A Folía Journey – travelling through time and space

The programme tells the story of Folia, one of the oldest remembered European musical themes, which emerged on the territory of modern Portugal more than 500 years ago with a connection to shepherd dances. The first written traces of the “Early Folia” melody are recorded in the Cancionero de Palacio (Madrid, Biblioteca Real, MS II–1335 c.1470 -1520), a Spanish collection of Renaissance music. Later the melody was popularised by Jean-Baptiste Lully at the French court of Louis XIV in its “Later” form. It influenced Scandinavian folk music and was used for the Swedish propaganda song “Sinclairvisan” used to spread anti-Russian sentiment in Swedish society prior Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743). More than 150 composers used folia theme in their compositions.