Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5)
Joaquín Turina (1882–1949) · sheet music
- Time 4/4
- Levels 8–9
- Passages 4
Your turn · both hands
Preparing your passage…
Joaquín Turina, Spanish modern (1882–1949). The reading release has 4 passages from this piece at levels 8–9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–4 for both hands together.
The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 9.
Your practice path
Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5).
- Hands together · bars 1–4 level 8
- The hardest bars · bars 1–8 level 9
How to play Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5)
- Tempo:Sacromonte is short and meant to be lively, but learn it at half speed so each chord is clean. Increase gradually to a speed where the repeated sixteenths stay even.
- Right hand:The right hand plays fast repeated chords. Let your forearm do the work with small bounces from a relaxed wrist, rather than pressing from the fingers.
- Left hand:The left hand rocks in steady eighths from a low A up to B-flat, C or D and back, like a guitarist's thumb. Keep the low A light and let it ring so the right-hand chords stay on top.
- Hands together:The right hand plays sixteenths while the left hand plays eighths, so two right-hand chords fall on each left-hand note. Tap the pattern on your lap, right hand twice for every left-hand tap, before playing the notes.
- Dynamics:The score marks dim. after the strong gestures, so treat every outburst as a wave that ebbs. Save the quietest playing for the ends of phrases.
- Practice:Play each repeated-chord group as one chord, then break it into repeated hits at slow speed. Use a metronome and only speed up when you can play four clean repetitions in a row.
- Reading:No key signature is printed, and the page has many accidentals, especially B-flat and C-sharp. Name the accidentals aloud on a first read-through.
Common mistakes
- Tensing the whole arm during repeated chords, which leads to fatigue and uneven hits. Fix: Shake out the wrists between repetitions and keep the motion small and rebound-based.
- Playing every chord at the same loudness. Fix: Mark where the dim. signs fall and aim for a clear drop right after each strong gesture.
- Missing the accidentals such as B-flat and C-sharp. Fix: Circle them in pencil and name them before you play.
Structure: short dance over a swaying bass (free sections)
No published analysis of this movement was found, so this describes the textures in the passages on this page rather than the whole piece. A two-note call opens, then the right hand hammers repeated sixteenth-note chords while the left hand rocks in eighths between a low A and the notes just above it, with dim. markings shaping each wave.
- A · Opening figures
- Short two-note gestures, D and E over B-flat and C. The half-step rub between neighboring notes gives the music its Spanish color.
- B · Repeated-chord dance
- The right hand repeats sixteenth-note chords that rock between A major and a chord with B-flat, then climb through other chords, while the left hand keeps a broken-chord pattern anchored on low A. New to read: chord repetition and accidentals such as B-flat and C-sharp.
About Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5)
Joaquín Turina was born in Seville in 1882 and spent 1905 to 1914 in Paris, studying composition with Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum and piano with Moritz Moszkowski. There he took in the sounds of Debussy and Ravel, and he returned to Madrid in 1914 with his friend Manuel de Falla. In 1931 he became professor of composition at the Madrid Royal Conservatory.
The Danzas gitanas, Op. 55, are five piano dances: Zambra, Danza de la seducción, Danza ritual, Generalife and Sacro-monte. They were published in Paris in 1930 by Rouart, Lerolle et Cie and dedicated to José Cubiles. The first performance took place at the Teatro de la Comedia in Madrid on 15 January 1932.
Sacromonte, the last dance, takes its name from a hillside quarter of Granada across from the Alhambra. Its whitewashed cave houses have long been home to the city's Romani community, and the zambra, a flamenco dance performed barefoot with finger cymbals, is said to have originated there.
- Sacromonte got its name from the supposed relics and lead books found on the hill in the late 1590s, which were later declared forgeries.
- The first dance of the same set, Zambra, is named for the flamenco dance said to have originated in Sacromonte.
- Sacromonte's whitewashed cave houses are thought to date back to the 16th century.
- A museum in Sacromonte opened in 2002 preserves up to 11 caves as their inhabitants kept them.
Why the first passage is level 8
That passage is level 8 rather than 7 because it leaps a minor third plus an octave, its chords go beyond simple triads.
No key signature is printed, but B-flat and C-sharp appear throughout. Repeated sixteenth-note chords make the page look dense; read the shape of each chord group rather than each note.
Questions about Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5)
- How hard is Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5) to play?
- Its passages grade from level 8 to level 9 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 9.
- Is there an easy part of Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5) for beginners?
- Its easiest passage is level 8, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–4 for both hands together, the level-8 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 8 because it leaps a minor third plus an octave and its chords go beyond simple triads.
- What key and time signature is Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5) in?
- The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
- Who composed Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5)?
- Joaquín Turina, Spanish modern (1882–1949). Joaquín Turina was born in Seville in 1882 and spent 1905 to 1914 in Paris, studying composition with Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum and piano with Moritz Moszkowski.
- Can I practice Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5) online for free?
- Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 4 graded passages from Sacromonte (Danzas gitanas, Op. 55 No. 5) in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
- What is Sacromonte?
- It is a hillside neighborhood in Granada, Spain, known for its cave homes and for the Roma community and flamenco traditions that grew there. Turina's piece shares its name.
- What are the other dances in Turina's Danzas gitanas, Op. 55?
- Zambra, Danza de la seducción, Danza ritual and Generalife. Sacromonte is the fifth and last.
- Who was Danzas gitanas dedicated to?
- IMSLP lists José Cubiles as the dedicatee of the first series, Op. 55.
Every passage, easiest first
The reading release grades 4 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:
- Level 8
- bars 1–4 both hands · bars 29–32 both hands
- Level 9
- bars 1–8 both hands · bars 5–8 both hands
More pieces to sight-read
Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.