La Folía de España: Dances for Guitar

Elizabeth C. D. Brown, Baroque, 19th Century & Modern Guitars

CD Liner Notes, with a Selected Bibliography

La Folía de España, a dance whose name is tied to madness and foolishness, has had a long and rich
history which has attracted composers for over 500 years. Originating in Portugal in the late 15th
century, the folía quickly became popular in Spain as well, as a fast, wild and noisy dance. During the
17th century the folía was refined in Italy and France into a more stately and dignified musical form
and to a large extent it has remained so to this day. However, the influence of the folía’s roots remain,
with a certain dramatic flair that is decidedly Iberian in flavor.
The guitar as it was known in the baroque era was a comparatively small bodied instrument with
five courses, or sets, of strings. Various tuning systems were used, but most placed the lowest pitched
string somewhere in the middle. This combination of a small resonating chamber, double-strings and
re-entrant tunings make for a very light and clear sound, especially when compared with later guitars.
Both solo and accompaniment music for the guitar from the early 17th century emphasized the
rasgueado (strummed) capabilities of the instrument. In the 1630’s Italian guitarists started borrowing
plucked lute technique and pioneered a playing style that mixed rasgueado and punteado (plucked)
techniques.
Spanish guitarist and composer Gaspar Sanz was exposed to this new style when he went to Italy to
study organ and guitar. He then returned home and published the first collection of mixed rasgueado
and punteado guitar solos in Spain in 1674. Sanz’s Folía is the quintessential baroque form: a set of
melodic and rhythmic variations on a chord progression, that is both dramatic and stately in feel. This
particular piece has a very unusual feature: one of the variations has the phrase “esta glosada toda se
corre” (This variation always is running) engraved at the beginning. This seems to be some sort of
performance direction, perhaps indicating that this passage should have a faster tempo, which alludes
to the wilder roots of the folía in Spain. The Españoletas is a more refined dance of Italian origin,
where Sanz shows his abilities in a more expressive light. In contrast, the rough-edged Canarios is an
energetic and syncopated dance that came to Spain from the Canary Islands.
One of the Italian guitarists that Sanz mentions in the preface to his book is Francesco Corbetta,
calling him “el mejor de todos” (the best of them all). This was not a trite overstatement, as Corbetta
was probably the greatest guitar virtuoso of his time and a sophisticated composer as well. His
contribution to the guitar was remarkable in that he focused exclusively on the guitar, traveling
extensively outside of Italy where the guitar was already well established. His charismatic virtuosity was
especially recognized in the English and French courts, where the once lowly guitar became extremely
fashionable among the nobility. Corbetta’s Follia is from his second book, published in Italy in 1643.
This folía predates Sanz’s version by over 30 years, yet it is very progressive for the time. Corbetta is
credited with both influencing the development of the folía form, and with introducing it to the
French. The rest of the pieces recorded here are from his 1671 book, which was dedicated to the
English king Charles II, but published in France. These works have a strong French influence, as
evidenced by the improvisatory mood of the Prelude and the inclusion of a Menuet, a light triple dance
very popular in the French court. The Chacone is an interesting mix of styles, with French ornaments
and delicate gestures interspersed with Italian bravura.
The dances by the Spanish composer Santiago de Murcia are from a manuscript found in Mexico,
known as the Saldívar Codex No. 4, which exhibits the mix of Spanish, Indigenous and African
influences on music of the New World. The Cumbees and Zarambeques are both African in origin, and
while the Fandango was cultivated in Spain, its birthplace is actually the West Indies. Each dance has
its own chord progression formula that repeats with diferencias, or variations. Despite following this
traditional baroque Spanish formula, some of the unexpected harmonies of these pieces are quite unlike
anything found in European repertoire of the same era.
Three important transitions took place for the guitar to reach the form it took in the 19th century:
the addition of a sixth string, moving from double to single strings and developments in bracing that
allowed for a larger top. The combination of these changes resulted in an instrument similar to the
modern guitar, though still somewhat smaller and therefore with a lighter tone, faster response and less
ability to sustain.
Thanks to the efforts of several very successful guitarists who also composed, the guitar enjoyed a
resurgence in popularity in the early 19th century. The Spaniard Fernando Sor was such a guitarist,
and was also one of the better composers. Although Sor actively performed and was considered a
virtuosic guitarist, he also devoted himself to composition, producing several successful operas, ballets,
symphonies, and various chamber pieces in addition to his works for guitar. Perhaps as a result, his
guitar compositions are in a sophisticated style that goes beyond merely showcasing the instrument’s
idiomatic capabilities. Published in Paris in the early 1820’s, Sor’s version of the folía exhibits a
classical approach to the theme and variation form, with each variation serving as its own entity, often
