Hello Stuart and Jocelyn, The Webster Dictionary gives this translation:
Pas sa ca glia: noun [modif. of Sp. passacalle, Fr. pasar = to pass + calle=street, Fr. callis path 1. a: an old Italian or Spanish dance tune b: an instrumental musical composition consisting of variations on a ground bass in moderately slow triple time 2. : an old dance performed to a passacaglia The Harvard Dictionary of Music: Passacaglia [It.] or passacaille [Fr.] : See chaconne and passacaglia: Chaconne and passacaglia: "Two closely related forms of baroque music, each a kind of continuous variation in moderately slow triple meter and with a slow harmonic rhythm, changing generally with the measure. There have been many futile attempts to change the derivation and original meaning of these terms, and just as many attempts, equally futile, to make a clear distinction between them. Actually baroque composers used the terms indiscriminately. This does not mean that they could not be put into more apt use today, but unfortunately modern writers have not succeeded in deciding on acceptable definitions and the literature is full of contradictory and frequently arbitrary statements about how the difference between a chaconne and a passacaglia." It goes on to say, "There is reason to believe that the chaconne originally was a wild and sensual Mexican dance that was imported into Spain in the 16th century..... The passacaglia was also originally a dance or a march.....A primitive stage of development is probably represented by passacaglia and chaconne in early 17th century books for the Spanish guitar, which consists of a series of four-measure phrases." As well, the Harvard entry goes on to try to distinguish the difference between the chaconne and passacaglia, noting that the passacaglia is a variation based on a clearly distinguishable ostinato where the line can be either in the bass or an upper voice; the chaconne, on the other hand, is a continuous variation in which the "theme" is a scheme of harmonies, where the first and last chords are fixed whereas the intervening ones can be replaced by substitutes. ed .At 08:17 AM 1/3/2010, Nelson, Jocelyn wrote: > I remember a conversation with Pat O'Brien on the passacalle where he > suggested that the term is more analogous to our (at least in US > English) "around the block" as in a circuit, or loop. He didn't claim > that was the literal translation, but this would be his idea of the > connotation. Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: e...@gamutstrings.com voice: (218) 728-1202 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name http://www.myspace.com/edslute To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html