Folia is one of the oldest European musical themes, associated with a unique phenomenon in the world of music. This simple but highly expressive melody has continued to live on in numerous variations since its creation. In fact, over the past four hundred years, it has inspired more than one hundred and fifty renowned composers to write their own versions of this theme.
The earliest reliable trace that may lead us back to the original form of the melody is related to a Portuguese dance from the 15th century. An early variation of the folia appears in Alonso Mudarra’s Fantasia in 1546, and it is mentioned by the Spanish music theorist and organist Francisco de Salinas in his work De musica libri septem in 1577. One source also connects the folia to a dance of fast, lively movements performed by men dressed as women. Hence the name – La folia, which means madness or foolishness in Portuguese. The Spanish version of the name associates the folia with books and writings, perhaps alluding to the complexity of the melody, which seems to continuously unfold… Until the 17th century, the melody spread throughout Spain, France, and Italy, and shortly after, across Europe. The first recorded melody was published by Jean-Baptiste Lully in 1672, followed by Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz, Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi, Francesco Geminiani, and others. It served as the basis for Handel’s Sarabande, Purcell’s Canon, and Bach’s Peasant Cantata. In the 19th century, Franz Liszt included it in his Rapsodie espagnole, Niccolò Paganini in his Violin Concerto in E minor, and Ludwig van Beethoven incorporated it into the second movement of his Fifth Symphony. In the 20th century, Rachmaninoff revived interest in Corelli’s theme with his variations.
Even film music was not indifferent to the folia. Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon was inspired by Handel’s Sarabande, and Vangelis reworked it for Ridley Scott’s film 1492: Conquest of Paradise. It was also included in the video game Final Fantasy IX, for which Nobuo Uematsu composed a variation.
Folia is a beautiful melody. What a great idea, in this case music, always strives for multiplication and renewal through fresh live forms.