My favourite performance of this piece is Hilary Hahn's! She's a specialist in Bach, so it does seem really fitting that in this she draws inspiration from organ music and makes all chords sound powerfully and clearly. She's very precise, yet very emotional at the same time. Gives me goosebumps everytime.
Hello Ethan, Thanks very much .for this video. Love your other Bach articles as well, on the blog, found the piece you wrote on the Prelude in E maj., whwn working on a great tablature for it by Rick Graham, and your insights make learning that piece even more fun then it already is!
Thank you Ethan for this interesting analysis, it helps a lot to better understanding and sustaining active listening through this masterpiece. I'm working on it for months on a version I transcripted for lute, it's beautiful but extremely demanding. I would like to add some information regarding the "emotional intentions" that roots all this architectural composition. Bach has written this piece as a tribute to the death of his first wife. So yes, a tragedy it is. As you mention, the chaconne structure is ternary but with the strong beat (the one on which the dancer puts the foot down) is the second beat of the bar. Moreover, the anacrouse starts on the second beat. And as it is on a very low tempo, the result sounds like a funeral march, you can imagine the men carrying the coffin, walking very slowly... The basso ostinato is a descending pattern D - C# - Bb - A (repeated 64 times, i.e. 256 bars !). The whole piece is organized, as you colored it, in a triptyque (holy trinity ?) - the middle part, so beautiful, shifts to D major and the violinist Joshua Bell says it evokes a "meeting with an angel" : enlightening and peaceful ... the third part picks up the initial theme in D minor, but the music is not tragic, nor "human" anymore, it leads us to a kind a redemption and universal harmony !
Thanks for this. There 32 movements total of the Sonatas and Partitas, 32 variations of Goldberg, and 64 variations of the Chaconne. I often wonder if that was intentional, and if so, why? Or was it just random...?
Kpop group Enhypen just released a song called “Chaconne” so I wanted to structurally understand the song better by watching this video. Turns out the Kpop song had no historical structure, or am I wrong? Thanks for enlightening me though.
Just listened to few seconds of that kpop song and it definitely borrows one historical aspect of a typical chaconne (or passacaglia or other kinds of variation forms from European renaissance/braoque period), which is the repetitive harmony and ground bass commonly descending from degree 1 to 5. Biber's Passacaglia is more similar to the song than Bach's ciaccona, in that sense. Perhaps the lyrics say something related as well? Best regards!
My favourite performance of this piece is Hilary Hahn's! She's a specialist in Bach, so it does seem really fitting that in this she draws inspiration from organ music and makes all chords sound powerfully and clearly. She's very precise, yet very emotional at the same time. Gives me goosebumps everytime.
agree. beautiful discipline. as an aside, love how she transitions between different sections.
I wish all the classical pieces I love would have such a structured description available :) thanks!!
Definitely the kind of content I'm looking for, thank you so much for this. Very insightful.
That was great!! Thanks, really enjoying the casualness of your videos and blog
Glad to hear it
Thanks for the explanation on one of the most beloved piece!
8:00 This is exactly my face when major part starts.
Brilliant video!
Hello Ethan, Thanks very much .for this video. Love your other Bach articles as well, on the blog, found the piece you wrote on the Prelude in E maj., whwn working on a great tablature for it by Rick Graham, and your insights make learning that piece even more fun then it already is!
Thank you Ethan for this interesting analysis, it helps a lot to better understanding and sustaining active listening through this masterpiece. I'm working on it for months on a version I transcripted for lute, it's beautiful but extremely demanding. I would like to add some information regarding the "emotional intentions" that roots all this architectural composition. Bach has written this piece as a tribute to the death of his first wife. So yes, a tragedy it is. As you mention, the chaconne structure is ternary but with the strong beat (the one on which the dancer puts the foot down) is the second beat of the bar. Moreover, the anacrouse starts on the second beat. And as it is on a very low tempo, the result sounds like a funeral march, you can imagine the men carrying the coffin, walking very slowly... The basso ostinato is a descending pattern D - C# - Bb - A (repeated 64 times, i.e. 256 bars !). The whole piece is organized, as you colored it, in a triptyque (holy trinity ?) - the middle part, so beautiful, shifts to D major and the violinist Joshua Bell says it evokes a "meeting with an angel" : enlightening and peaceful ... the third part picks up the initial theme in D minor, but the music is not tragic, nor "human" anymore, it leads us to a kind a redemption and universal harmony !
Big gift, big thanks 🙏
Thanks for nice video! I couldn't find the video that you talked about details in Chaconne.
Thank you
Hi thank for this very good video and it seems like variation on harmony
Perfect
Thanks for this. There 32 movements total of the Sonatas and Partitas, 32 variations of Goldberg, and 64 variations of the Chaconne. I often wonder if that was intentional, and if so, why? Or was it just random...?
thanks
Hi..Thanks for this video. Is there another part to this video ? the one that studies each variation ? would love to see it.
I have not done it as a video, but I have done it in writing here: www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/deep-dive-into-the-bach-chaconne/
plz, whats the name of the software?
Ableton Live
Kpop group Enhypen just released a song called “Chaconne” so I wanted to structurally understand the song better by watching this video. Turns out the Kpop song had no historical structure, or am I wrong? Thanks for enlightening me though.
It doesn't sound like the Kpop song has anything to do with the Baroque dance form
@@EthanHein Thanks for the confirmation!
Just listened to few seconds of that kpop song and it definitely borrows one historical aspect of a typical chaconne (or passacaglia or other kinds of variation forms from European renaissance/braoque period), which is the repetitive harmony and ground bass commonly descending from degree 1 to 5. Biber's Passacaglia is more similar to the song than Bach's ciaccona, in that sense.
Perhaps the lyrics say something related as well?
Best regards!
@@lourencodenardinbudo686 Oh I see, thank you for that insight. As for the lyrics, definitely not. They use Chaconne more as like “dance for me girl”.