Tags: Genre, Music Genre, Topical Concept.
Tonadilla was a Spanish musical song form of theatrical origin; not danced. The genre was a type of short satirical musical comedy popular in 18th-century Spain and later in Cuba and other Spanish colonial countries. It originated as a song type then dialogue for characters was written into the tonadilla and it expanded into a miniature opera lasting from 10 to 20 minutes. It drew its personages from everyday life and included popular and folk music and dance and vernacular language.