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In music a passacaglia (French: passacaille, Spanish: pasacalle, German: passacalia; Italian: passacaglia, passacaglio, passagallo, passacagli, passacaglie) is a musical form and the corresponding court dance.^{[citation needed]} Its name derives from the Spanish pasar (to walk) and calle (street).

Originally a rasgueado (strummed) interlude between instrumentally accompanied dances or songs, first found in an Italian source dated 1606 (Hudson 1971, 364), the passacaglia denotes a short, usually rapid musical work in any metre. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the word came to mean a set of ground-bass or ostinato variations, usually of a serious character (Silbiger 2001). This a melodic pattern (usually 4, 6 or 8 bars long, rarely an odd number such as 3, 5 or 7) repeats unchangingly throughout the duration of the piece, while the upper lines get varied freely, over this bass pattern that serves as a harmonic anchor. The passacaglia is closely related to the chaconne, except that the former (in 18th-century French practice) leans more strongly to the melodic basso ostinato, while the chaconne, "in a reversal of the [17th-century] Italian practice, in various respects undergoes a freer treatment" (Fischer 1968, 34). The chaconne more often than not is in a major key, while the passacaglias are usually in a minor key^{[citation needed]}. The chaconne is usually based on a harmonic sequence rather than a ground bass pattern.^{[citation needed]}

In modern music, the term passacaglia is often used to denote a piece that doesn't necessarily conform to the baroque ideal of the form (and not even necessarily in 3/4 time), but which has a more or less fixed bass pattern (ground bass) or chord progression, sometimes both, that is repeated consecutively throughout most or all of the piece.^{[citation needed]} Sometimes it departs entirely from the form, but retains its essentially grave character (cf. passacaglias by Shostakovich)

One of the best known examples of a passacaglia in western classical music is the one in C minor for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 582. Other examples are the organ passacaglias by Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Pachelbel, Johann Kaspar Kerll, Georg Muffat, Gottlieb Muffat, Johann Kuhnau, Max Reger.

The first page of the autograph manuscript of the Passacaglia by Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 582

The French clavecinists, especially Louis Couperin and his nephew François Couperin, le grand, were noted for their use of the passecaille form, even though they tended to deviate from the passacaglia form to a considerable degree, often assuming a form of recurring episodes in rondo.^{[citation needed]}

The fourth movement of Luigi Boccherini's Quintettino #6, Op. 30, (also known as "Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid") is titled "Passacalle". Director Peter Weir included the piece at the end of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

There are lute passacaglias by Alessandro Piccinini, G. H. Kapsberger, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Esaias Reussner, count Logy, Robert de Visée, Jacob Bittner, Philipp Franz Lesage De Richee, Gleitsmann, Dufaut, Gallot, Denis Gautier, Ennemod Gautier, Roman Turovsky-Savchuk and Maxym Zvonaryov, a passacaglia for bandura by Julian Kytasty, passacaglias for baroque guitar by Paulo Galvão, Santiago de Murcia, Antonio de Santa Cruz, Francisco Guerau, Gaspar Sanz, Marcello Vitale et al.

There are such ensemble examples of the form as the Passacaille "Les plaisirs ont choisi" from Lully's opera Armide (1686) and Dido's lament, "When I am Laid in Earth", in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and others, such as aria "Piango, gemo, sospiro" by Antonio Vivaldi, or "Usurpator tiranno" and "Stabat Mater" by Giovanni Felice Sances, et al.

Another important passacaglia is one in g-minor for unaccompanied violin and one in c-minor for violin and continuo by Heinrich Ignaz Biber.

A 19th century example is the c-minor Passacaglia for organ by Felix Mendelssohn, or the finale of Josef Rheinberger's 8th organ sonata. Perhaps the most frequently heard passacaglia, however, is the finale of Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 4 (although Brahms did not call it a passacaglia, it follows the rules of one and the repeated figure is based on one found in Bach's Cantata No. 150, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich). The Norwegian Johan Halvorsen also composed a passacaglia that is based on a Handel theme and written for a duet of violin and viola, considered among the most popular pieces for both instruments due to its simplicity and depth. A number of symphonies and concertos by Dmitri Shostakovich notably make use of the Passacaglia form.

