Romanesca

Romanesca was a song form popular in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It was most popular with Italian composers of the early Baroque period. It was also used by the vihuelistas including Narváez, Mudarra, Valderrábano, and Pisador.[1]

Originating in Spain as O guárdame las vacas ("O let us put the cows to pasture" or, "look after the cows for me",[1] occasionally known as Seculorum del primer tono in reference to the similarity between the a g f e d melody line and that of the chief termination, "Seculorum, Amen," of the first psalm tone[2]), a romanesca is composed of a sequence of four chords with a simple, repeating bass, which provide the groundwork for variations and improvisation. A famous example is "Greensleeves", also the duple meter Passamezzo antico. The romanesca is usually in triple meter and its soprano formula (melody) resembles that of the passamezzo antico but a third higher.[2]

III—VII—i—V—III—VII—i-V—i

Romanesca is also the name of two early music ensembles: one, La Romanesca, founded in 1978 in Australia by John Griffiths; and the other, Romanesca, founded in 1988 in England by Nigel North. Both specialize in the performance of early plucked string instruments.

See also

Sources

  1. ^ a b c Turnbull, Harvey (1992). The Guitar from the Renaissance to the Present, p.31. ISBN 0933224575. See: [1].
  2. ^ a b c Apel, Willi (1997). The History of Keyboard Music to 1700, p.263. Trans. Tischler, Hans. ISBN 0253211417.
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