Xavier Jara plays Manuel Ponce's Variations sur "Folia de España" et Fugue

Performed on December 8th, 2019 at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 1st year Master's Recital. Guitar by Enrico Bottelli.

The largest work Ponce wrote for the guitar is a monolithic set of variations on one of the oldest harmonic dances the "Folias de España". The Folias, in D minor, is a Sarabande with a harmonic progression which makes a perfect palindrome, D-A-D-F-C-F-D-A-D. It was first seen on the baroque guitar along with early Chaconnes and Passacaglias in 16th-century Spain. This set of Variations freely moves through styles in musical history and ends in a large fugue a la Bach. At the end of the 15th century, the Spanish Inquisition established a ban on all aspects of Moorish culture, including the lute. Descended directly from the Arabic oud, the lute was seen as a Muslim instrument. The Catholic monarchs of Spain replaced the already popular lute with a creation of their own design, the vihuela. Showing the first shape of the guitar along with the same tuning as a lute, the vihuela was designed to play anything the current lute could. After only a few decades the vihuela was replaced by the easier to play guitar. With a new tuning, this instrument required new repertoire, which was happily commissioned by the Spanish court. After all, mostly lute music was played on the vihuela. The guitar naturally fits to a light strumming technique. Along with the new tuning appeared new chords using a system called Alphabeto. The popular polyphonic music from 15th century Spain gave way to the new vertically-based harmonic dances with variations called Bailes. There is evidence here to see the guitar as one of the inventors of harmony. Ponce’s Folias Variations goes back to the birth of the guitar and explores the many different historical practices used over the last 500 years.