Amazing pieces of classical music - 42
"La Folia" is one of the oldest core themes in Western music. Over the past four or five centuries, almost every composer has used it. In the 17th century, it was a fast, exhilarating dance, but its melody was never fixed. The word literally means madness or folly in Spanish or Portuguese, but it can also simply mean looking, experiencing, meeting, and discovering.
It's indeed a matter of how one perceives it. Love is another such theme. The French court composer Marin Marais in his 'Deuxième Livre De Pièces De Viole' (1701), wrote pieces for one and two violas, including 32 verses about the so-called "Les folies d'Espagne." During some of their best performaces one can imagine oneself taking part in a convivial evening of Baroque music making.
In Kenneth Clark's BBC program Civilization one can hear it in a still-elegant 1967 performance with Jürgen Wolf (viola de gamba and cello) and Lisedore Praetorius (harpsichord). Although Marais's benefactor Louis XIV certainly played the guitar, the instrument is very rarely used for these pieces, unless the piece of music specifically calls for it.
The celebrated movie about Marin Marais was, of course, "Tous les matins du monde" (1991) which translates into All the Mornings of the World. The French movie tells the story of Marais as a young apprentice to the viola da gamba master Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, and his later life at the court of the Sun King
[media=https://youtu.be/COXzBMrc-Cc]
[media=https://youtu.be/PZV4mxJuRhM]
It's indeed a matter of how one perceives it. Love is another such theme. The French court composer Marin Marais in his 'Deuxième Livre De Pièces De Viole' (1701), wrote pieces for one and two violas, including 32 verses about the so-called "Les folies d'Espagne." During some of their best performaces one can imagine oneself taking part in a convivial evening of Baroque music making.
In Kenneth Clark's BBC program Civilization one can hear it in a still-elegant 1967 performance with Jürgen Wolf (viola de gamba and cello) and Lisedore Praetorius (harpsichord). Although Marais's benefactor Louis XIV certainly played the guitar, the instrument is very rarely used for these pieces, unless the piece of music specifically calls for it.
The celebrated movie about Marin Marais was, of course, "Tous les matins du monde" (1991) which translates into All the Mornings of the World. The French movie tells the story of Marais as a young apprentice to the viola da gamba master Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, and his later life at the court of the Sun King
[media=https://youtu.be/COXzBMrc-Cc]
[media=https://youtu.be/PZV4mxJuRhM]
