Glossary

Rhythmic patterns given for the dances serve only as examples; there are many variants.

acciaccatura. Literally a “crushing” tone. A keyboard ornament that requires the playing, together with the normal note, of its neighboring tone, which is to be released immediately.

Alberti bass. Named for Domenico Alberti (1710-1740?). A keyboard accompaniment for the left hand consisting of a broken-chord pattern of four notes.

appoggiatura. Literally a “leaning” tone. A rhythmically strong dissonant note occurring in place of a harmonic note.

bolero. Dance in triple time, characterized by a triplet on the first weak beat of the measure; more deliberate in tempo than the seguidilla.

bulerìas. A lively flamenco song and dance in 3/8.

cante. Song or singing, usually referring to an Andalusian gipsy song.

cante jondo. Literally “deep song.” A highly emotional and tragic song of Andalusia.

copla. Couplet, stanza, or popular song. In reference to Spanish piano music, usually the lyrical melody that contrasts with the more rhythmic parts of the piece.

fandango. Old Spanish dance with strongly marked triple time. Other varieties include the malagueña, granadina, murciana, and rondeña.

fandanguillo. A little fandango.

flamenco. An Andalusian type of song and dance performed by trained singers and dancers to the accompaniment of a guitar. Some of the varieties include malagueñas, peteneras, and bulerías.

galant style. See style galant.

guajira. Spanish Cuban dance with a characteristic shift from 6/8 to 3/4.

habanera. Dance of Havana, in slow to moderate duple meter. Probably Hispanic in origin and reimported to Spain with an exotic tinge. Similar to the tango.

hemiola. Time values in the relationship 3:2, e.g.,

jota. Dance form that appears in many variants throughout Spain. The jota aragonesa is in fast triple time and characterized by triplets.

malagueña. Song and dance from Málaga. Derived from the fandango and in 3/4 time.

paso doble. A kind of one-step (though the name means “double step”) in 6/8 that became popular about 1926.

petenera. Andalusian dance characterized by the alternation of 3/4 and 3/8.

polo. Andalusian dance in triple meter, with frequent syncopations of the hemiola type.

punteado. In guitar music, notes played in succession, as opposed to rasgueado.

rasgueado. In guitar playing, strumming the strings with a finger to produce arpeggios and chordal effects.

ricercar. Generally associated with instrumental music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The commonest type of ricercar employed imitative treatment of one or more themes.

rondeña. A variety of the fandango from the region around Ronda.

saeta. Andalusian folksong sung during Lent or the Feast of the Nativity to accompany street processions and other outdoor devotional activities.

sardana. National dance of Cataluña, usually in quick 6/8 time.

schottische. Mid-nineteenth-century round dance similar to a slow polka.

seguidilla. Highly popular dance and song in a quick triple meter. Several types are to be found, e.g., seguidillas sevillanas, of Seville.

siguiriya gitana. Andalusian gipsy dance, possibly from “seguidilla,” marked by the alternation of 3/8 and 3/4.

soleares (soleá). From soledad (“solitude”). Gipsy-Andalusian plaintive song of sorrow and loneliness.

style galant. In the eighteenth century, the light, elegant style of the rococo in contrast to the more serious, elaborate style of the Baroque.

tarantas. Folk song/dance related to the malagueña, but from the region of Almería and Murcia.

tiento. The Iberian counterpart of the Italian ricercar. The tiento originated with vihuela music and was later used for organ music characterized by imitative counterpoint.

tirana. Andalusian dance/song in moderate triple meter.

tonadilla. From the middle of the eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century, a short, popular, comic opera, with one to four characters, consisting of solo song and occasional choruses.

vihuela. A Spanish-type lute of the sixteenth century. Its tuning was similar to that of the lute but it had a guitar-like body.

zambra. The same as the Arab word sâmira, which was used by the Moors in Spain to mean “revelry by night.”

zapateado. Dance in quick time with marked heel stampings.

zarzuela. Spanish-style opera, distinguished from regular opera in that the music is intermingled with spoken dialogue, as in comic opera. Its name comes from the palace outside Madrid named La Zarzuela.

zortziko. Basque folk dance in dotted rhythm in a quick 5/8.