Passacaglia

Passacaglia

Simply put, a Passacaglia is a piece of music built from a Ground Bass.

In the Baroque era, the Passacaglia became a popular type of composition, and you need to know how to identify one by hearing it!

So what would you hear?

A Ground Bass:

This is a repeated melody in the bass line - it will be a simple tune played by low pitched instruments, or indeed if it is an Organ passacaglia, it'll be the low notes of the organ.

What makes this a Ground Bass, and not just a low pitched melody, is the fact that it repeats itself constantly throughout the piece of music.

Watch this video: the Ground Bass begins the piece, and then the rest of the music builds up over the top of it as it is repeated over and over again.

The purple bars depict the notes in the Ground Bass. You can actually watch as they repeat themselves over and over again...

A Passacaglia begins with the Ground Bass - if you don't hear it straight away, it's likely to not be a Passacaglia. Remember the bass line repeats itself throughout the piece - it might shift about, up and down an octave but the tune will remain the same!

This playlist contains examples of Passacaglias from the Baroque era. See if you can hear the ground bass running throughout. Don't worry yourself about the rest of the music, the important bit is to hear the ground bass!