Chaconne, a French word, as it was originally used as a musical term
meant either a theme and variations with a repeated series of chords or
a repeated melodic line, I believe.  Today, technically, a chaconne refers
to a repeated chord series and a passacaglia refers to a melodic figure
that moves from part to part.  A sort of basso ostinato not confined to the
bass.  There is a lot of confusion about this distinction, even among fine
scholars and composers, and often they are used interchangably.  Holst's
"Chaconne" in his E flat suite for military band is, by the definition I
just gave, a passacaglia.  So, to answer your question, Brahm's 4th, 4th
mvmt.  is a passacaglia, right? But I wouldn't fuss over the semantics too
much.

Kyle Major
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