Sardana

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Sardana [ sərˈðanə ] is a Catalan folk dance. The Sardanes are particularly widespread in the Spanish region of Catalonia and in the French north of Catalonia , where they can be found wherever Catalans come together to celebrate.

introduction

Sunday sardana dance in front of the cathedral of Barcelona , the sardana orchestra in the background on the steps to the cathedral

The dancers hold hands in a circle. As in a round dance , the circle then moves left and right, at a changing pace, but mostly slowly, concentrated and serious. As the national symbol of the Catalans, the sardana was banned for a long time under Franco .

The dancers must count the short and long steps and the jumps exactly. The music is provided by the Cobla, an eleven-piece orchestra with a leading musician who plays the flabiol , the Catalan form of the one-handed flute, with his left hand and a small drum , the tamborí (sometimes called tabal), with his right hand . The Cobla consists of five woodwinds and five brass instruments and the double bass.

The basic type is differentiated between the older Sardana curta (“short Sardana”) and the more modern Sardana llarga (“long Sardana”). In addition to the pure “dance sardanas” there are also “concert sardanas” and sardanas, which have been expanded to include a choir part. A very well-known sardana, for example, is La Santa Espina.

Structure of the dance

Sardana dancers on September 11, 2005 in Olot at the "Fonts de San Roc" (city festival and Catalan national holiday)

The Sardana consists of a certain sequence of dance movements of short ("tirada de curts", called "curts") and long ("tirada de llargs", called "llargs") steps. With the "curts" all dancers keep their hands down while with the "llargs" they raise them up. Each sardana is opened by the flabiol with a short prelude, which in a sense serves to listen to and count in the dancers. Then two “curts” and two “llargs” follow. The last two “llargs” are in turn introduced by the flabiol as a solo instrument with a “ counterpoint ”. Because of the complexity of the 2/4 or 6/8 time pattern and the division of time, an experienced dancer sets the pace explicitly during the dance. This clock generator must know the entire piece of music and mentally anticipate it so that it can lead the dance to the end with a suitable combination of steps.

The Cobla, the Sardana Orchestra

The Cobla "La Principal d'Olot" on September 11, 2005 in Olot at the "Fonts de San Roc" (city festival and Catalan national holiday)

The Cobla is the popular Catalan Sardana dance orchestra. This orchestra has had the following eleven-piece standard line-up with twelve instruments since the beginning of the 20th century:

  1. The flabiol , the Catalan one-handed flute (front row, single instrument; is played with the left hand)
  2. The tamborí , also tabal , a small cylinder drum belonging to the tabor (front row, also operated by the Flabiols player. It is strapped to the left arm and hit with the right hand using a mallet).
  3. The tible , a Catalan woodwind instrument with a double tongue (front row, double- sided ). This instrument emerged from the medieval treble shalming .
  4. The tenora , a Catalan woodwind instrument (wood - front and middle area -; brass - rear, distal area - mixed in parts) (front row, double). This instrument emerged from the medieval tenor shawm .
  5. The trumpet ( trompeta ) (back row, double occupation)
  6. The trombone ( Trombo (simply busy back row))
  7. Variant of the flugelhorn ( fiscorn ) (back row, double occupied)
  8. The double bass ( contrabaix ) (back row, single)
The Cobla "La Principal d'Olot" on September 11, 2005 in Olot at the "Fonts de San Roc" (city festival and Catalan national holiday)

In its origins until the middle of the 19th century, the line-up of the Cobla changed depending on the availability of the musicians and the respective location. For example, larger ensembles were put together for outdoor appearances and smaller ensembles for appearances in halls or halls. The so-called “tres quartans” (three musicians play 4 instruments), the “enteres cobles” (the full Cobla with 4 musicians), the “mitges cobles” (the half Cobla with only 2 musicians) and the “cobla rossellonesa” (with 6 musicians), which is widespread in Roussillon , is used. The following basic instruments were always used: the flabiol , the tamborí , the cornamusa (a kind of bagpipe) and the tarota , a shepherd's pipe . These were usually supplemented by a tible or a tenora .

The valve technology that was newly introduced for brass players around the middle of the 19th century led to the further development of these instruments and, in a creative process, to the final composition of the Cobla. The brass instruments newly added to the ensemble (the flugelhorn or fiscorn , the trombone or the trombó and a second tenora ) found a wonderful balance with the old woodwind instruments . Pep Ventura , the first tangible sardana composer (see below), introduced the double bass into the ensemble himself. The flabiol and the tamborí are played by one and the same musician at the same time. This minstrel practice was still widespread across Europe in the 13th century. Today the Pyrenees (Basque Country and Catalonia) are considered the last reserve in the world for this style of play. At the end of the 19th century, the now known composition of the Cobla stabilized.

