The identities of the passacaglia and the ciaccona are recognized through their different treatment of harmonies within a similar neutral I-IV-V progression. The passacaglia-ciaccona technique can be described as an ostinato of bass formulae within which internal harmonies are free to change. The essential quality of the passacaglia-ciaccona ostinato comes from the recurrence of a number of familiar bass progressions related to one another through harmony or melody (since progressions formed by the roots of chords often evolve into melodic bass lines). Guitar books from the early sixteenth century maintain a harmonic distinction between the passacaglia and the ciaconna, and there was a tendency to favor the minor mode for the passacaglia as a contrast to the major mode of the ciaccona. The type of progression used is dependent on the composer's process of form building: Italian composers are more concerned with constant variation, where no phrase is ever repeated exactly, while French composers are more interested in sectional form building than the process of variation itself. Passacaglia forms are mainly distinct from ciaccona forms through the difference in mode and in the variable activities within the harmonic progression rather than through rhythmic characteristics.

Works: Montesardo: Nuova inventione d'intavolatura (308); Sanseverino: Intavolatura facile (309); Frescobaldi: Il secondo libro di toccate (311).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey