It’s an odd fact that the best-known “Spanish” music of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries is actually by French composers.

Of course, Spain was just across the mountains, and a train route between the two countries was completed in 1864.

But more to the point were the Spanish musical forms that could be exploited and that audiences would recognize and appreciate. 

In this hour, the French perspective on its southern neighbor—from Bizet’s Carmen to Debussy’s Iberia, from Chabrier’s Espana to Ravel’s Bolero.