The Cobla is characterized by a successful combination of medieval woodwind and brass instruments from the 19th century, expanded to include elements from medieval musician's practice. Their characteristic sound comes from the thunderous shawm tone of the two tenors and the two tibels. The brass section gives the ensemble its extensive volume. The melody is usually held by the first tenora.

Motifs, themes and dress code

Sardana dancers in traditional Catalan peasant clothes

Thematically, the sardanas often sing about the landscape and motifs that are close to the Catalan people. For example, the sardana “L'Empordà” depicts the emergence of the very fertile, flat, coastal landscape of the Empordà as the result of the love between a siren from the Mediterranean and a shepherd from the Pyrenees who leaves the inhospitable mountains with his flock in winter survive on the coastal plain. Here the shepherd falls into the love of a siren. The end of the song in Catalan is: "[...] i de l'amor plantaren la cabanya, fou L'Empordà!" In English: "[...] and out of this love they created their home. This is how the Empordà came into being! ”Both the lyricist Joan Maragall and the composer of this Sardana from 1908 Enric Morera are highly valued in Catalonia.

Due to their principle of "cosmopolitanism" - anyone can join a Sardana circle at any time and precisely when they feel like it - there is no compulsory clothing or dress code for dancing the Sardana. There are dancers in light leisure robes, but it is also possible that business people in business dress or citizens of distant nationalities in their specific country robes (especially in Barcelona) intervene in the dance. Nevertheless, there is the ideal image of a Sardana dance group, which is often drawn in Catalan folk art, but is no longer found in real life, at least today, in which all dancers dance in traditional Catalan peasant clothes. The following elements belong to this costume: The traditional Catalan hair nets (cat .: xarxa ) worn by the two women in the picture , which are made from knots and threads, similar to a fishing net. The red (for younger men) / dark purple (for men of older age) Catalan peasant hats worn by men (cat .: barretina ), the mostly black belly band (cat .: faixa ) also worn by men (left in the picture worn by the gentleman on the left) and of course the espardenyes, which are also well known in Germany by women and men . What remains to be said, however, is that the Sardana has long since emancipated itself in terms of clothing and everyone, in their typical clothing for their class or profession, can and should simply get involved in the dance group and integrate.

history

Sardana dancers at the "Fonts de Sant Roc" in Olot (painting by Ramon Casas , 1901)
Monument to the 50th Ciutat Pubilla de la Sardana in L'Escala 2010

The "early history" of Sardana has so far only been very imprecisely researched. Some researchers seek their origin in magical dances of the early Iberian Peninsula, others see it in the imitation of the movements of the stars in the sky. The "curts" are supposed to symbolize the movements of certain stars in the night sky and the "llargs" symbolize the movement of the sun. Still other researchers see in the Sardana relics of the Cretan culture, which was transmitted through the Iberians, still live on today. According to Jacint Verdaguer , the Sardana was already described by Homer in ancient Greece […]. It is descended from Sardus, “a son of Heracles , who took that island in the Mediterranean, to which he then gave his name: Sardinia . And so the original form of the Sardana may ultimately go back to the Atlantean culture, because the Apollonian harmony of this dance, this music, steps and circular figure seems to follow original star rhythms ”.

In the 14th century, the medieval “ Llibre Vermell ” describes a “ball rodó”, a round dance that the “Romeus” (pilgrims on the way to Rome) danced on the Montserrat massif or in the Montserrat monastery itself. This is likely to have been an early form of today's Sardana. The word "Sardana" itself only appears in documents from the 16th century. Both the common people and the rulers are said to have practiced this dance, a clear indication of the social integration power of this dance, which continues to this day. Even at the Castilian court they dance the sardana without mentioning that it is a Catalan dance. The linguist and court clergyman Sebastián de Covarrubias y Horozco (1539–1612), who wrote the first etymological dictionary of the Spanish language, wrote in this 1611 Tesoro de la lengua castellana : “The sardanas and other dances have now been introduced to the older dances ".

