Folly
 

This geocache - at Folly Point - owes its rebirth to “Van Gogh Alive”, the amazing, multi-sensory immersive art exhibition currently running in Sydney (October 2020).

Music accompanies the digitalised paintings and towards the end, as the artist slowly sinks into his own personal madness, the accompaniment is Handel's 'Sarabande' ('La Folia').

It has been seriously suggested that 'La Folia' is the most popular / most enduring  European tune ever. It's a simple theme, shaped over centuries by countless hands.

Its distinctive chords first developed out of the folk music of late 15th-Century Portugal, where it was used in popular festivals. Its Italian name means ‘folly’ or ‘madness’ and refers to the frenzied way peasants twirled to the music. From Portugal 'la Folia' spread to Spain, France, Italy and then pretty much everywhere.

'La Folia' flourished, albeit in a more restrained form, in baroque music. The Handel version in the exhibition was appropriately sombre (and yes, this was used  in the movie " Barry Lyndon " )...

Handel - Sarabande

...but recaptured some of its original euphoric craziness in political ballads in Sweden, bawdy street opera in England and, in America, as the main theme in the Addams Family.

Addams Family theme

Folly is a slippery slope, so take care on your descent to GZ.

*** FTF Honours go to Jackscruff. Congratulations! ***