The endecha (often used in the plural ''endechas'') is a subgenre of lament, ''planto'', found in early Iberian music. It usually indicates a metrical composition of 4 verses with 6 or 7 syllables. The endecha is essentially a musical form; a

hexasyllable {{Unreferenced, date=May 2021 The hexasyllable or hexasyllabic verse is a line of verse with six syllables. The orphan hexasyllable is a metric specificity of certain French epic poems. This kind of verse in the Garin de Monglane's Song in a 14t ...

. The verb endechar - to lament, to sing endechas, is rarely encountered, though found in testimonies by

Alfonso de Palencia Alfonso Fernández de Palencia (1423–1492) was a Castilian royal secretary, historian, and humanist scholar. He first served Enrique IV of Castile and later played an active role in the political intrigue that ultimately brought Fernando II to C ...

. It comes from the time before the Expulsion of 1492, and was used within the Jewish community, though popular poems in Galicia already used this type of versification.Manuel Alvar, ''Endechas judeo-españolas'', Granada, 1953

Compositions

* A prelude in Dm by

Francisco Tárrega Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea (21 November 185215 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as Capricho Árabe and ''Recuerdos de la Alhambra''. He is often called ...

* 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.

References

{{Music of Spain Spanish music