A chaconne (/ʃəˈkɒn/ shə-KON, French: [ʃakɔn]; Spanish: chacona [tʃaˈkona]; Italian: ciaccona [tʃakˈkoːna]; earlier English: chacony)[1] 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.
The ground bass, if there is one, may typically descend stepwise from the tonic to the dominant pitch of the scale; the harmonies given to the upper parts may emphasize the circle of fifths or a derivative pattern thereof.