Folia

For other uses, see Folia (disambiguation) and Folium (disambiguation).

La Folía (Spanish), or Follies (English), also known as folies d'Espagne (French), La Follia (Italian), and Folia (Portuguese), is one of the oldest remembered European musical themes, or primary material, generally melodic, of a composition, on record. The theme exists in two versions, referred to as early and late folias, the earlier being faster.

"The 'later' folia", a harmonic-metric scheme consisting of two eight-bar phrases, was first used in approximately 1670.[1] The key signature, showing just one flat for G minor (instead of two), follows a Baroque period practice. Playⓘ
Early folia[2] Playⓘ.
Early folia variant[2] Playⓘ.
  1. ^ Hudson, Richard (January–June 1973). "The Folia Melodies". Acta Musicologica. 45 (1): 98–119. doi:10.2307/932224. ISSN 0001-6241. JSTOR 932224.
  2. ^ a b Simpson, Christopher (1665) cited in Esses, Maurice (1992). Dance and instrumental diferencias in Spain during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Vol. 1. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press. p. 572. ISBN 0945193084.