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Ciaccona
Yes, it's time for yet another bout of mesmerizing music based upon a repeating bass line--in this case, the ciaccona, the two-bar bass pattern best known via Claudio Monteverdi's magnificent 'Zefiro torna', one of our projects from last summer. Here's how the pattern lays out:

In 3/4 ||: 1/8  1/4  1/8  1/4 | 1/8  1/4  1/8  1/4 :||
          do    do    do    so      la     mi    fa    so

Listen to the video linked above and sing along with the bass line for a while. You'll find that the bass persists for an incredibly long time--but no one is bored, that's for sure! Monteverdi invents a myriad ways for the voices to float over the line; and in this performance, L'Arpeggiata allows the cornettist and violinist to go to town improvising interludes.

Monteverdi didn't invent this line. It was a most definitely a thing, not to say a fad, and there are many examples in the 17th-century repertoire. We're going to examine two of these, which several years ago, in our 2017 Opening Recital, we fused together into a single performance.

Our first Ciaccona was composed by Andrea Falconieri (c. 1585-1656), a Neapolitan composer and lutenist. The piece is from his 1650 publication, 'L'eroica a tre'. It's a romp for two treble violins over a basso continuo. You'll notice that the bass line from the beginning is slightly different from Monteverdi's as indicated above: It's in the next larger meter (3/2); and the rhythm at the beginning is somewhat different as well:

In 3/2 ||1/2 1/4 1/4 1/2|1/2 1/2 1/2:||
               do   do   so   so    la    fa    so

Further, the bass line varies in rhythm, and to some extent in melodic content, as the piece proceeds, though it always hews to the ciaccona from and spirit.

But Falconieri's more important innovation is the transposition of the bass line. When it first happens, especially if you've just listened to Zefiro, it kind of blows your mind. He freely moves it around, the violins following suit, finally returning to home base as he wraps things up.

Our second piece based upon the ciaccona is Monteverdi's strophic song 'Quel sguardo sdegnosetto', from his 'Scherzi musicali' of 1632. Here the composer treats the bass line much more freely, altering and extending the pattern as well as allowing it to migrate to other tonal centers. In some ways it's a much more imaginative use of the ciaccona than the many exact repetitions in 'Zefiro'; but in the latter piece, the infinitude of repetitions make perfect sense with the text, in which the protagonist is trying to cover up his grief and convince himself that, 'Damn it all, I'm happy!' Though, of course, this teeth-gritting insistence eventually comes to grief as he finally acknowledges his devastating loss.

Scores, a text-translation sheet and Cinzia's pronunciation recording are attached. As you'll hear, the recording recreates our 2017 medley arrangement, flowing directly from the Falconieri into the Monteverdi.

If you're intrigued by this type of piece, have a listen to Christina Pluhar's recording 'All' Improviso', which explores the ciaccona as well other ground basses such as the folia, the romanesca and the bergamasca.
​Great stuff--
Click here to download learning materials
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