1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Passacaglia

PASSACAGLIA, the name of an old Spanish dance, supposed to be derived from pasar, to walk, and calle, street, the tune being played by wandering musicians in the streets. It was a slow and rather solemn dance of one or two dancers. The dance tune resembled the "chaconne," and was, like it, constructed on a ground-bass. Brahm's Symphony in E Minor, No. 4, ends with an elaborate passacaglia.