in sharp contrast in mood from the others. Since folías are by definition always in a minor key, Sor is
unable to include a major variation as further contrast, a common practice of the time. This may be
why he chose to end the composition with this charming Menuet in the parallel major.
Although the Spaniard José Ferrer y Esteve wrote a handful of larger concert works, the bulk of his
compositions are charming miniatures, many of which are in the form of a popular dance. Also
referred to as salon music, the emotional impact of these pieces rely on distilling musical ideas into a
small package with quickly shifting moods and motives. Published in Paris during the thirteen-year
period Ferrer lived there, Brise d’Espagne, Valse Caractéristique (Breeze of Spain, Characteristic Waltz) is
strongly nationalistic—an increasingly common compositional theme of the late 19th century. While
the Valse Caractéristique is still clearly connected to the ballroom waltz, Ferrer’s Vals is a looser setting
of the same dance, which in this case is used as a vehicle for guitaristic flourishes. His languid Tango is
an excellent example of the tango-romanza, a form that was popular in Spain for both songs and
instrumental works. In the Sicilienne, a light Italian dance, a middle section set in minor and in a low
register creates contrast.
The movement from more intimate performance settings for the privileged few into more spacious
concert halls with larger audiences is generally credited with a parallel movement in instrument
building toward louder instruments. For the guitar this change started taking place at the end of the
nineteenth century, with further development of the bracing system of the top. In 1946 another major
innovation occurred with the invention of nylon strings to replace gut strings.
In 1932 Antonio Lauro saw the Paraguayan virtuoso guitarist Agustin Barrios Mangoré in concert
and was convinced to drop his piano and violin studies to focus on the guitar. Lauro was driven to
express his nationalism through composition, and was continually drawn to the Venezuelan valse as a
means to that end. The three valses on this recording are typical of Lauro’s output; they are
harmonically straightforward and very lyrical, with subtle rhythmic complexities. The intimate
character of these works is enhanced by their titles. El Negrito (little dark haired one) refers to Lauro’s
youngest son Luis. Lauro paired this waltz with La Gatica (the little kitty), which seems to illustrate
feline antics, but was also a nickname for his wife. Andreina, which has also been published as Valse
Venezolano no. 2, is named after Lauro’s niece.
The Mexican Manuel Ponce is the only composer on this recording who was not also a guitarist.
The guitar can be a challenging instrument to write for, and most composers have only done so with
significant prodding from a guitarist. In this case, the legendary Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia was
the inspiration for a large number of works featuring the guitar as the two musicians developed a long-
standing friendship. Prelude No. 24, which has the subtitle Chant populaire español (popular Spanish
song), is a fine example of why Ponce is revered as a master of melody. His constant use of a drone on
the open A string generates a gentle push and pull as the piece passes through harmonies that create
dissonance with the A, before resolving. In contrast, Ponce’s Rumba is dominated by the infectious
rhythms of the popular Cuban dance. As Segovia remarked in a letter to Ponce, “The rumba is now in
my feet and moving my chest. And everyone in the house does the same when hearing it.” Scherzino
Mexicano is a very lyrical piece, which Ponce has imbued with playfulness with the use of shifting
rhythmic stresses that gives it a dance-like character. This may be a reflection of the scherzo’s history,
which is tied to the minuet.
Although he started his career as a successful concert guitarist, Leo Brouwer has truly made his
mark as a composer. Like Sor, Brouwer has not restricted himself to writing for the guitar, and his
compositional style ranges from the formal fugue to the very avant-garde. He also has a keen interest
in traditional music, particularly that of his native Cuba. Danza del altiplano is his arrangement of
Indigenous Peruvian music, liberally infused with Brouwer’s keen understanding of idiomatic guitar
techniques.
Bryan Johanson is a native of Portland, Oregon, and is a Professor of Music and founder of the
guitar studies program at Portland State University. His catalogue of over eighty compositions reflects
a wide variety of interests that extends far beyond the guitar. He has written several substantial works
for solo guitar, and in recent years has focused a major portion of his energy on writing chamber music
for the guitar. Of his version of the folía Johanson writes, “La Folia Folio (1995) was commissioned by
Canadian guitarist Harold Micay. He wanted a work that he could splash around in. The result is a
set of variations based on the chord progression from the famous theme La Folia d’Espagna. I have
tried to stress the dance nature of the theme by using only the harmonic progression, omitting the
melody altogether, though there is a weird paraphrase of it about halfway through.” This emphasis on
the harmonic progression is most similar to the folía settings by Corbetta and Sor, where the inherently
chordal and rhythmic nature of the guitar is showcased. Although La Folia Folio is clearly in a modern
idiom, the faster tempo and many special effects evokes the wildness of the earliest folías. According to
Johanson, “The work is a blast to play and I enjoy splashing in it as often as I can.”

