Hey there, friends!

There's something about a good passacaglia that makes me think about Jesus' Passion.

There's no overt connection to Passiontide that I know of. Passacaglias are not sacred music, per se.

But in these pieces, there is a kind of teleological solemnity that leads me to think about the events leading to Jesus' death. If there's ever a time of year to play a Passacaglia, it's now.

Passacaglias are typically in minor. Take the solemn, monumental Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582 by J. S. Bach (listen here). Bach's Passacaglia opens with the unadorned theme, and it is gripping from the start. It works its way down to the lowest note of the pedalboard, and then it starts again from the middle.

Danish composer Finn Viderø must have had Bach's model in mind when he wrote his own Passacaglia (listen here).

Swiss composer Frank Martin's Passacaglia is also compelling with its kaleidoscopic post-impressionist harmonies (listen here; not sure what that whole praying mantis thing is about, though...).

So, why am I thinking about the passacaglia in Passiontide? Well, I'm still working that out. But it has something to do with circularity.

We hear the same Passion story every year. And, if we're lucky, we engage with the church's tradition of reading/listening to all four Passions during Holy Week.

Like the variations in a passacaglia, they're variations on a theme, these four Passion Gospels. Hearing the different variations of the same thing helps us to get at the essence of what's being told. 

Could that be it? Is that the connection? It might be, but I'm still a bit too busy practicing the Bach for Sunday to decide. 

Later,

-David