Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 07/24/2007, uploaded on 01/09/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Chaconne from Partita in d minor, BWM 1004       Johann Sebastian Bach

The son of an Italian musician father and a German pianist mother, Ferruccio Busoni represented a remarkable synthesis of two differing attitudes to music. Busoni composed operas, a series of orchestral works, including a piano concerto, and various pieces of chamber music.

Of the many works Busoni composed or transcribed for the piano one of the most impressive is the famous arrangement of Bach's Chaconne for unaccompanied violin.  The piece comes from Bach's second violin partita in d minor, BWV 1004.       Jie Chen

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Partita for Violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004      Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach composed his second Partita for the solo violin sometime between 1717 and 1723. Though published along with the other two Partitas and the three Sonatas in 1802, it remained a neglected work until the German violinist Joseph Joachim began performing it and its companions. It follows the basic outline of the Baroque dance suite, utilizing only the four usual dances. The Gigue, however, is followed by the monumental Chaconne for which the work is most known. Compared to the proportions of the work, the Chaconne exceeds the length of the previous four movement combined. In terms of its substance, it is immeasurable. Concerning the Chaconne, Johannes Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann, "On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind."

The Chaconne is based on the harmonic progression, presented in multiple-stops, above the ground bass: D-D-C sharp-D-B flat-G-A-D. The variations that follow are a compendium of the various aspects of violin technique known in Bach's time, thus making it one of the most technically challenging pieces in the repertoire. In terms of broad musical structure, the Chaconne forms a tripartite form with a middle set of variations modulating to the parallel major. It ends with a repetition of the Chaconne theme in its original setting and a sort of coda with a varied statement of the ground bass.

Many transcriptions of the piece have been made. Brahms made his own transcription for piano/left-hand only and Busoni for both hands. Transcriptions also exist for guitar, orchestra and organ.      Joseph DuBose

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.