—Notes by Elizabeth Brown

Selected Bibliography
Century, Paul. “Leo Brouwer: A Portrait of the Artist in Socialist Cuba.” Latin American Music
Review, vol. 8, no. 2 (1987): 151-171.

Christensen, Thomas. “The Spanish Baroque Guitar and Seventeenth-Century Triadic Theory.”
Journal of Music Theory, vol. 36 (1992): 1-42.

Corbetta, Francesco. Varii Caprichi per la Ghittara Spagnuola. Milan: 1643; Facsimile ed. Paolo
Paolini, Studio Per Edizioni Scelte, Florence: 1980.

________. La Guitare Royale Dedieé au Roy de la Grande Bretagne. Paris: 1670; Facsimile ed.
Minkoff, Paris: 1993.

Jeffrey, Brian. Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist. Tecla Editions, London: 1977.

Mangado Artigas, Josep María. La Guitarra en Cataluña, 1769-1939. Tecla Editions, London: 1998.

Otero, Corazón. Manuel M. Ponce and the Guitar. Translated by J. D. Roberts. The Bold Strummer
Limited, Westport: 1994.

Sanz, Gaspar. Instruccion de Musica Sobre la Guitarra Española… Saragossa: 1697; Facsimile ed.
Minkoff, Geneva: 1976.

Segovia, Andrés and Manuel M. Ponce. The Segovia-Ponce Letters, ed. Miguel Alcázar. Translated by
Peter Segal. Editions Orphée, Columbus: 1989.

Stearns, Roland. “A Manual of Lute, Vihuela, and Guitar Tablatures, with Surveys of Transcription
Practice, Instrumental Technique, and Beginning Pedagogy.” M.M. Thesis, University of Idaho,
Moscow: 1978.

Turnbull, Harvey. The Guitar: from the Renaissance to the Present Day. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New
York: 1974.

Tyler, James. The Early Guitar; A History and Handbook. Oxford University Press, London: 1980.

________. A Brief Tutor for the Baroque Guitar. Chorus Publications, Helsinki: 1985.

________ and Paul Sparks. The Guitar and its Music from the Renaissance to the Classical Era. Oxford
University Press, London: 2002.