Rapsodie espagnole is an orchestral rhapsody written by Maurice Ravel. Composed between 1907 and 1908, the Rapsodie represents one of Ravel’s first major works for orchestra.
In its atmosphere, the Rapsodie reflects the profound influence of the Spanish musical heritage imparted to Ravel by his Basque mother. As a child, Ravel would listen to his mother sing him folk songs from her country. Later works by Ravel, such as Boléro and the opera L’heure espagnole, also claim similar sources of inspiration. Ravel composed his Rapsodie only a year before Claude Debussy appeared with his own evocations of Spain in Iberia.