A harmonic pattern known as La Folia is related to Passacaglia.^{[citation needed]} Many Baroque composers wrote variations on La Folia, also known as La Follia and La folie d'Espagne (the folly of Spain) a chord progression actually based on a Portuguese folk dance.^{[citation needed]} Composers from Jean-Baptiste Lully and Arcangelo Corelli to Sergei Rachmaninoff and Vangelis (in his film score to the motion picture 1492: Conquest of Paradise) have used the La Folia theme, although not always composing a passacaglia based on it.

The passacaglia proved an enduring form throughout the 20th century and beyond. In mid-century, one writer stated that, "despite the inevitable lag in the performance of new music, there are more twentieth-century passacaglias in the active repertory of performers than baroque works in this form" (Stein 1959, 150). Other notable examples of uses of the passacaglia form include the following (in chronological order of composition):

• Max Reger, Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue in B minor, op. 96, for 2 pianos (1906)
• Passacaglia Op. 1 by Anton Webern (1908)
• The first movement of "First Suite in E♭ Major for Military Band" by Gustav Holst (1909)
• "Nacht" in Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire (1912)
• Max Reger, Introduction, Passacaglia, and Fugue in E Minor, op. 127, for organ (1913)
• The 10th variation of Ernő Dohnányi's Variations on a Nursery Theme, op. 25 (1914)
• The third movement of Maurice Ravel's Trio in A minor (1914)
• Paul Hindemith, Sonata for viola solo, op. 11, no. 5, last movement (1919)
• Aaron Copland's Passacaglia (1922)
• Paul Hindemith, String Quartet No. 5, op. 32 (1923) last movement
• Alban Berg, Wozzeck act I, scene 4 (1925)
• Leopold Godowsky's Passacaglia (44 variations, cadenza and fugue on the opening of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony) (1927)
• Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum contains a Passacaglia (1929-30)
• Frank Bridge (1879-1941) "Lento e ritmico" from "Oration" for cello and orchestra (1930)
• Stefan Wolpe, Zwei Studien for orchestra, second movement (1933)
• Stefan Wolpe, Four Studies on Basic Rows for piano, no. 4 (1935–36); arr. as Passacaglia for orchestra (1937)
• Paul Hindemith, Passacaglia from Nobilissima Visione (1938)
• Ralph Vaughan Williams, Symphony No. 5 in D: Movement 4, Passacaglia (1938-43).
• The fourth movement of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 (1943)
• Benjamin Britten, Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, op. 31 “Dirge” (1943)
• Walter Piston, Passacaglia for piano (1943)
• Frank Martin, Passacaglia for large orchestra (1944)
• Dmitri Shostakovich, Second Piano Trio, third movement (1944)
• William Walton, "The Death of Falstaff", from Henry V (1944 film), also featured in Ken Burns' The War (documentary).
• Benjamin Britten, The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, op. 35 (1945) “Death Be Not Proud”
• Benjamin Britten, Passacaglia interlude from the opera Peter Grimes (1945), often performed separately.
• Benjamin Britten, String Quartet No. 2, in C, op. 36, third movement "Chacony" (1945), (commemorating the 250th anniversary of the death of Henry Purcell)
• Ellis B. Kohs, Passacaglia for organ and strings (1946)
• Benjamin Britten, The Rape of Lucretia, op. 37 (1946–47) (dramatic passacaglia after Lucretia’s suicide)
• Benjamin Britten, Albert Herring, op. 39 (1946–47), second-act septet
• Dmitri Shostakovich, First Violin Concerto, third movement (1947-1948).
• William Schuman, Symphony No. 6 (1948)
• Benjamin Britten, Billy Budd, op. 50 (1950–51) (cabin scene)
• Benjamin Britten, The Turn of the Screw, op. 54 (1954), final variation
• Mystery of Time, Passacaglia for large orchestra by Miloslav Kabeláč (1953-1957)
• Ned Rorem, Symphony No. 3, first movement (1958)
• William Walton, Symphony No. 2, finale (1957–60)
• Paul Hindemith, Octet for winds and strings (1958), second and last movements
• Andrzej Dobrowolski, Passacaglia for tape (1960)
• Ronald Stevenson's Passacaglia on DSCH (1960-62)
• Carlos Chávez, Symphony No. 6, last movement (1961)
• Benjamin Britten's Nocturnal after John Dowland for guitar (1963) concludes with a passacaglia followed by the Dowland theme
• Benjamin Britten, Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, op. 68 (1963–64)
• Don Ellis, Passacaglia and Fugue by , from Don Ellis Live at Monterey (1966)
• Benjamin Britten, Suite No. 2 for unaccompanied cello, op. 80, fifth movement "Ciaconna" (1967)
• The central episode of the final movement of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15 (1971)
• Benjamin Britten, Suite No. 3 for unaccompanied cello, op. 87, ninth movement "Passacaglia" (1972)
• Benjamin Britten, String Quartet No. 3, op. 94, fifth movement "Recitative and Passacaglia (La Serenissima)" (1975)
• György Ligeti, Hungarian Rock (Chaconne), for harpsichord (1978)
• György Ligeti, Passacaglia ungherese for harpsichord (1978)
• Andrzej Dobrowolski, Music for Orchestra No. 5: Passacaglia (1979)
• William Walton, Passacaglia for solo cello (1979–80)
• José Antonio Rezende Prado Almeida, Concerto Fribourgeois (1985), Second Movement
• Witold Lutosławski, Piano Concerto, last movement (1987-88)
• Witold Lutosławski's Concerto for Orchestra, 3rd movement, "Passacaglia, Toccata E Corale" (1954)
• Mark Alburger, Deploration Passacaglias, for keyboard, op. 43 (1992), 23 movements memorializing composers from Johannes Ockeghem to Leonard Bernstein.
• György Ligeti, Violin Concerto fourth movement (1992)
• Sloth: Passacaglia/A Bud And A Slice, from Joe Jackson, Heaven and Hell (1997)
• Wear Your Seatbelt by Cliff Martinez, from the movie Solaris (2002)
• Bear McCreary, Passacaglia (and variations such as The Shape of Things to Come and Allegro) and A Promise to Return, from the Sci-fi Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica (2005)
• Roberto Sierra, Symphony No. 2 ("Gran Passacaglia") (2005)
• Scott Glasgow, "Murder Passacaglia" from the film score to Chasing Ghosts (2005) with expanded variations in all the "murder scenes" throughout the film.
• Jóhann Jóhannsson, "Passacaglia" (2006)
• An American Requiem by John Kenneth Graham (commemorating the dead and wounded of the Iraq War, 2007), uses a passacaglia throughout its setting of the traditional Dies Irae.

