. 2

Sanseverino, Passacaglie
(a)

$ r t (etc.)

(b)

$ t $ (etc.)

t ( et - - -c .

+ ? 4 (etc.)

An especially interesting and informative example is t

de musica sobre la guitarra espaciola (Saragossa, 1674) of G
one of the relatively few guitar instruction books printe
ing the i7th century. Among the rules that introduce the
one instructs the student to watch the music, observe ho
then play a passacaglia in the appropriate key. Again the

38 Other examples of alphabet tablature providing passacaglie f

include: G. A. Colonna, Intavolatura di Chitarra alla Spanol
Benedetto Sanseverino, II primo libro d'intavolatura per la chitar
(Milan, i622); Fabritio Costanzo, Fior Novello (Bologna, 1627
Cespuglio di Varii Fiori (Florence, 1637); and Francesco Corbett
Armonici (Bologna, 1639). The Civ. Mus., Bibl. Mus., Bologna, pr
each.

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3IO JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

implication is that the passacaglia functions as what Montesardo would

have called a ritornello.39
It has been known for some time that the word passacaglia could be
used as a synonym for ritornello.40 I wish to suggest that-at least until
after I625-the word had no other meaning. To reinforce this point
of view, one must see how well the definition of passacaglia as ritornello
holds up when applied to sources other than the guitar books. Let us
take some examples.
(i) In a 17th-century manuscript containing "canzoni di diversi
autori"41 three songs bear indications such as "passacaglia, e poi segue la
seconda strofa." (Passacaglia, after which follows the second verse.)
Since the pieces in question are not ostinati, one can hardly regard the
term passacaglia as descriptive. The rubric is clear: one is to supply a
ritornello, a simple harmonic formula-a passacaglia-between verses of
the arias.

(2) A second example, this one from France, concerns a song with
lute accompaniment by De Bailly, published in Airs de differents auteurs,
livre V (Paris, 1614). The piece, which has a Spanish text, appears in
facsimile in MGG (vol. X, col. 875) as an example of an early passacaglia,
but its significance has not been well understood. The song consists of
a brief introduction for lute, followed by a strophic setting of the text.
The curious title reads "Passacalle, La Folie." Yet the introductory lute
solo is not part of any folia pattern. In fact it is the passacaglia that
precedes the folia, as the title tells us. The first strophe is given as Ex.
3. Here we have a ritornello whose harmonic pattern is not that most
commonly given out for a passacaglia in the guitar books; its function,
however, follows precisely the remarks of Montesardo and Brigefio. The

Ex. 3
de Bailly, Air
[Passacaillel

-" 2 ,4 " 4 FF ' 'I , , PI

89When Sanz presents a piece constructed upon the rep

formula, the kind of variation later popularly called a pass
call it Differencias sobre pasacalles. This is consistent wi
passacagli, by Frescobaldi and others in describing pieces
40 Cf., for example, Kurt von Fischer, "Passacaglia," MG
41 The reference is taken from Wolfgang Osthoff, "Die f
formen der Passacaglia in der Ital. Musik des 17. Jh.," in
nazionale di Musiche Populari Mediterranee e del Convegn
(Palermo, 1959), p. 279, where through a printing error
Naples, Bibl. del Cons., MS 33-5-5I. I have not yet succe

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 CIACCONA AND PASSACAGLIA 311

fLa folie]

Yo sor la lo - cu - ra

La que so - la in fun - do,

pla- zer pla - zer y dul -u -

ra y con- ten - - toal mun - do.

