In the documentary film At the Haunted End of Day, English composer William Walton can be seen sitting at the piano working on his Passacaglia for Solo Cello. "Getting to a rather interesting bit now," he tells us. "Unfortunately, it doesn't last very long." We should be suspicious of such self-criticism, for Walton frequently provides it and it often veils some of his most engaging music. The Passacaglia was conceived after a chance meeting between Walton and cellist/conductor Mstislav Rostropovich. Walton asked Rostropovich when he would be performing the former's cello concerto, and the latter replied that if Walton would compose a new work for him, he would play them both. Walton agreed—though he would later complain to a friend that the new piece was one that he had "very stupidly let myself in for," but that he now found it "an extremely difficult thing to bring off." But bring it off he did, and it was premiered by Rostropovich in March 1982 during a concert of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Despite the auspicious premiere, Walton saw the piece as meant for a more intimate setting—perhaps even for personal rather than public consumption (and thought the same of Bach's works for solo strings as well). As suggested by the title, the Passacaglia comprises an initial theme and a number of variations. The opening eight-bar phrase is first reexamined in three variations that explore the cello's lower range. The three subsequent variations take the cello into a higher range and increase the pace. The quicker tempi of the sixth variation, however, is contrasted with the tranquillo espressivo of the seventh, in which a lyrical tune floats atop a pizzicato chordal accompaniment. This moment of repose is brief, however: variations eight and nine take on a scherzando character, while the finale rounds off the piece with a virtuosic flourish.

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