chaconne

thumb|The "Ciaccona" from Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita for Violin No. 2 (Bach)|Partita for Violin No. 2

A chaconne ( , ; ; ; earlier English: chacony) is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass) which offers a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and melodic invention. In this it closely resembles the passacaglia. It originates and was particularly popular in the Baroque era; a large number of Chaconnes exist from the 17th and 18th centuries.