Lesson on Lo Spagnoletto by Cesare Negri

Image of dancers in starting position for Cesare Negri's "Lo Spagnoletto" Renaissance dance Lo Spagnoletto is a fun dance by the Italian Renaissance dance master Cesare Negri. Cesare Negri was an Italian dance master and choreographer, and his most important work Nuove Inventioni di Balli / Le Gratie d’Amore (New Inventions of Dances / The Graces of Love) was published in 1602. He was an important figure in the development and documentation of Italian dance during that time. Negri’s detailed instructions for dance steps and choreography in his writings provide valuable insights into the dance practices of the period, making his collection an important resource for historians and enthusiasts interested in Renaissance dance and music.

La spagnoletta is typically a quick Spanish dance in triple meter. But Negri’s “Lo Spagnoletto” is unique. In fact, his version is in duple meter, though it still carries a similar feel with the use of anacruses or pickup notes throughout. While the meter is different from its baroque counterpart, you will recognize the theme if you know Gaspar Sanz’s later baroque “Españoleta(s).” The theme was common to the various versions of the dance and remained popular in Spain for some time into the Baroque period.

Download the Sheet Music + TAB to follow along

Performance Notes:

  • Notice how each of the three repeated sections in this piece are of the same length. Whereas some songs and instrumental genres such as the fantasia and recercare included irregular phrase lengths, dance music of the Renaissance often had regular phrases, featuring three sections each of which would repeat.
  • Maintain a feeling of the anacrusis in each of the three phrases throughout the piece. The note at the end of the first system is not part of the anacrusis but belongs to the chord at the end of measure 3.
  • This piece is in cut time, which indicates that you should play this with a brisk tempo, feeling two larger beats per measure rather than four.
  • Be sure to take care of holding down bass notes for their full value when other fingers are moving. For instance, in measures 9 and 10, the third finger must hold on to the G on the sixth string while the other fingers are moving.
  • In the original lute tablature the key is B minor (technically B Dorian). Here we have used the simpler key of A Dorian. You can think of A Dorian like A minor, but with an F# instead of an F natural.

Download the Sheet Music + TAB to follow along