Ostinato Organ Works – Ciacconas and Passacaglias over the Centuries

Description

The obstinate reiteration of a musical theme, a subject worked through a chain of variations, is the technique that characterises certain specific compositional forms, foremost among them the chaconne and the passacaglia. Both forms trace their origins to the popular dance tradition, with notable Renaissance examples; however, it is in the Baroque period that they acquire a more clearly defined structural and contrapuntal profile. Among the composers who most contributed to establishing a genuine compositional tradition in chaconnes and passacaglias, the German organist Dietrich Buxtehude (1637–1707) stands out. His output includes two chaconnes and one passacaglia explicitly destined for the organ. All three are marked by the use of an ostinato theme, assigned mainly (in the two chaconnes) or exclusively (in the passacaglia) to the bass line and therefore to the pedal, and by the adoption of triple metre. Significant specimens of this technique are also found within certain Præludia by Buxtehude: such is the case with the Præludium in G minor, BuxWV 148, which opens this anthology of organ music. As in other Præludia, for instance BuxWV 137 in C major, the piece closes with the elaboration of an ostinato theme. Unlike the aforementioned Præludium in C major, where the final section is clearly labelled “ciacona”, the closing section of the G minor prelude bears no rubric; the likely reason is its use of quadruple metre, a feature rarely suited to chaconnes, which are generally in triple time. The final section of Præludium BuxWV 148 nonetheless has an exceptional feature: the ostinato theme is first presented as a pedal solo (bars 113–115), while the other voices enter only subsequently, from bar 115 onwards. This peculiarity is shared by very few chaconnes, passacaglias and, more generally, Baroque elaborations on ostinato themes; only thanks to J. S. Bach did it become common practice among Romantic-era organists.
Buxtehude’s Passacaglia in D minor, BuxWV 161, displays a structure of great rhetorical as well as geometric rigour. The piece is cast in four sections, in each of which the ostinato is stated seven times. A wholly significant feature concerns the use of the ostinato, which serves exclusively as a bass and is therefore always entrusted to the pedal. Tonally, the work traces a course centred on the D minor triad, the home key progressing, section by section, through neighbouring regions: D minor, F major, A minor and back to D minor. Also of particular interest is the symbolic and numerological language built into the structure, which appears to take inspiration from the lunar cycle. There are four sections, as there are four principal positions of the moon’s orbit (new, waxing, full and waning). The bass ostinato appears 28 times (seven per section), almost matching the number of days in the sidereal month.
In any case, the destination of chaconnes and passacaglias is not confined to keyboard instruments: orchestral chaconnes can be admired in major works by Monteverdi, Lully, Rameau and others. The chaconne by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1684–1764) presented here is taken from Les Indes galantes (Quatrième Entrée). In several respects it differs from a typical keyboard-derived chaconne: there is no single ostinato acting as a fil rouge across the sections, each of which is built on different themes. Among these, the descending Phrygian tetrachord recurs, repeatedly, in the bass. The piece lends itself well to demonstrating the organ’s timbral resources, in a paraphrase of the work’s already rich orchestration. The version recorded on this CD is a transcription by the French organist Yves Rechsteiner (b. 1969).
