In this lesson
Españoleta by Gaspar Sanz for Classical Guitar
A guitar book from Zaragoza
In 1674, a Zaragoza printer issued a new guitar manual. It was dedicated to Don Juan José de Austria, son of King Philip IV. Its author was Gaspar Sanz, an Aragonese musician who held a degree in theology. The book was the Instrucción de música sobre la guitarra española. The Españoleta appears on folio 15 of its first volume.
Sanz was born in Calanda in 1640. He studied humanities and theology at the University of Salamanca, then travelled to Italy. By his own account, he studied music in Rome and Naples with teachers including Cristoforo Carisani and Lelio Colista. In 1669 he applied for the music chair at Salamanca, but didn’t get the post. The guitar book came five years later, but it kept growing over time. Its seventh and eighth editions, both printed in Zaragoza in 1697, are considered the definitive versions.
A Dance With an Italian Twin
The españoleta was a popular dance from the Renaissance era. Its name means something close to “the little Spanish one.” Italian musicians knew a dance called the spagnoletta. The shared name reflects the traffic between Spain and Italy before and during Sanz’s lifetime. In fact, Naples, where he studied, was ruled by the Spanish crown during those years.
If the Españoleta appeals to you, the Italian side of the family is worth exploring too. Our lesson and free Lo Spagnoletto score makes a natural companion piece.
Sanz wrote for the five-course Baroque guitar. Most of its courses were pairs of strings tuned together, and its music was notated in tablature. A modern edition translates that texture to six single strings and standard notation. The melody and bass survive the journey intact, and they sit comfortably on today’s instrument.
Rodrigo Brings Sanz to the Concert Hall
Joaquín Rodrigo did a great deal to bring Sanz’s name to modern concert audiences. His Fantasía para un gentilhombre (1954), written for Andrés Segovia, builds its movements from dances in Sanz’s book. One movement pairs the Españoleta with a fanfare, and the melody you will learn here is its heart.
Listening to Rodrigo’s setting can help enrich your experience of this music. You will hear it carried by guitar and orchestra, with all the color Rodrigo could give it. When you return to the solo version, you will notice how much of that atmosphere lives in the melody itself.
Learning the Españoleta
Count the upbeat
The piece opens with an incomplete measure: an anacrusis of two beats. Count a full measure silently before you begin, so those two beats lead to the downbeat of the first full measure. This is important for phrasing. The second phrase also begins with an anacrusis, at measure 7. The third phrase does the same at measure 14.
Mark each of these entry points in your score. They show where each musical sentence begins, even when the barlines suggest otherwise. When you practice a phrase, start from its anacrusis every time. Starting on the downbeat would cut the phrase in half.
Give the dotted rhythms a lilt
Dotted rhythms can turn stiff when every note gets the same weight. Lean gently into the longer note. Then let the short note pass lightly into the next beat. Keep the short note precise: a rushed one blurs the dance, and a lazy one makes it limp.
A useful exercise is to clap or tap the rhythm of each phrase before playing it. Once the rhythm feels natural in your body, the fingers have one less thing to think about.
Let the bass carry the harmony
The bass line here is strong and purposeful. Play it alone first, with the thumb, and listen to how it moves under each phrase. Then add the melody and balance the two. The bass should be full, and the melody should sit clearly above it.
Choose a slower tempo
At a slow tempo, every note is exposed. Aim for connected notes in the melody and let each phrase breathe at its end. Resist the urge to push forward through the long notes. Sustaining them for their full value gives the melody its dignity.
When the piece repeats, you have room for a touch of Baroque decoration. A gentle trill or mordent on a long note can add elegance the second time through. Keep any ornament light and in time, so it serves the melody. The Españoleta rewards patience: the slower you can play it with real shape, the more it sounds like a song.