Seguidilla (redirected from Seguidillas)

Seguidilla 

(1) A stanza in Spanish poetry that has been known since the 13th century. The simple seguidilla is a four-line stanza whose first and third lines have seven syllables; the second and fourth lines have five syllables and are rhyming. The addition of three further lines of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively, with the two five-syllable lines making a new rhyme, results in the complex seguidilla.

(2) A paired Spanish folk dance, originating in Castile in the 15th or 16th century. It has a lively tempo and is in 3/4 time. The dance is accompanied by the singing of simple or complex seguidilla stanzas with a mainly lyric content and by guitar and castanets. The seguidilla has regional variations, of which the most important are those of Murcia and Seville, the latter known as the sevillana. The seguidilla has been utilized in concert music; examples are Glinka’s overture Night in Madrid and de Falla’s cycle of songs Seven Spanish Folk Songs.