Bernardo Storace’s (1637–after 1664) Chaconne is drawn from the Selva di varie composizioni d’intavolatura per cimbalo ed organo published in 1664. It is a chaconne-style elaboration of the Romanesca, a theme much in vogue in the Baroque and Galant eras, here employed as an ostinato. The work falls into four sections that differ both in rhythmic character and in their tonal course. From the metrical and rhythmic standpoint, the chaconne presents a symmetrical design: the first and last sections are in simple triple time, while the two central sections adopt compound triple, in groups of triplets. The piece opens in the home key, C major, which then moves to F major in the second section; the third reaches B-flat major, while the concluding section outlines the return to the original key.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1685–1750) Passacaglia et Thema Fugatum in C minor, BWV 582, is a major turning point in the history of the form, influencing all the most significant organ passacaglias written from the nineteenth century onwards. Bach’s encounter with Buxtehude was of great impact; the Passacaglia in D minor leaves perceptible traces from the very first variation. Equally evident are the affinities with certain organ chaconnes by Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706). Bach confers on the composition a marked uniqueness, both structurally and in its compositional procedure. The work carries a strong symbolic-allegorical connotation: the ostinato appears 21 times in the Passacaglia, while the Thema Fugatum contains a total of 12 expositions of the subject, the two numbers being inverses of one another. The ostinato is the same as that used by André Raison (1640–1719) in the Trio en passacaille from the Kyrie of the Messe du deuxième ton (Premier Livre d’orgue), to which Bach added a four-bar coda. The ostinato is first presented as a pedal solo, followed by the first variation. Although it is unclear whether the autograph manuscript contained explicit indications as to registration, this recording proposes a version pro organo pleno, in line with the rubric reported in certain of the most reliable manuscript sources. The point of connection between the final cadence of the Passacaglia and the head of the first entry of the Thema Fugatum represents a further uncertainty in performance practice; rather than separating the two sections, in this case the first note of the fugue subject is bound to the final chord of the passacaglia.
Felix Mendelssohn’s (1809–1847) [Passacaglia] is dated 10 May 1823 (the square brackets are due to the absence of a title in the autograph). In this piece the fourteen-year-old Mendelssohn experiments with a bass-ostinato technique clearly inspired by J. S. Bach, for example in the choice of the home key (C minor) and in presenting the ostinato as an opening pedal solo. What is far from predictable is the metrical unit adopted: common time (C), that is, quadruple metre. The composition shows a vaguely symmetrical outline: the texture thins in the central section as the ostinato migrates to the upper voices, ushering in an extended span of arpeggiated figuration. The initial polyphonic vigour returns at the end in the last five statements of the theme. The marking Volles Werk unequivocally clarifies the character of the piece and significantly attests that Bach’s Passacaglia was evidently performed by Mendelssohn pro organo pleno; as the programme of a Bach concert given by Mendelssohn at the Thomaskirche, Leipzig, dated 6 August 1840, has it: “[…] für die volle Orgel”.
Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger was the first among German organists to publish a true organ passacaglia in the Romantic era (first edition 1883). Besides the unmistakable Bach model, the writing was likely inspired by Liszt’s fantasy on “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen” (1859), a variation form built on a Bach ostinato theme (the Crucifixus, BWV 232). The celebrated Passacaglia in E minor stands as the finale of the Organ Sonata No. 8, op. 132, an unusual ending for a complex form, which in turn inspired Max Reger and Sigfrid Karg-Elert. Rheinberger adopts here a device of undeniable structural efficacy: the introductory page of the sonata’s first movement (Fuge) returns, now as a conclusion, at the end of the fourth movement (Passacaglia), a perfect example of ring structure (Ringkomposition). As in Bach’s passacaglia, the ostinato is always stated in the home key. From a performance-practice perspective, Rheinberger’s registration directions inaugurate a distinctively Romantic tradition: to register chaconnes and passacaglias from pianissimo, building progressively to the fff close. In this respect, the initial pedal solo of the ostinato and the progressive crescendo would become the unmistakable hallmarks of the most significant organ passacaglias written well into the twentieth century.
Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933) was, together with Max Reger, one of the most prolific composers of organ passacaglias, not only as self-standing works but above all within larger forms. The Sinfonische Kanzone, op. 85 no. 2, is an example: a large symphonic narrative that opens with a Fantasy and continues with a Kanzone, in which a singable theme is presented repeatedly, assigned to the two hands and to the pedal by means of various solo stops. The Passacaglia again functions as the finale. The structure respects the Bach model: the passacaglia is followed by a fugue. The ostinato, chromatic and plagal in character, is proposed and elaborated not only in the home key but also in neighbouring keys. The metrical plan does not follow the traditional triple-time model of 3/4 but the compound metre of 6/8. As often in Karg-Elert’s organ music, the agogic indications vary very frequently and a high degree of flexibility is required in managing tempo and pacing. The registration indications call for the use of all the instrument’s resources; on this organ the performance has been made possible with the assistance of two registrants.
Luca Gorla © 2025