Meaning of passacaglia | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A form of historical Spanish or Italian dance characterised by a serious nature, triple meter, and use of a ground bass.
   countable, uncountable
2. Any piece of classical music with similar characteristics.
   broadly, countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“In classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell us, first subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, recapitulations, and codas; there are fugues, with counter-subjects, strettos, and pedal points; there are passacaglias on ground basses, canons ad hypodiapente, and other ingenuities, which have, after all, stood or fallen by their prettiness as much as the simplest folk-tune.”

CEFR level