Passacaglia honors Theophil Rusterholz, long time carillonneur of House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, also a former GCNA member, mentor and legal advisor. Passacaglia's eight measure theme in triple meter is made up of two four-measure units, the first ascending and the second descending with a brief rise through a half-cadence hemiola pattern. Following six variations in G minor with the theme initially in the soprano register, then moving into the pedal, Passacaglia modulates to B-flat major and the theme's barline shifts forward by a quarter-note beat throughout four new variations. After a return to G minor, metric disorientation is introduced by a second shift of the beat pattern as a set of four more variations displays developmental tendencies and tonal instability. A brief dominant pedalpoint leads to a set of six variations in the parallel mode of G major (bimodal mixolydian), with the theme first heard in soprano, then in lower bells. The twenty-first variation functions much like a coda, moving boldly from E-flat major toward the return of G major for a briefly extended codetta. Passacaglia is written in a grand manner and makes use of dramatic shifts of harmonies and modalities, combined with eloquent flourishes and gestures.

—Ennis Fruhauf