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Yet Johnson’s overall sprightliness covers a ground bass of melancholy and lament.

She’s the calm center, the ground bass, and though she acknowledges the looser culture around her with a shy shimmy, the influence flows more strongly in the opposite direction.

But the raucous swallows, the woman’s droning commands, the ground bass of the machinery mesmerized her.

The “Goldberg” Variations, too, unfold over a ground bass, beginning with a descent from G to D, but this time in G major.

Both use a "passacaglia" or "ground bass", and share an intensity and sobriety of mood.