What they are
Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, musicians improvised and composed variations over fixed harmonic schemes (ground basses, or “grounds”), somewhat like jazz musicians on the blues or on rhythm changes. The most important are the passamezzo antico, the passamezzo moderno, the romanesca and the folia. They are the direct ancestors of many pop progressions.
Passamezzo antico (minor)
i – bVII – i – V – III – bVII – i – V – i
In G minor: Gm – F – Gm – D – Bb – F – Gm – D – Gm.
In the English tradition, the verses of Greensleeves follow this scheme.
Passamezzo moderno (major)
I – IV – I – V – I – IV – I – V – I
In G: G – C – G – D – G – C – G – D – G. It is the basic scheme of many Renaissance dances and of folk music.
Romanesca
III – bVII – i – V – III – bVII – i – V – i
In G minor: Bb – F – Gm – D – Bb – F – Gm – D – Gm.
It is the same as the passamezzo antico except for the first chord (III instead of i). The bass moves by fourths (Bb – F, Gm – D), with a descending upper melody. The chorus of Greensleeves is a romanesca. The bass logic of “fourth down, second up” will return in Pachelbel's Canon.
Folia (late, “La Folia”)
In slow triple meter (sarabande), usually in D minor:
i – V – i – bVII – bIII – bVII – i – V | i – V – i – bVII – bIII – bVII – i – V – i
In D minor: Dm – A – Dm – C – F – C – Dm – A | Dm – A – Dm – C – F – C – Dm/Bb – A – Dm.
| Bars | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chords | Dm | A | Dm | C | F | C | Dm (or Bb) | A |
| Degrees | i | V | i | bVII | bIII | bVII | i (VI) | V |
Works on the Folia
- Arcangelo Corelli, Violin Sonata Op. 5 No. 12 La Folia (1700).
- Antonio Vivaldi, Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 12 (1705).
- Marin Marais, Alessandro Scarlatti, C. P. E. Bach, Salieri (26 variations for orchestra).
- Handel, Sarabande from the Suite in D minor HWV 437 (used by Kubrick in Barry Lyndon, 1975).
- Sergei Rachmaninoff, Variations on a Theme of Corelli Op. 42 (1931), which is actually the Folia.
Some sources name Lully as one of the first to fix the “late” form of the Folia (1672).
Why study them today
- They are 8-bar loops: the same logic as modern pop based on repeated chord loops.
- They show how variation (melody, rhythm, orchestration) can sustain a long piece over fixed harmony.
- They teach the relative major/minor relationship (i – bIII – bVII): the same color as many rock and epic progressions (i – bVII – bIII).
Producer exercise
- Program the Folia in D minor, 3/4, 60 BPM, harpsichord or strings (2 cycles = 16 bars).
- Create 4 variations: (a) sustained chords; (b) eighth-note arpeggios; (c) sixteenth-note melody; (d) electronic version with half-time trap drums (120 BPM half-time) and 808 on the roots.
- Listen to how the same harmony from 300 years ago holds up under a modern beat.
Related
Pachelbel's progression, Andalusian cadence, pedal point and ostinato, canon and imitation, Aeolian and Locrian.