, , Ow

early date of the air (twelve y

language of its text both confir
(3) The concluding duet of M
pea, over a four-note descendin
"the passacaglia in Poppea." Th
score. The term, however, do

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312 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

earlier in the same scene, just before and just after the lyric section su
by Nerone beginning with the words "Per capirti negli occhi."42 T
spot is puzzling, for Nerone's music has by no means the character of
ostinato. It is more reasonable here to interpret the term passacaglia
a prescriptive rather than descriptive sense; one must supply a ritorne
to Nerone's piece. An accompanist of the period would have know
just what to supply. We, who might otherwise be at a disadvanta
have at our disposal additional information, for within the same scen
adjoined to two other similar lyric passages, are brief concluding epi-
sodes for continuo alone, as shown in Ex. 4. Either the scribe ha

Ex. 4
Monteverdi, Poppea [Passacaglie]
(a)

.- ..- (,m -t
(b) 9 i - - I , I-i

omitted the earlier ritornelli in

they were added--by inserting t
adequate designation-in analog
The Naples MS of Poppea says,
only at the beginning of "Per ca
more satisfactory dramatically
Venice MS interrupts the stro
capirti negli occhi" and the f
Naples MS contains yet another
a passage absent from the Venic
i consoli e i tribuni."'43 While
passacaglie, here he puts passaca
The difference is not accidental.
responding to the passacaglia of
single four-measure period (wi
response to Amore beginning, "
42 Venice, Biblioteca Marciana, MS
The edition of Malipiero (vol. XIII, p
word to apply to the following sect
amination of the manuscript leaves no
rather than to that below; that is, to
tion of the words, "dal ciel parti."
43 Naples, Biblioteca del Conservato
Malipiero edition.
44 P. 22 . Cf. p. 244 of the Malipiero

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 CIACCONA AND PASSACAGLIA 313

introduction consisting of two four-measure cursus o

it, two passacagli.45
To sum up: the earliest passacaglie survive in guitar
where they perform a function similar to the ritorn
genres. They are commonplace enough for their n
prescriptive sense. Most musical examples show them
V-I progressions, two to four measures in length, in
arrangements. Triple meter is usual but duple is also
cur in a wide range of keys, major and minor, as be
Any attempt at musical description, finally, must b
include such examples as Briqefio's Pasacalle o fantasia

During the i620's in Italy the passacaglia begins

musical media, assuming thereby a new aspect if
altogether. The first composer to lift the passacaglia
books seems to have been Frescobaldi, who in i627 co
libro di toccate with thirty Partite sopra passacagli,
sisting of a four-measure harmonic ostinato with var
does this pattern have to do with the passacaglia form
guitar book? Both follow a simple succession of t
dominant harmonies. The Frescobaldi piece-in fac
sacaglie outside guitar books and many later ones
repertory-inserts a passing harmony on the seventh
initial tonic. The mode is unimportant: examples occ
books, more or less indiscriminately in major and m
45 The rhythm of these examples, J J. J, occurs frequently
passacaglie (an example is the passagaglio in Dal Male il bene
Bologna, Civ. Mus., Bibl. Mus.; another passagaglio in the sam
on fol. 61i, refers to an ostinato piece. For a different int
examples cf. Osthoff, Das dramatische Spditwerk Claudio Mont
pp. I 4ff.), but also in works called passacaglia in the sense of
the word had already acquired by the time of Poppea.
Osthoff attempted, in "Die friihesten Erscheinungsformen,"
the term passacaglia can be used to mean practically an
articulated by short cadencing groups, even if not repetitive, a
length. The piece of Nerone from Poppea discussed above is
Die dramatische Spdtwerk Claudio Monteverdis, pp. 116-118
concedes that the term as employed in Poppea is primarily p
sure about the example of Amore). However, he still mainta
themselves have a marked passacaglia character, necessarily inc
bel volto," since he neglects to correct Malipiero's erroneou
I disagree both with Osthoff's means of analyzing the sections
the conclusions to which his analysis leads him, nonetheless
pleasure a considerable debt to his valuable work, both as a s
as a starting point for dialogue. Near the source of the trou
Spanish composer, Joseph Marin, published in Rafael Mitja
"Espagne," to the Lavignac and de la Laurencie Encyclopddie, p
that the label pasacalle here too is prescriptive. Even if an exam
script should lead one to conclude otherwise, it would still be w
term as descriptive of function (music played or sung on the s
musical content.

