The passacaglia

This is what I learned in music theory a long time ago: the passacaglia is an Italian music form. It can be quick and lively; it can be slow and grave. Either way, its hallmark is a repetitive pattern, line, or melody, that is, a melody that repeats almost unchangingly throughout the length of the piece while other lines vary freely. The passacaglia is also an ancient triple-time Spanish or Italian court dance based on this type of music. Listening to various pieces with passacaglia elements, I can imagine solemn dances held in grand, kingly halls; straight-backed men moving amongst bejeweled women in elaborate gowns, the sound of cloth and feet sweeping in time with the music.

The music, though, was allegedly played by musicians who belonged to the street and not in grand courts. They were wandering musicians; passacaglia originates from the Spanish words pasear (to walk) and calle (street). Musicians throughout history have often been wanderers, taking their music and instruments across lands and countries, enriching their repertoire with strange and stirring notes they hear from peers who look and dress differently, but who possess the same secret nerve that awakens when chords and phrases weave stories and pictures. Today, musicians and poets still embark on journeys to find new material, to widen their horizons and experiences in the hopes that doing so will make them better artists.

If the passacaglia marks the work of a wandering musician, I like to imagine the varying lines as the new and unfamiliar experiences the musician collects on his journeys, and the unchanging melody or bass line as the core within him, the self that remains true and unshaken while everything else is in flux. Similarly, we have a unique, constant rhythm within our minds, even if around us everything is topsy turvy, helter skelter - unpredictable. That rhythm can occasionally build with urgency or delight, or tumble with disappointment - just as heartbeats that quicken or slow - but it seldom varies beyond recognition, and sometimes that's all we can ever depend upon.

Here are three samples of the passacaglia. The first is by Handel, or rather, inspired by a theme of his and attributed to Norwegian Johan Halvorsen (this is arguably the most famous piece of music in the form of a passacaglia). The next is a composition by Luigi Boccherini, the fourth movement ("Passacalle") in a work titled "Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid." I saved my favorite for the last, "Passacaglia" by Bear McCreary. Boccherini's piece appeared at the end of the film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" and McCreary wrote "Passacaglia" for the TV series, "Battlestar Galactica." It comes as no surprise that both the film and series are about characters and their journeys, whether they are taken across oceans or galaxies.

"Passacaglia," performed by Quartetto Gelato (Handel/Halvorsen).

"Passacalle," performed by Richard Erdoes, Michael Fisher, Simon Oswell, Timothy Landauer, Bruce Dukov (Boccherini).

"Passacaglia," performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (McCreary).

Posted by Monoceros at May 6, 2008 10:55 AM