Fandango in C from "Sundry Dances"

Another piece from my ever-enlarging set of "Sundry Dances." I don't seem to know when to call it quits. This was composed largely over the weekend, and completed today (July 12, 2010)

The Fandango is a Spanish folk dance in triple metre, characterised at intervals by alternating measures of 6/8 and 3/4 rhythm, as well as a descending chord progression of i, VII, VI, V (or derivatives thereof). In the late 18th Century it was gentrified into a more formal ballroom dance by the Spanish aristocracy, and the present composition is in that more gentrified form, in an early 19th-Century style: think Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) meets Fernando Sor (1778-1839).

Actually, to be more accurate, if the brilliant young Spanish-Basque composer Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga (1806-1826) had lived long enough to compose a Fandango for strings, it might have sounded something like this (though probably infinitely superior). It's a supreme tragedy for Music that he died before his 20th birthday while studying at the Paris Conservatoire (imagine that, you young people). Check out his music if you have a chance. His string quartets are particularly worth a look.

Well-known examples of the Fandango in the classical repertoire were composed by Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787), Antonio Soler (1729-1783), Luigi Boccherini, W.A. Mozart (1756-1791), and others.

Fandango in C from "Sundry Dances"

Pretty interesting. The melody sounds quite light and airy. Uhmm, few suggestions. You don't have to mark spiccato, generally that is the articulation used, when notated as in the score. I can't think of the term right now, but at measure 59, you may want to have the violas "splitting" the parts. Also , at the key change to c major, those harmonics are very difficult to perform, so you might consider adjusting it. Overall, quite good music and orchestration.

Wow...quick turnaround! :D

I'm a violist myself, and I was wondering how hard those harmonic were going to be. Maybe I should try them myself before automatically assuming they'll speak the way I intended. Thanks for the heads-up on that!

At measure 58-59, I was hoping for triple-stops in the violas in 3rd position...I think I'll check that too. Again, thanks.

In marking spiccato, I wanted to make sure the 2nd Violins played their "noodles" really dryly. What I had in mind was the whole passage "sul G," so there wouldn't be any ringing open G string. Maybe I should mark that instead.

The delicacy of the melody almost belies the vigour of the original folk dance, doesn't it? I was remembering Mozart's Fandango in Act III of "Le Nozze di Figaro" when I came up with it. His is very genteel indeed. The famous Soler Fandango, written for harpsichord, is also pretty light in character, though he uses a lot of typically Spanish harmonic devices.

Hello there!

I like this... the ideas are very interesting, especially in the minor part. The "random" B naturals really pick the piece up a notch.

I hate to say it, but I really think the Cello and Bass should get the melody at some point. It seems like you could do without them and it wouldn't make much of a difference, because all it is is bum, bum, bum...ect.

The other thing is, again, the triple stops would be quite hard on the viola.. but you've heard enough of that. :P

I really really like it however. If Boccherini were more modern, this would be what he would have wrote. In a good way, of course!! :D

Heklaphone

Awww...I was trying to make the 'cello and bass parts interesting, even if they don't get the melody. The problem is, in the late 18th-early 19th Centuries, bass instruments didn't get melodic material very often, if at all, and I was trying to keep this authentic to the period. Oh well...

Now I'm really going to check the viola part, since now two of you have mentioned it. Thanks for the feedback, guys!

Great! Don't worry about "boring" for the musicians. The style is meant to be from another era. And, when you play (triple Stops), you are really rolling a chord. Although it wasn't used in that time period, it is not completely rare. For example, Gustav Holst in his St. Paul Suite's jig, the violas play the last 20 or so measures of these triple stops, or chords. Overall, it was very nice.

Great job at writing a light dance piece, I thought it sounded pretty good! It's a simple form, and your orchestration is safe, but it respects the time period well and has some pretty lively rhythms.

Being part-Spainish, I reserve the right to say that this was awesome.

On the modulation from F minor to C Major, at first listen it was a bit odd sounding, but after another runthrough it sounded very fitting.

F minor is a bit of a hard key for the violins; it's easier for the lower strings. Were you to revise measures 45 - 47 for, say, a community orchestra or a high school orchestra, you might want to try a tremolo C note in the violin II or viola part, but this isn't being performed by an amateur group, is it?

I'd love to hear this performed.