Since the beginning of the 19th century, the sardana has been palpable as a musical genre. As part of the romantic return to the Catalan language and culture, it develops into the ultimate identity-forming folk dance. Pep Ventura (also known as "Pep de la Tenora" with his real name "Josep Maria Ventura i Casas" , * 1817 in Alcalà la Real, Andalusia , † 1875 in Figueras , Catalonia ) is the first Sardana composer known by name. In Perpignan around 1840 he got to know the cobla music that was still practiced there and developed the specifically Catalan sardana from it. He wrote over 400 pieces, developed the tenora (wind instrument of the Cobla) into its current form and finally determined the overall composition of the Cobla . The Orfeó Català (Catalan Music Society) in Barcelona keeps original sheet music. Ventura's contemporary Miquel Pardàs i Roure , an excellent sardana dancer, wrote the first sardana school in Figueras in 1850. As a result, Coblas were founded in many cities and the Sardana began its triumphal march. A festival in honor of the Spanish Queen Isabel II (1830–1904) was celebrated in the whole of Catalonia in 1860 with large Sardana festivals. The reawakening ( Renaixença ) of the Catalan language and culture was celebrated in 1902 with a large Sardana meeting in Barcelona.

On the etymology of the word "Sardana"

Detail from the Sardanad Monument in Olot by Xavier Carbonell

The origin of the name has not been clarified with absolute certainty. According to the linguist Joan Coromines, there is some evidence to support the assumption that the name is originally derived from the Catalan adjective form cerdana ( cerdà m , cerdana f ), which means something like "from the Cerdanya " or in our context "as one in the Cerdanya is dancing ”. The Cerdanya (by no means to be confused with the toponym and the island of Sardinia , in Catalan Sardenya ) is a landscape in the eastern Pyrenees. The oldest known document on sardana in Catalan from 1577 comes from the Arxiu Municipal d'Olot (City Archives of Olot , Garrotxa , Catalonia ). Here is the provision: "It is forbidden to dance the sardana and other indecent dances" (in Old Catalan: "que.s prohibescha lo ball de la sardana y altres balls desonests [...]"). There are also many early references to the word in the Spanish (Castilian) language. Here the transition from the spelling “cerdana” via “çardana” (in the Castilian-French dictionary d'Oudin in the 1616 edition, not yet included in the 1607 edition) to “sardana” can be traced. When sardana came to life in the Empordà from Figueras in the middle of the 19th century, it was probably no longer known in the Cerdanya, in its region of origin. The thesis on etymology presented above is also represented by F. Pujol and J. Amades in their “Diccionari de la dansa”. The thesis of the philologist Pella i Forges , according to which the Iberians learned this dance in Asia, then spread it among the Etruscans and Sardinians and the latter gave their name, can no longer be supported in view of the current sources (2006).

The Sardana and the Catalans

Sardana in Barcelona
The Sardanad Monument in Olot by Xavier Carbonell erected for the pubillatge of 1968

In Barcelona , the sardana is danced every Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on the Plaça de Sant Jaume and at noon on the square in front of the La Seu cathedral . It is also performed at many festivals and special gatherings that last a few days, the Aplecs . Every year since 1960, a Catalan city has been named Ciutat pubilla de la Sardana , heiress and guardian of the Sardana tradition. This was, for example, Girona in 1960 , Lleida in 1961 , Olot in 1968 and Barcelona in 1979. In 2010 the city of L'Escala on the Costa Brava was named the 50th Ciutat pubilla de la Sardana . The city of Banyuls , now in the south of France , was also included in this tradition in 1977. The respective city hosts a big Sardana festival at the end of April. The Catalan musician Pau Casals on the occasion of such a pubillatge (Olot, 1968) on "Sardana and the Catalans":

“The sardana, which originated from the Empordà and conquered all of Catalonia, is more than an element of our folklore. It became our national dance, an essential building block in the life of our people. Democracy inspires its rules. Everyone is welcome at any moment. Sensitivity dictates that a new sardana be entered on the man's left side. So his partner can stay on the right side. The symbol of this dance is to join hands (in a circle) in perfect harmony and equality. These norms point to the deepest foundations of our character to which we should always remain true. "

