The Chaconne is the monumental fifth and final movement of the Partita for Violin No. 2 in D minor by J.S. Bach and is widely considered to be the finest piece of music ever composed for the violin. The gentleman Joshua Bell is a virtuoso who will play it for you if you would like. The crazy stuff starts at 4:25 where, all hyperbole aside, he proceeds to execute a minute-and-a-half unbroken string of the most mind blowing arpeggios you will probably ever hear.

Bach wrote this in 1720 after returning from a trip to find that his wife had died. Back then, music and art in general was not regarded as an outlet for the artist to express their personal emotions; but, rather, to express glory to God on behalf of mankind. So it is with tremendous control that you hear him pour out his heartbroken grief out to Heaven.

This is the sheet music transposed for the classical guitar that I received while studying at Oswego Guitar Conservatory when I was in high school. As I was in what I would later recognize as the fond pre-masochistic phase of my life (1975 to 1995), I did not get too far with it before I put the guitar down to go to art school. It was with the paint brush that I humbly embarked on my second attempt at conquering it. At least with this approach I only had to deal with one page instead of all seven of this punishing 15-minute song. I am not exactly sure how much time I spent on this, but it was probably about 300 hours. Working on this painting was my life raft while I very nearly drank myself to death during and after my divorce, by far the lowest point of my entire life.