Seguidilla

What it means

The seguidilla is a Spanish folk dance in fast triple meter, traditionally accompanied by singing, guitar, and castanets. It is characterized by recurring, often strophic melodies with a lively, dance-like basic pulse.

The name derives from the Spanish word for 'sequence' or 'series,' referring to the succession of verses and dance figures that a seguidilla movement usually consists of.

Musical use

The seguidilla has been widespread throughout Spain since the seventeenth century in various regional forms, such as the sevillana in Andalusia or the seguidilla manchega in Castile, each differing slightly in tempo and melody. It is also considered one of the roots of the bolero, which emerged in the eighteenth century, adopting its basic meter but developing a more moderate tempo.

In classical music, the seguidilla appears notably in Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, where it underlines the Spanish local color, as well as in works by Spanish composers such as Isaac Albéniz or Enrique Granados, who incorporated the dance into their piano and orchestral works.

The seguidilla should be distinguished from the bolero, which developed out of it but adopted a calmer tempo and different steps, and from the sarabande, which is likewise in triple meter but markedly slower and more stately, coming from a different dance tradition.

Performance practice

Play the seguidilla with a clear, propulsive triple pulse and clearly accent the characteristic rhythm of the castanets or their instrumental equivalent. Pay attention to the typical interplay between the vocal line and the accompanying guitar, which take turns giving each other space.