Chaminade, Passacaille, op. 130

Chaminade's Passacaille, op. 130, was published in 1909, shortly after her successful tour to the United States, where the highlight was a performance of her own Concertstück with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Passacaille belongs to a genre of Baroque keyboard nostalgia, to which composers in several countries contributed but which was especially favored in France. Chaminade's Menuet Galant, op. 129, was published at the same time.

By the title, the composer refers loosely to French Baroque keyboard styles, not to the ground-bass variation form. Her op. 130 is in triple meter, as was traditional for the passacaille, and in rondeau form with theme and couplets, though she treats this design loosely, the overall effect being of a ternary form. The first 48 bars are repeated in toto to close the piece.

The opening 16 bars give strong priority to a proto-background ^3/^5, as the unfolded intervals show. Note especially the line from within reaching up to B5 in bars 15-16.

Bars 17-32 are a contrasting B-section, 33-40 a retransition that points toward ^3, which duly arrives in bar 41. The abbreviated reprise then traces a simple rising line twice and does it emphatically into the cadence.