literature

Older basic literature on Sardana

  • Amades, Joan (Amades i Gelat): La Sardana; Barcelona, ​​1930
  • Amades, Joan (Amades i Gelat): Diccionari de la Dansa, 1945
  • Amades, Joan (Amades i Gelat): Folklore de Catalunya, 3 vols. In the series “biblioteca perenne” “bp”, ISBN 84-298-0582-6
  • Bernadó, Amadeu: La Sardana; in: "Pont Blau" (magazine), Mexico 1955, III, 276–281
  • Capdevila, Manuel: De la Sardana; Barcelona, ​​1925
  • Capmany, Aureli (Capmany i Farrés): La Dansa a Catalunya, (2 volumes), Barcelona 1930
  • Capmany, Aureli (Capmany i Farrés): La Sardana a Catalunya; Barcelona 1948
  • Coromines, Pere (Coromines i Montanya): Vida de Pep de la Tenora (The life of Pep de Ventura, the innovator of the sardana in the 19th century), Barcelona 1953; also published in the Gesamtwerk (Obres Completes), 1972, pages 1193-1235
  • Grahit i Grau, Josep: De la Sardana; Barcelona 1908
  • Grahit i Grau, Josep: Les sardanes; Girona 1915
  • Grahit i Grau, Josep: Recull sardanístic; Girona 1916
  • Landon-Davies, John: Dancing Catalans; Edinburgh 1929
  • Llongueres, Joan: Per la nostra sardana; Barcelona, ​​1933
  • Montsalvatge i Castany, Jordi; Aleu i Massanet, Josep: La Sardana; Olot, 1895
  • Pépratx-Saisset, Henry: La Sardane; Perpignan, 1956

Recent Sardana Literature

  • Josep M. Mas i Solench: Diccionari Breu de la Sardana . Santa Coloma de Farners, 1981, ISBN 84-300-4216-4 ; 117 pages (small dictionary on topics related to the Sardana)
  • Josep M. Mas i Solench: La Sardana - Danca Nacional de Catalunya . Barcelona, ​​1993, ISBN 84-393-2332-8 (Generalitat de Catalunya), ISBN 84-87254-50-0 (Editorial 92); (Richly illustrated volume, covers all aspects of Sardana, trilingual: in addition to the Catalan text, the volume in the appendix offers text translations in Spanish and English, 326 pages)
  • Josep Mainar: Pep Ventura (in the series “Gent Nostra” vol. 66); Barcelona undated , ISBN 84-7327-187-4 (a small work on Pep Ventura, the innovator of Sardana, 50 pages)
  • Josep Mainar: La Sardana - Dansa nacional, dansa viva . Barcelona 1986, ISBN 84-232-0250-X ; (smaller work on the Sardana, 94 pages)
  • Josep Mainar, J. Vilalta: La Sardana. El fet històric . Vol. 1; Barcelona 1972
  • Carles Riera i Vinyes, Josep M. Serracant i Clermont, Josep Ventura i Salarich: Diccionari D'autors de Sardanes i de Música per a Cobla . 2nd corrected and expanded edition 2002, (a detailed lexicon on lyricists and composers by Sardanas, 255 pages)
  • Hans Schmidt: The Sardana - dance of the Catalans . Hamburg 1987, (334 pages)
  • Lluís Subirana: La Sardana i els Intellectuals . Sabadell, 1990
  • Lluís Subirana: La Sardana: Impressions i vivències (Selecció de textos) . Tarragona 2002, ISBN 84-95559-55-2 (including very good information on scientific work on Sardana in the German-speaking area, 150 pages)
  • Lluís Subirana: Ciutats pubilles de la sardana 1960-1995 - Fotografies de Josep Llobet. Tarragona 1995, ISBN 84-88882-22-X

Sardana and Cobla schools

  • Aureli Capmany (Capmany i Farrés): Com es balla la Sardana . Barcelona 1924, 1928
  • Josep Coll i Ligora: Mètode de Tenora i Tible . Cassà de la Selva, 1993
  • Jaume Nonell, Lluís Subirana: Compàs, Compendi bàsic de la pràctica sardanista . Barcelona, ​​1988
  • Francesq Pantebre i Arqués: La Sardana Pràtica - Un mètode d'aprentatge innovador . Andorra 2003, ISBN 99920-1-451-2
  • Miquel Pardàs (Pàrdas i Roure): Mètodo per apendre de ballar sardanes llargues . Figueres, 1850
  • Neus Saguer i Canadell, Elisabet Saguer i Canadell, Montserrat Forcada i Puig, Pere Nogue i Font: Un Tres i Fora! - Itineraris per aprendre a escoltar, comptar i repartir Sardanes . Girona 2001, ISBN 84-95483-13-0 (224 pages)
  • Henry Pépratx-Saisset: Apprenons la Sardane… et dansons-la! . Perpignan, 1946

