handel halvorsen passacaglia program notes

Only later were these improvisations written down. Like Pachelbel, Bach was an organist and, starting out with a pre-existing melody (often a choral tune, but in this case a passacaglia), he improvised this complex music for church services. Also, listen to the exciting ways Bach chooses to harmonize these lines. Bach was a master of counterpoint, which is “the technique of combining two or more melodic ideas in such a way that they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear individuality.” Listen to the way Bach weaves new musical lines over the repeating passacaglia theme. You will hear amazing new details each time you listen to this piece.

Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 …Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Pay attention to the way the three identical solo parts fit together. A canon is “a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration.” In Pachelbel’s canon the voices are two measures apart. The solo violins perform a three part canon. A Baroque organ and theorbo (a plucked string instrument similar to a lute) fill in the harmony, providing what is known as a continuo. Listen to the contour of this bass line as it moves stepwise downward and then gets pulled back again. Notice that the bows differ slightly from our modern bows and hardly any vibrato is used. The performance below by the San Francisco Early Music Ensemble uses period instruments and attempts to authentically capture Baroque style.

It’s as if the composer is saying, “Listen to how clever and inventive I can be!”

In each case, the bass line provides the framework for a set of increasingly complex and thrilling variations. Here are three pieces from the Baroque period that are constructed around a repeating bass line known as a basso ostinato, or ground bass. An ostinato is a musical motif or phrase that is persistently repeated.

Handel halvorsen passacaglia program notes