Definitions for "Passacaglia"
Keywords:  chaconne, bass, triple, dance, italian
An old Italian or Spanish dance tune, in slow three-four measure, with divisions on a ground bass, resembling a chaconne.
(syn. chaconne). a slow theme-and-variations in triple meter with the theme recurring in the bass.
(Ital.) : A work built on an ostinato bass (or ground_bass ), often a descending chromatic bass. Dido's lament, the concluding aria from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas is an excellent example. (The passacaglia bass is given on the chart attached to Works.Sta.) So, too, is Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor for pipe organ, BWV 582.