Linguistic subjects

  • Antoni Maria Alcover, Francesc de B. Moll (Moll i Casanovas): Diccionari Català-Valencià-Balear (DCVB), Vol. IX (Q-SOM), page 750, article "Sardana", Palma de Mallorca 1993, ISBN 84- 273-0024-X (ISBN of the complete work: ISBN 84-273-0025-5 ) (This work is also available on the Internet; the link can be found under the article: Catalan language ).
  • Joan Coromines (Coromines i Vigneaux): Diccionari Crítico Etimològico de la Lengua Castellana , Vol. IV, pp. 148–150, article “Sardana”, Bern 1954–1957 (A. Francke AG), Madrid 1974 (reprint, Editorial Gredos) , ISBN 84-249-1329-9 (rustica, paperback), ISBN 84-249-1330-2 (tela, linen)
  • Joan Coromines (Coromines i Vigneaux): Diccionari Etimològic i Complementari de la Llengua Catalana . Vol. VII (R-SOF), page 674 ff. (Article "Saradana"), Barcelona 1996, ISBN 84-7256-297-2 (ISBN of the complete work: ISBN 84-7256-173-9 )

German-language literature

  • Heinrich Besseler:  Cobla. In: Friedrich Blume (Hrsg.): The music in past and present (MGG). First edition, Volume 2 (Boccherini - Da Ponte). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1952, DNB 550439609 , Sp. 1517–1520 (= Digital Library Volume 60, pp. 14227–14232)
  • Marius Schneider:  Sardana. In: Friedrich Blume (Hrsg.): The music in past and present (MGG). First edition, Volume 11 (Rasch - Schnyder von Wartensee). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1963, DNB 550439609 , Sp. 1401–1403 (= Digital Library Volume 60, pp. 65840–65844)
  • Torsten Eßer: Diguem yes! From the Catalan protest song to the mestizo sound. Music in Catalonia. In: Torsten Eßer, Tilbert D. Stegmann (ed.): Catalonia's return to Europe 1976-2006: history, politics, culture and economy (= culture: research and science. Vol. 8). LIT Verlag, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-8258-0283-7 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Sardana  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Cobla  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Sardanes  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Of course every good musical director is able to integrate further instruments into the ensemble if necessary.
  2. ↑ The invention of valve technology by Friedrich Blühmel and Heinrich Stölzel gave brass players increased mobility. They could therefore be used as melody instruments for orchestras.
  3. ↑ The technical term for this pasture-changing economy is: " Transhumant cattle farming ".
  4. ↑ Exceptions to this are of course competitions, as they are documented in the first picture of this article.
  5. ↑ a b see: Diether Rudloff: Romanesque Catalonia, Art - Culture - History . Stuttgart 1980 (Urachhaus), ISBN 3-87838-273-1 , page 73 f.
  6. ↑ See: Joan Coromines , 1996: Sardana .
  7. ↑ For the person and work see Joan Coromines and Joan Coromines in the Catalan Wikipedia. See also the works by Coromines in the literature list.
  8. ↑ For more information on the etymology of the word "Sardana" and the sources, see: Joan Coromines, 1996
  9. ↑ See the timeline above and the article Ciutat Pubilla in the Catalan Wikipedia. The pubilla is the oldest child on a Catalan farm insofar as it is a girl or a woman. According to Catalan (as opposed to Spanish) inheritance law, she has full inheritance claims on the farm. It is therefore responsible for its continued existence. See the German Wiktionary article Pubilla .
  10. ↑ From: Subirana Lluís, 1995, page 74:
    The original text of this passage by Pau Casals in Catalan (from Subirana Lluís: Ciutats pubilles de la sardana 1960–1995 , Fotografies de Josep Llobet; Tarragona 1995, ISBN 84-88882-22-X , page 74): La sardana, passant de L'Empordà a tot Catalunya, ha deixat d'esser un element més del nostre folklore per a es devenir una dansa nacional, consubstancial ja amb la vida del nostre poble. La democràcia que inspira les seves regles tothom hi és admès, a qualsevol moment. La delicadesa que imposa la seva admissío a l'esquerra de l'home, per a no separar-lo de la parella que té a la mà dreta. El símbol de la seva execució, tothom donant-se le mans un pla d'harmonia i d'igualtat. Són nomes que expressen els fonaments profund del nostre caràcter, al qual hauríem de mirar d'esser fidels.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 16, 2007 .