The New York Continuo Collective

Fall 2010

Music of Spain:
Folia
Contents
p. 2 Texts from literary sources
p. 4 Texts from dramatic sources
p. 5 Dance
p. 6 Examples from guitar books
p. 8 Words and music together, melody reconstructed
p. 13 Words, music and melody

Folia
FOLIA: It is a certain Portuguese dance which is
very noisy; for in addition to the fact that many
characters go on foot with tambourines [sonajas]
and other instruments, some disguised porters catty
on their shoulders some boys dressed as maidens
who, with pointed sleeves [?], spin around and
sometimes dance and also play their tambourines.
The noise is so great and the music [son] so fast,
that it seems that both the men and the boys are out
of their minds; and thus they give the dance the
name of folia, from the Tuscan word Folle, which
means empty, mad, without reason, one who has
an empty head. Petrarch.
Covarrubias y Orozco, Sebastin de, Tesoro de la lengua castellana, o espaola (Madrid, 1611); quoted in and translated by
Esses, Dance and Instrumental Diferencias (New York, 1992)

Se llama tambien un taido y mudanza de nuestro

baile espaol que suele bailar uno solo con
castauelas.

It also refers to an instrumental piece and series of

dance steps in our Spanish dancing that is
customarily executed by one individual with
castanets.

Diccionario de autoridades, cited in Craig Russell, Santiago de Murcias Cdice Salvdar Nol 4 (Chicago, 1995)

Texts from Literary Sources

Poetic folas described by Gonzalo Correas, Arte de la lengua espaola castellana (ms. 1625); modern
edition by Emilio Alarcos Garca in Revista de filologa espaola 56 (1954). Cited by Esses, Dance and
Instrumental Diferencias (New York, 1992)

1) General name for seguidillas and other light poetry of four short lines or less.
2) True folas are an old type of seguidillas in which the opening octosyllabic line is repeated as the
third line:
And noramala agudo
Marido mio
And noramala agudo
Que andais dormido.

He will come at quite a bad time,

my husband,
he will come at quite a bad time,
for you will be sleeping.

Esta ltima tiene el primero de 8 repetido en terzero, i es de las verdaderas Folas.

3) Folas can refer to seguidillas in which the second and fourth lines consist of five syllables ending in
an accent.

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4) Some hold that proper folas are composed of four equal lines of eight syllables, and whose texts are
deliberately absurd. further, why cant they be those unequal verses of three and four lines, of more or
less syllables, apt to sing to the guitar, tambourines, which make perfect sense, and stand alone? They
call them what they will.
Otros tienen por propias folas las qe se componen de 4 versos iguales de 8 slabas, i las qe adrede
disparan adefesios; mas, porq no lo han de ser las Coplas desiguales de 3 i 4 versos, de mas i mnos
slabas, dispuestas cantar con guitarra, sonajas i pandero, qu hazen perfeto sentido, i andan solas?
Llamen-las como qisieren.
Examples from Correas:
Una dama me mand
Qe sirviese, i no cansase;
Que sirviendo alcanzaria
Todo lo qe desease.

A lady commanded me
to serve her, and that I not tire;
for in serving her I would attain
all that I might desire.

Seora, desqe aqi entr,

El corazon me han robado;
La qe le hubiere tomado
El suyo en trueco me d.

Lady, I began here,

my heart you have stolen;
for that which you have taken
give me yours in exchange.

Soaba yo qe tena
Alegre mi corazon;
Mas la fe, madre mia,
Qe los sueos sueos son.

I dreamed that had

a heart that was happy;
but in faith, mother,
dreams are but dreams.

Nia, de la saya blanca,

I enzima la verde-escuro,
los pies de la tu cama
Me hagan la sepultura.

Girl, with the white smock,

and on it the dark green,
at the foot of your bed
they will make my tomb.

Si quereis que os enrame la pueta

Vida mia de mi coraon
Si quereis que os enrrame la puerta
Vuestros amores mios son.

If you want me to decorate your door,

life of my heart,
if you want me to decorate your door
your love shall be mine.

Texts from Dramatic Sources

From an entrems (dramatic interlude)
VIUDA
Hay algn baile que virtud inclina?

WIDOW
Is there a dance that inclines to virtue?

MAESTRO
Ese se baila al son de disciplina.

DANCING MASTER
This one is danced to a stately tune.

VIUDA
Un No me los ame nadie.

WIDOW
A Dont let anyone love them for me.

MAESTRO

DANCING MASTER
That is fola.

Ese es fola.
WIDOW
Celositos sois vos, por vida mia?
Eso me agrada: toquen sosegado.
Dios encamine bien este bailado!

WIDOW
Are you jealous, on my life?
This one pleases me: play it calmly.
God lead me well in this dance!

Tocanle la Folas, y baila muy despacio. They play the folas, and she dances very
slowly.
Podr animarse un poco el sonetito,
Could you pick up the music a little,
porque me va brindando el apetito?
for it is whetting my appetite?
MAESTRO
Bien se puede animar. Corre la mano.
A fe que no acabemos muy temprano.

DANCING MASTER
You can well enliven it. Let your hand run.
In faith, we wont end early.

Baila ms aguda y canta: No me las

ame nadie

They dance faster, and sing Dont let

anyone...

Navarrete y Ribera, La Escuela de Danzar (1640)

From another entrems:

Ay, que no me las ame nadie
a las mas folas, eh?;
ay, que no me las ame nadie,
que yo me las amar!

Ah, dont let anyone love them for me,

in my madness, hey?
ah, dont let anyone love them for me,
for I will love them myself!

Los Matachines (Anonymous entrems, 17th c)

Dance
Ballo spagnuolo, o per dir meglio Portughese, che
si balla con certa vivacit, e brio, faccendo gesti,
che suegliano lussuria, massime vedendolo ballare
a spagnuole pratiche.

A Spanish; or, to be more exact, Portuguese dance,

which is danced with a certain vivacity and fire,
making gestures that awaken voluptuousness,
mostly seen danced by expert Spanish women.

Lorenzo Franciosini Fiorentino, Vocabulario italiano e spagnuolo (Rome, 1638); cited in Niecks, Les Folies dEspagne: A
Study (London, 1888)

Examples from Guitar Books

Tomasio Marchetti Romano, Il Primo Libro DIntavolatura della Chitarra Spagnola (Rome, 1660)

Tomasio Marchetti Romano, Il Primo Libro DIntavolatura della Chitarra Spagnola (Rome, 1660)

Words and Music

Luiz de Brieo, Si quereis que os enrrame la puerta

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