Referring to Nights in the Gardens of Spain as “symphonic impressions,” Manuel de Falla (1876–1946) set out to compose his work for piano and large orchestra in 1909. He completed it in 1915, shortly after his Parisian “study years”. Paris made a lasting impression on his compositional thought. The so-called Impressionist style and orchestral scoring manifests itself most clearly in this work of his. The Spanish composer was among the last to join the Spanish-exotic trend in vogue in Paris at the time. Ravel had written Spanish Rhapsody and L’Heure espagnole in 1907; Debussy composed Evening in Granada in 1903, Iberia in 1908, and Albeniz completed his Iberia suite in Paris in 1909.

 
The success of De Falla’s work instantly propelled him to the forefront of European composition, and led to a commission from Diaghilev to write a ballet. What makes Nights in the Gardens of Spain stand out among all the fashionable Spanish-style works is that rather than seeking to conjure up Spanish folk music and landscape by means of a programme, De Falla was out to evoke his homeland. The landscape in the first movement is the famous garden Moorish royal palace garden in Alhambra . The second, scherzo-like movement conjures up the ghosts and spirits of ancient Andalusian legends. The third movement is thought to be a Gypsy zambra, that is, a night-time musical procession. Its form is a copla with a refrain, reminiscent of a popular vocal and instrumental genre of 16th and 17th century Spain, the villancico, which is closely related to the classical rondo form.