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314 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

be observed is that the passacaglia, while retaining for many years the
possibility of use as a ritornello, has acquired an additional and gradually
predominant function of ostinato.
The passacaglia seems not to have been used as a basis for variation
even in the guitar literature before I627, though from that time "partit
sopra passacagli" become quite frequent.46 The alphabet tablature is ill-
suited to expressing figural variation. The guitar composers who write
"partite" are in general the same ones who devise various revisions o
the primitive alphabet system to permit notating figuration, usually b
incorporating elements of the older lute tablature. An early and prolif
example of such a composer is Giovanni Paolo Foscarini,47 who pub
lished an important series of guitar books between the late I62o's and
I640. These works abound in pieces such as "passacagli passeggiati,
which are musically closer to Frescobaldi than to the older, simple
passacaglie.
Other composers were quick to adopt this new form of variation.
Pesenti48 and Sances,49 both publishing in I633, use as their passacaglie
unvarying descending tetrachords, respectively major and minor. This
usage, not uncommon, has the effect of turning the harmonic underpin-
nings of Frescobaldi's partite into a soggetto over which the variations
unfold. Whether the bass is figurally disposed or melodically constant, the
underlying progression and the length of cursus remain invariable in
pieces called passacaglie50 at least until far along in their history.51
48 The earliest example, not a very consequential one, is probably that of Fabritio
Costanzo who, in the same year as Frescobaldi's Secondo libro di toccate, published
in Bologna his Fior Novello, still in alphabet notation. On p. 75 we find six passacagli
passeggiati in contrapunto.
7 Commonly but erroneously called Caliginoso, which is not even his academic
name, as Schmidl says (Dizionario Universale dei Musicisti I, p. 277), but the name of
the academy to which he belonged. His academic name, as the title pages of his guitar
books tell us, is 11 Furioso.
Maylender relates (Storia delle Accademie d'ltalia [Bologna, 1926-30], I, p. 482)
that the Accademia dei Caliginosi was founded in Ancona in i624, which is then the
earliest possible date for any of Foscarini's publications, most of which are undated.
Eitner's citation of the fourth book as 1620 (Quellenlexikon II, p. 283) is probably not
correct.

48 Cf. Osthoff, Das dramatische Spdtwerk, pp. 78 and 87. The

ostinato occurs with the label "passacaglia" much less frequently
49 G. F. Sances, "Usurpator tiranno," in Cantade (Venice, 163
Civ. Mus., Bibl. Mus.
5o It is well to keep in mind that many pieces from this perio
ing tetrachord ostinati are not called passacaglia or anything else
the final duet from Poppea). One must then be cautious in assum
invariably associated the name passacaglia with such pieces. Als
descending tetrachord as the basis for variation can be trac
middle of the i6th century as the soggetto "Guirdame las vacas."
connection is a citation from Quevedo's Visita de los Chistes (
poco: tocaban todos pasacalles y bacas: que me maten si no
Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn, p. cclxiii.
51 The earliest exception with which I am acquainted is the La

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 CIACCONA AND PASSACAGLIA 3I5
For the earliest extant musical example of a ciaccona we mus
look to Montesardo's Nuova inventione of i6o6. References in
literature have left no doubt that the chacona was a baile. The ciaccona
for Montesardo and later guitar composers is indeed a balletto (the pas-
sacaglia is not), placed in company with the sarabanda, the ruggiero, the
pavaniglia, the folia. Montesardo gives three examples of the ciaccona, as
he does of most of the balletti, identical except for tonality. Assuming, for
convenience, that the lowest string of the guitar were tuned to A, the
keys would be respectively G, C and F, the last of which, he tells us, is
the tonality most commonly in use for the ciaccona. The tablature of
this last example appears as:

ggg b e
gg B eE B
The transcription is given as Ex. 5.52

Ex. 5

Montesardo, Ciaccona

t t 4 t t 4 t 4 4
Brigefio's examples are even
picture of the chacona dra
"chaconas" are musical setting
refrain "Vida, vida, vida bona
the two examples, which hav
gran chacona en gifra."53 The
sists of thirteen verses descr
through the countryside. "
devout that, hearing the soun
sacred offices." The line of da
procession, causing even the d
and receive-pardon from t
companiment to this shocking

"D'un intenso alto dolor" by Carl

1673 (copy in Venice, Bibl. Marc.
form used by Purcell in the famil
52The rhythmic uncertainty of t
the capital letters of the last two
letters each instead of two. Cf. Ex.
53 Cifra means a choice of tonalit
by digits and without recourse to
that the tuning of this piece is the

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3 I6 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCETI Y
Ex. 6

Briqefio, La gran chacona.

