Chaconne in D Minor (tr. Whitwell)

From Wind Repertory Project
Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (trans. David Whitwell)


General Info

Year: 1720 / 2015
Duration: c. 11:15
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Violin
Publisher: Maxime's Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $90.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Marimba
  • Snare Drum
  • Vibraphone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

The extraordinary Chaconne, from Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV1004, exists as the fifth movement in an autograph partita for solo violin, dating from 1720. The scope of the work, and its homophonic style, has interested later composers, including Busoni, to arrange the music for piano. Like some other early works of Bach, it is often Romantic and chromatic.

Johannes Brahms, in a letter to Clara Schumann in June 1877, said about the Chaconne: "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."

- Program Note from publisher and score


One of the best known and most masterful and expressive examples of the chaconne is the final movement from the Violin Partita in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. This 256-measure chaconne takes a plaintive four-bar phrase through a continuous kaleidoscope of musical expression in both major and minor modes. However, recently it has been proposed that the form of Bach's "Ciaccona" (he used the Italian form of the name, rather than the French "Chaconne") is really cast in the form of a French theatrical dance known as the "passacaille", although it also incorporates Italian and German style features as well.

Raymond Erickson has identified approximately two hundred transcriptions and arrangements of Bach's Ciaccona.

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • United States Coast Guard Band (New London, Conn.) (Jeffrey Spenner, conductor) - 12 February 2023


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources