Musical contribution - October 2023

Passacaglia - Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)

We started with a Concerto in February of this year. We’re compiling this Concerto ourselves from various movements from other great works by Händel. The focus this month is on a passacaglia from his 7th suite.

A passacaglia is a traditional Spanish dance usually composed in triple metre over a bass ostinato, which is usually played alone at first.

Händel deviated considerably from this here, as this passacaglia is composed in 4/4 time and the bass ostinato doesn’t start alone.

The addition of a pedal part ensures that this composition, originally for harpsichord, can also be performed well on organ. Although this work sounds good even if we only use 1 or 2 different timbres, I personally prefer using different registrations for the other 15 variations that follow the theme. Unleash your creativity.

Kind regards,

André