From “Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course Lesson Book Level Two”
Played on Korg G1B Air Digital Piano: Honky-Tonk Piano
A fun little piece to play.
Fandango
Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has an instrumental introduction followed by "variaciones". Sung fandango usually follows the structure of "cante" that consist of four or five octosyllabic verses (coplas) or musical phrases (tercios). Occasionally, the first copla is repeated.
The meter of fandango is similar to that of the bolero and seguidilla. It was originally notated in 6/8 time, of slow tempo, mostly in the minor, with a trio in the major; sometimes, however, the whole was in a major key. Later it took the 3/4 tempo, and the characteristic Spanish rhythm.
Origins
The earliest fandango melody is found in the anonymous "Libro de diferentes cifras de guitarra" from 1705, and the earliest description of the dance itself is found in a 1712 letter by Martín Martí, a Spanish priest. The fandango's first sighting in a theatrical work was in Francisco de Leefadeal's entremés "El novio de la aldeana" staged in Seville, ca. 1720. By the late 18th century it had become fashionable among the aristocracy and was often included in tonadillas, zarzuelas, ballets and operas, not only in Spain, but also elsewhere in Europe.
Widely varying claims have been made about the origin of fandango: its relation to the soleá, jabera and petenera; to the Andalusian malagueña, granadina, murciana and rondeña; to the canario and gitano; to the jota aragonesa.
Condemnation and liberation by Spanish Church
There is a curious piece of history said to be connected with this dance. Soon after its first introduction, in the 17th century, it was condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities in Spain as a "godless dance". Just as the Consistory were about to prohibit it, one of the judges remarked that it was not fair to condemn anyone unheard. Two celebrated dancers were accordingly introduced to perform the fandango before the Consistory. This they did with such effect, that, according to the old chronicler, "every one joined in, and the hall of the consistorium was turned into a dancing saloon". No more was heard of the condemnation of the fandango.
Classical music
The form of fandango has been used by many European composers, and often included in stage and instrumental works. Notable examples include J. P. Rameau's "Les trois mains" (in "Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin", ca. 1729–30); Fandango forms #19 in the part 2 of Gluck's ballet Don Juan (1761); in the third-act finale of Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro (1786); in the finale of Luigi Boccherini's String Quartet Op. 40 No. 2 (1798) and Guitar Quintet G.448; Antonio Soler's Fandango for harpsichord; and the finale of Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol. Luis de Freitas Branco's third movement of his "Suite Alentejana No. 1" is inspired on the fandango of the regions of Alentejo and Ribatejo of Portugal.
Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti, who was influenced by Iberian folk music, had several passages reminiscents of fandango, such as in his keyboard sonata K. 492 (1756) which has been called "Fandango portugués". The piece "Fandango del Sigr. Escarlate" has been attributed to him, but some scholars dispute this claim and its similarity to fandangos.
The Spanish form of fandango is given by Dohrn in the Neue Zeitschrift f. Music.
Figurative meaning
As a result of the extravagant features of the dance, the word fandango is used as a synonym for "a quarrel", "a big fuss", or "a brilliant exploit".
Fandango in Veracruz
In Veracruz, Mexico, a fandango is a party where people get together to dance, to play and to sing in a community setting. As local musicians perform the Son Jarocho music, people dance "zapateado" atop a large wooden platform known as a Tarima.
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