Composed by Bryan Johanson
Edited by Frank Koonce
Les Productions d'OZ
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The folia was "a very noisy Portuguese dance, performed with tambourines and other instruments, by women wearing masks and men dressed like women." The name translates as "mad," "without a brain," or "empty headed." [Note 1]. By the early seventeenth century, through its proliferation in guitar tablatures, the folia had acquired certain characteristics for which it became universally known: "It would always be set in a minor key, most often d minor. The ostinato bass and the chord progression, i-V-i-VII-III-VII-i-V-i, finally became unique to the folia--unlike in the previous century when this chord scheme, or ones very similar, comprised several dances such as the passamezzo antico, romanesca, and the fedele." [Note 2]. After 1672, a simple melody by Jean-Baptiste Lully also became associated with the folia; however, many composers and performers continued to use only the chord progression as a basis for improvisation. This progression remains one of the most popular and important formulas for musical variations on all instruments. In the program notes for his recording of this piece, Bryan Johanson tells us:
La Folia Folio was commissioned by Canadian guitarist Harold Micay. He wanted a work that he could splash around in. The result is a set of variations based on the chord progression from the famous theme La Folia d'Espagna. That work has a rich and long history of attracting composers. There are sets of variations by A. Scarlatti, C.P.E. Bach, Vivaldi, Corelli, Liszt, Nielsen and Rachmaninoff, not to mention dozens of sets by guitar guys like Sanz, Corbetta, Sor and Giuliani. I have tried to stress the dance nature of the theme by using only the harmonic progression, omitting the melody altogether, though there is a weird paraphrase of it about halfway through. The work is a blast to play and I enjoy splashing in it as often as I can. [Note 3].
Notes Note 1. Covarrubias, Tesoro, translated in Kurt Martinez, "Five Hundred Years of La Folia," Soundboard, XXX, No. 2 (2004), 6.
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Note 2. Martinez, Ibid., 12. Martinez also cites Otto Gombosi, "The Cultural and Folkloristic Background of the Folia," Papers of the American Musicological Society (1940), 88.
[Return to text] Note 3. Bryan Johanson, from the program booklet of Folio: Music for Guitar Alone by Bryan Johanson, Gagliano Recordings GR 602-CD, 1996.
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   (La Folia Folio, as performed by Bryan Johanson)
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