It has often been said that the best Spanish music was written by French and Russian composers, and this is well exemplified by Capriccio espagnol. It was composed in the summer of 1887 while Rimsky was working on Borodin's opera Prince Igor (see Scheherazade above), though owes its inspiration more to the success of his Fantasy on Russian Themes (1886) for violin and orchestra, which he thought to follow up with one on Spanish themes. He got as far as sketching out the whole piece before abandoning it in favour of an orchestral work, though retaining the themes together with their virtuoso instrumentation. In his autobiography he declared immodestly: “My intention was that the Capriccio should glitter with the virtuosity of its orchestral colour and it would seem that I was not mistaken.” Fair enough, perhaps; at its first performance in October, under the composer's direction, all five movements were encored and he dedicated the work to the musicians of the enthusiastic orchestra, all of whose names are listed individually on the title page of the original edition of the score.

sources

A  Autograph score (1887), in the National Library of Russia, St Petersburg

E,P  First edition score and parts, published by Belaieff in 1888, score reprinted identically in miniature by both Boosey & Hawkes and Eulenburg; first page of music has bars 1–4

F  Reprint of E by Belaieff, in clearer, more modern type, reprinted by Kalmus; first page of music has bars 1–5