Principles of Music: The "La Folía" Progression

Hi! Big fan!
Where did you find Francesco Corbetta’s recording?
Is there a link for it?
Many thanks

Beautiful, concise exposition. Thank you. This is enormously useful.

Folía is accented on the i. folia. NOT Fôlia.

Liszt brought me here

I have noticed this progression a few times but didn't know it has a name! it has a very triumphant and hopeful quality to it. I remember it featured in Lacrimosa by Mozart

I was hoping for a little more discussion on the relationship of this chord progression to the earlier Passamezzo chord progresion that was ubiquitous throughout the 16th century. I'm pretty sure there are examples of Italian or French songs that fall in the same harmonic context as La Follia.

Nice video, I found it thanks to the algorithm. Until then, I had a vague idea of what a Follia was, and, for me, besides being a dance, it mainly referred to Vivaldi's piece. I noticed that the chord progression of the Early Folía has some similarities to the flamenco chord progression.

I was wondering why that Vangelis theme is so infectious.

Surely the stress is on the second syllable?

If anything, this video has made me a) want to listen to Salieri's Folia (which I had no idea it exissted) and b) finally understan WHY 1492's Vangelis theme was SO FAMILIAR. decades trying to grasp origin... :-D Thank you. La Follia (or Folia, or Folía, IT, ES, PT versions :-)) Is one of my favorite variations piecess, along the Greensleeves. (yes, I'm a fan of old music, Baroque and earlier :-))

Also used in the Soviet/current Russian hymn. Someone noticed Vangelis' theme is almost exactly, note by note, only a different rhythm...

Are you sure it doesn't originate in some Arabic maqam (improvizational structure) or Byzantine 'echos' (voice or tone) ?

Cool video. I thought this was just Corelli. I should know better... I also thought La Folia meant "the leaf", lol.

FolÍa, damn it. It has a tilde, signaling a strong tonic.

There is actually an example of a late folia progression in Le Ballet Royal de la Nuit from 1653 as a Spanish character dance.

La FolEEEa, not la FOlia.

Thank you so much for this video! What you say in the end is also important for dancers :)

It should be noted that in the early Italian seventeenth century, the folia progression was very different, it started from the V to VII V VII IV V I. Frescobaldi is an example.

that accent on the í means that the i is the strong syllable. follía. Not fôllia..

Is there a list of compositions that use the Folia?

GREAT video! Since I was a teenager , and played in a rock'n roll band, I was amazed by Salieri's work. No internet then, so I never knew what this folia was about, but I kept thinking: "how can you develop such a beautiful piece of music with just a couple of notes?". Now I know; thanks! May I mention that even Beethoven use this Folia progression in his 5th Symphony?

Great to know all this-- one of the most universal of themes for 200 years or so-- or even now! It has a compelling character that is almost hypnotic. Correction - it IS hypnotic. You could go into a trance and just hear this for hours, and still find it compelling! Thanks for the in-depth info!

also used throughout a majority of the restoration score by james newton howard

i love this video! fantastic! thank you

I would like to point out that, although FOLIA, or its derivatives, means madness in all other Romance languages, it actually has a different meaning in Portuguese language: it means merriment and jollity.

final fantasy 9's vamo alla flamenco is also based on the late folia, except for the final cadenza which is a bit more sophisticated.

I wrote my Bachelor thesis in music theory about the folia. nice to see others interested in the topic.

The model for the variations of the late folia is btw older than you would think. I found it mentioned by guillelmus monacchus, an early renaissance monk and music theorist, in the late 1400s

folia at least in brazilian portuguese means festivities. It's not mad or empty headed it's just fun 😁
sorry just notice that you actually wrote it

The rythm of 1492 is a bolero!

Your videos are excellent.... but something that has bothered me over the course of them- the pronunciation of 'La Folia' is the emphasis on the second syllable, fo-LI-a.
Also, Beethoven hid La Folia in his 5th symphony.
Also, Nobuo Uematsu used it for the Final Fantasy IX soundtrack in "Vamo alla flamenco"

I really enjoy Salieri's progressions too.
Thank you for the education and background on some of my favorite music.

Nice work, didn't know about Salaries Variations. Its one of my favorite Themes out there

Is there a book where I can find this progression and other progressions that great composers used in their compositions?

"In this variation salieri decided to invent minimalism" STOP

OK I didn't expect to find this great channel by simply searching die folia. I guess I have something to binge

Would you consider doing one on the fandango? I love the one by Scarlatti... well and of course the one by Soler

This channel is underrated

I am very glad I found your channel......Congratulations!!!!

I am composing a Theme and Variations based on this progression. I think I will be able to write many more variations than the 9 I’ve written on a melody for string quartet. I’m starting very basic here, just a few dotted rhythms and half notes in the melody over whole note chords. I can right away think of many things I can do with this including:

- Rhythmic intensification of the melody(so basically more non-chord tones, faster notes)
- Rhythmic intensification of the Bass(so like whole notes to half notes to a quarter note arpeggio to eighth notes etc.)
- Syncopation
- Canon
- Alla Marcia
- Shift to 3/4
- Majore(Major Key, but then wait, would the C -> F -> C part of it become minor?)
- Maybe even a fugue to end it with a knockout punch(the harmonic progression should help me come up with a good subject for said fugue if I decide to include one in there)

And the key I’m composing this in is D minor, the most common key I have seen the La Folia progression set in.

poor guy has been uploading videos for 4 years and only has 7.5k subscribers

All I hear is “broke composers” 😆

Great video! Manuel Maria Ponce also did a serie of variations on La follia for guitar. I recommend lookong for this, its pretty amazing!

Thanks for this.
I will apply this to my future Compositions.

How could you forget to mention the use of la folia in beethoven symphony 5?😜

great video, as usual! Your content keeps getting better. Please don't stop!

Great video! Very insightful

Why’d you reupload this?