Composer's Note

Canario is a showpiece for violin with or without piano inspired by a Renaissance dance, completed in New York City in the summer of 2016.

Covarrubias Horozco described the canario in his Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española _(1611) as a type of ‘saltarelo gracioso’ that came to Spain from the Canary Islands. A piece called Endechas de canaria appeared in Pisador’s vihuela book of 1552, and the dance was mentioned by Diego Sánchez de Badajoz in the Farsa de Sancta Bárbara (published in his collected works of 1554), and by Cervantes, Lope de Vega and many other Spanish writers throughout the 17th century. Discussing its origins and character, Arbeau (Orchésographie, 1588) noted that its ‘passages are gay but nevertheless strange and fantastic with a strong barbaric flavour’.
— Richard Hudson and Meredith Ellis Little, "Canary," Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press

Duration

5 minutes

First Performance

3 April 2017, Morse Hall, The Juilliard School
Jocelyn Zhu, violin; Dror Baitel, piano