• Fischer, Kurt von. 1958. "Chaconne und Passacaglia: Ein Versuch". Revue Belge de Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap 12:19–34.
• Handel, Darrell. 1970. "Britten's Use of the Passacaglia", Tempo, new series no. 94 (Autumn): 2–6.
• Henderson, Lyn. 2000. "Shostakovich and the Passacaglia: Old Grounds or New?" Musical Times 141, no. 1870 (Spring): 53–60.
• Hudson, Richard. 1970. "Further Remarks on the Passacaglia and Ciaconna". Journal of the American Musicological Society 23, no. 2 (Summer): 302–14.
• Hudson, Richard. 1971. "The Ripresa, the Ritornello, and the Passacaglia." Journal of the American Musicological Society 24, no. 3 (Autumn): 364–94.
• Silbiger, Alexander. 2001. "Passacaglia". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
• Stein, Leon. 1959. "The Passacaglia in the Twentieth Century". Music and Letters 40, no. 2 (April): 150–53.
• Walker, Thomas. 1968. "Ciaccona and Passacaglia: Remarks on Their Origin and Early History". Journal of the American Musicological Society 21, no. 3 (Autumn): 300–320.

• La Folia
• Passacaglias and Chaconnes for Lute
• Passacaglias and Chaconnes for Baroque Guitar
• Analysis of Passacaglia and fugue by J.-S. Bach