Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (ca. 1640 – 1710), better known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer, guitarist, organist and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the comarca of Bajo Aragón, Spain. He studied music, theology and philosophy at the University of Salamanca, where he was later appointed Professor of Music. He wrote three volumes of pedagogical works for the baroque guitar that form an important part of today's classical guitar repertory and have informed modern scholars in the techniques of baroque guitar playing.

His compositions provide some of the most important examples of popular Spanish baroque music for the guitar and now form part of classical guitar pedagogy. Sanz's manuscripts are written as tablature for the baroque guitar and have been transcribed into modern notation by numerous guitarists and editors; Emilio Pujol's edition of Sanz's Canarios being a notable example. Sanz's tablature is remarkable in that it is topologically correct, representing the first string in the lower line and the fifth string in the highest printed line. In this epoch, guitars only had five strings.

The first Spanish Suite consists of some of the most popular grounds for variations and dances, most of which had survived from the sixteenth century and remained popular into the eighteenth. The Rujero is probably named from a character in the epic ballad ‘The Song of Roland’ which existed in Spanish versions from at least the thirteenth century. The piece was also well known in Italy and England. The Paradetas dates from the second half of the seventeenth century and is a set dance for a couple. The Folias was originally Portuguese but early on became a characteristically Spanish form. It was at first very fast (the name means ‘mad dance’). The Pabana (pavan), one of the best known court dances of the Renaissance, was probably another native Spanish form. It remained popular in Spain and still exists in some parts of the country. Vacas is a ground bass which is a survival of the older song ‘Guardame las vacas’, used as the basis for sets of variations for vihuela, harp, guitar and other instruments.

Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspar_Sanz).

Although originally created for Baroque Guitar (5-string), I created this Interpretation of "Folias" from the Spanish Suite for Concert (Pedal) or Lever Harp.