Fandango

This article is about the dance. For other uses, seeFandango (disambiguation).

Fandangois a livelypartner danceoriginating in Portugal and Spain, usually intriple meter,traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, tambourine 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 fiveoctosyllabicverses (coplas) or musical phrases (tercios). Occasionally, the first copla is repeated.

Eighteenth centuryCastilianfandango dancers (byPierre Chasselat) (1753–1814)

Fandangorhythm.

The meter of fandango is similar to that of theboleroandseguidilla.It was originally notated in⁶
₈time, 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 inFrancisco de Leefadeal'sentremés"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 intonadillas,zarzuelas,balletsandoperas,not only in Spain, but also elsewhere in Europe.

Widely varying claims have been made about the origin of fandango: its relation to the jabera, thesoleá,and thepetenera;to the Andalusianmalagueña,granadina,murcianaandrondeña;to thecanarioandgitano;to thejotaaragonesa.

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 theConsistorywere 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 includeJ. P. Rameau's "Les trois mains" (in "Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin", ca. 1729–30); Fandango forms #19 in the part 2 ofGluck's balletDon Juan(1761); in the third-act finale ofMozart's operaThe Marriage of Figaro(1786); in the finale ofLuigi Boccherini's String Quartet Op. 40 No. 2 (1798)and Guitar Quintet G.448;Antonio Soler's Fandango for harpsichord; and the finale ofRimsky-Korsakov'sCapriccio Espagnol.Luis de Freitas Branco's third movement of his "Suite Alentejana No. 1" is inspired on the fandango of the regions ofAlentejoandRibatejoof Portugal.Camille Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre" also follows the rhythm of the fandango.

Italian composerDomenico Scarlatti,who was influenced by Iberian folk music, had several passages reminiscent 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 theNeue Zeitschrift f. Music.

Spanish dance

The current³
₄pattern of the fandango, its distinctive progression (i–iv–V) lyrics with octosyllabic verses and the use of castanets and guitars are well-documented from the 18th century. Thefandangos grandes(big fandangos) are normally danced by couples, which start out slowly with gradually increasing tempo. Many varieties are derived from this one. Thefandanguillos(little fandangos) are livelier, more festive derivations of fandangos. Some regions of Spain have developed their own style of fandangos, such asHuelva(fandangos de Huelva)andMálaga(fandangos de Málaga,orVerdiales).Northern areas such as thePrincipality of Asturias,theBasque CountryandCastile and Leónhave preserved a more relaxed performance.

Portuguese dance

Fandango is one of the main folk dances inPortugal.The choreography is quite simple: on its more frequent setting two male dancers face each other, dancing and tap-dancing one at a time, showing which has the most lightness and repertoire of feet changes in the tap-dancing. The dancers can be boy and girl, boy and boy (most frequent) or, rarely, two girls. While one of the dancers dances, the other just "goes along". Afterwards, they "both drag their feet for a while"until the other one takes his turn. They stay there, disputing, seeing which one of them makes the feet transitions more eye-catching.

The "fandango do Ribatejo" refers specifically to the form of fandango practiced inRibatejo,Portugal. The dance is usually performed by twoCampinos.

Figurative meaning

The Fandango(1873;Charles Christian Nahl) depicts a fiesta ofCaliforniosdancing the fandango inMexican California.

As a result of the extravagant features of the dance, the wordfandangois used as a synonym for "a quarrel", "a big fuss", or "a brilliant exploit".

Fandango in Veracruz

InVeracruz, 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 theSon Jarochomusic, people dance "zapateado"atop a large wooden platform known as aTarima.

Citations

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:Grove, Sir George (1908).Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.New York, McMillan.

General and cited references

• Diccionario de la lengva castellana (Madrid, 1726–37/R1963 as Diccionario de autoridades) [pubn of the Real Academia Español]
• P. Minguet e Irol: Breve tratado de los pasos de danzar a la española que hoy se estilan en seguidillas, fandangos y otros tañidos (Madrid, 1760, 2/1764)
• F. M. López:: Variaciones al Minuet afandangado (late 18th century) E-Mn M.1742), ff. 1–6
• M. L. E. Moreau de Saint-Méry: Danse (Paris, 1798)
• B. Foz: Vida de Pedro Saputo (Zaragoza, 1844/R)
• E. Calderón: Escenas andaluzas (Madrid, 1847)
• E. Ocón y Rivas: Cantos españoles (Málaga, 1874, 2/1906)
• M. de Larramendi: Corografía o descripción general de la muy noble y muy real Provincia de Guipúzcoa (Barcelona, 1882)
• ‘La jota y el fandango’, La correspondencia musical, iv/198 (1884), 2–3
• J. Ribera y Tarragó: La música de la jota aragonesa: ensayo histórico (Madrid, 1928)
• M. N. Hamilton: Music in Eighteenth-Century Spain (Urbana, IL, 1937)
• P. Nettl: The Story of Dance Music (New York, 1947)
• B. Pottier: ‘A propos de fandango’, Les langues néo-latines, xlii (1947), 22–5
• A. Gobin: Le flamenco (Paris, 1975)
• J. Crivillé i Bargalló: El folklore musical (Madrid, 1983)
• M. R. Alvarez Martínez: ‘Dos obras inéditas de Domenico Scarlatti’, RdMc, viii (1985), 51–6
• E. Osorio Bolio de Saldívar: ‘El códice Saldívar: una nueva fuente de música para guitarra’, España en la música de occidente: Salamanca 1985, 87–91
• R. Puyana: ‘Influencias ibéricas y aspectos por investigar en la obra para clave de Domenico Scarlatti’, ibid., 39–49
• J. Blas Vega: ‘Fandango’, Diccionario enciclopédico ilustrado del flamenco (Madrid, 1988), 284–5
• J. Etzion: ‘The Spanish Fandango from Eighteenth-Century “Lasciviousness” to Nineteenth-Century Exoticism’, AnM, xlviii (1993), 229–50
• J.-M. Sellen: ‘Langage du fandango: de la poétique musicale au sens poétique du cante jondo’, AnM, 1 (1995), 245–70

External links

• Libro de diferentes cifras de guitara escojidas de los mejores autores