Endecha

The endecha (often used in the plural endechas^[1]) is a subgenre of lament, planto, found in early Iberian music.^[2] It usually indicates a metrical composition of 4 lines with 6 or 7 syllables.^[3] The endecha is essentially a musical form; a hexasyllable.

The verb endechar - to lament, to sing endechas, is rarely encountered,^[4] though found in testimonies by Alfonso de Palencia. It comes from the time before the Expulsion of 1492, and was used within the Jewish community,^[5] though popular poems in Galicia already used this type of versification.^[6][7]

Compositions

• A prelude in Dm by Francisco Tárrega
• 5 Endechas for classical guitar by Alfonso Montes. ECH769

Recordings

• Endechar - Lament for Spain (Sephardic Romances and Songs). Capilla Antigua de Chinchilla, Ferrero. Naxos 2010.