Vi - da vi - da. vi - da bo - na. vi - da ba - mo-nos a cha-co - na.

vi - da vi - da vi - di - ta vi - da. vi - da ba - mo-nos a cas - t

The ciaccona retains the same form in other guitar books, exc
minor rhythmic variations. Its music follows the harmonic pro
I-V-VI-V, with the sixth degree occasionally decorated by t
and fourth degrees, which then follow it in quick melodic succ
The apparent duple meter of the examples from Montesar
Brigefio should not obscure the fact that both occurrences of V
layed, so that they last only about half as long as I and VI. Dela
second and fourth harmonies gives the impression of a pattern t
ures in length. Only examples in major are to be found.
The rhythmic form of the ciaccona is one of its most impor
pects. A "%aravanda chaconada" of Brigefio follows exactly the
of his chaconas, differing from them only in that the third ha
IV instead of VI.54 A "ceccona ed il contratempo" from a manu
the Biblioteca Marciana55 differs from other guitar ciaccon
rhythmic redistribution of its first two harmonies (Ex. 7).

Ex. 7
Ceccona ed il Contratempo

S t (etc.)

' ? r r r~B~;r
The first tentative steps of the ciaccona towards other musical genres
occur in a series of song books published during the decade from 1616,
in which-besides a normal basso continuo accompaniment-an alphabet
tablature is supplied, in case the performer desires to accompany himself
54For an example of a sarabanda which follows this harmonic progression with-
out the ciaccona rhythm, cf. Benedetto Sanseverino, op. cit., p. 2o.
55 It. IV, 1793 [=1o649], fol. 23v.

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 CIACCONA AND PASSACAGLIA 317

on the guitar. The pieces in question are called "aria

suggesting that the melody disposes itself over the
discussed above.56
Variations over the ciaccona begin as early as 162 3
frequent, both in vocal and consort music, from ab
in medium from chordal guitar to bass-oriented con
forms the harmonic progression of the ciaccona into
famous example of the ostinato is surely "Zefiro torn
Scherzi Musicali of I632. The several compositions
trate the minor variants that the bass tune assume

Ex. 8

Ciaccona Basses

(a) Monteverdi, "Zefiro torna" (1632) (b) Frescobaldi, "Deh vien da me" (1630)

(c) Falconieri, "O vezzosetta" (i6I6) (d) Sances, "Accenti queruli" (1633)
3 op i Hq*

major-mo
frequent
harmonic
comes-wh
the tune
56 Instance
collected by
Oscar Chile
Andrea Fal
Santa Cecil
song from
example th
covered (lo
prescriptiv
in London,
stromenti,
67 Alessand
1623), p. 12
variate." Co
5sThe pass
interruptio
source of this structure is Monteverdi's "Zefiro torna."
59 A rare exception to this description is a ciaccona of Francesco Manelli, "La
Luciata," printed in his Musiche varie (Venice, 1636. Copy in Breslau, Stadt-
Bibliothek, destroyed during the war?), based on a major descending tetrachord.
Manelli seems ready to call a ciaccona anything that moves regularly. Another piece
in the same collection ("Mi ami, chi vuol") is closer to the basses of Ex. 8. It is

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318 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
vocal ciaccone often have ironic or comic overtones, as Osthoff has
astutely pointed out.60 In the examples from Spanish literature as well,
the chacona was often found in a humorous context."'
Frescobaldi, the first composer to treat the passacaglia as an ostina
form, was also the first to juxtapose the passacaglia and ciaccona for
sake of contrast. Already in the Secondo Libro di toccate we find next
the previously discussed Partite sopra passacagli fifteen Partite so
ciaccona [sic]. The 1637 edition of Frescobaldi's Primo libro di tocc
contains, in addition to further sets of independent passacaglie and ci
cone, a famous composition-the Cento partite sopra passacagli-in whic
sections called "passacagli" and sections called "ciaccona" are placed side
by side. The passacaglia sections have a four-measure cursus whose har
monies follow the descending tetrachord-as described above in co
nection with the Secondo libro di toccate (see Ex. 9a). In the ciacco
sections the cursus sounds as if it were only two measures in leng
because the second and fourth harmonies (dominant) in the ostina
pattern have been delayed. The harmonic rhythm, no longer regular, b
comes o ,J (see Ex. 9b). Sometimes the ciaccona bass of Ex. 8 emerg
clearly, sometimes not: Frescobaldi is playing primarily with a contra
Ex. 9
Frescobaldi, Cento partite
(a) Passacagli

" ri J- -.- J

II I I, I I

0/o

VFI ' -' K

.
w
p
6
M
c
p
se
6

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 CIACCONA AND PASSACAGLIA 319

(b) Ciaccona

I I I I I I

J -d i fI P-1"

's' f " ?W's

I -

--"-_ %_ .. 4 -
of ha
he p
the
consc
sources of confusion between the two forms.62

The height of popularity of the ciaccona and passacaglia as ostinato

"Zarabanda/Esti muy vieja/Chacona/Saitira es." Cf. Cotarelo y Mori, Coleccidn,
pp. clxxx and ccxli.
62 Joseph A. Burns reaches the same conclusions in "Neapolitan Keyboard Music
from Valente to Frescobaldi" (Ph. D. diss., Harvard University, '953).

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320 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

forms runs from about i63o to the early I640's. The two, however, co
tinue to appear throughout the rest of the I7th century, and even in
the I8th.63 The later instances preserve, in the main, the musical cha
acteristics already enumerated. An example from i66o by Mauritio Ca
zati64 distills to the greatest degree possible the passacaglia and ciacco
ostinati as seen by Italian composers of the period. A Passacaglio a
Ciaccona occur as successive compositions for two violins and continuo
While the violins pursue long figural variations, the bass repeats a patte
noted one time only, as in Ex. 0o.
Ex. Io
Cazzati

(a) Passacaglio

(b) Ciaccona

Though the passacaglia and ciaccona remained musically-and for a

time functionally-distinguishable in Italy, in France the case is quite
otherwise. Distinctions in treatment can be devised which apply to certain
composers, but they are rather artificial and surely miss the point. With-
out giving a definitive treatment of the forms in French music, I should
like to make two observations. First, both repertories in which the
passacaille and chaconne enjoyed considerable popularity-keyboard and
operatic music-develop rather later than the material treated in this
paper. Second, since both passacaille and chaconne served as music for
dancing in the opera, we may with some justification suspect that the
primary contrast between them was choreographic rather than musical.
The lexicographers and theorists of the early i 8th century, Brossard,
Mattheson, Walther and others, are evidently thinking of French opera
rather than Italian chamber music when they struggle with such niceties
as slight differences in tempo, tenderness of character, and instability of
mode in their attempts to distinguish between the passacaglia and ciaccona.
Their resulting definitions probably reflect accurately enough the musi-
cal practice they are trying to describe. Modem definitions, however, lose
clarity in leaning too heavily on the i 8th century, by which time the lively
and complex development of the ciaccona and passacaglia had largely
played itself out.
State University of New York at Buffalo
83 Cf. the ciaccona among the keyboard sonatas of Benedetto Marcello, Venice,
Biblioteca Marciana, MS It. IV, 96o [=10743], and elsewhere.
I64 n Trattenimenti per camera (Bologna, i66o), p. 15 of the part book for
spinetta. Copy in Bologna, Civ. Mus., Bibl. Mus.

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