If you’re one of those people who’ve been lucky enough to visit Granada and explore the Alhambra Palace, you may well have come across the azulejo (painted tile) pictured above. It’s near the Wine Gate (Puerta del Vino) and acknowledges the piece in Debussy’s second book of Preludes that takes its title from that ancient entrance.

If you’re one of the happy people who’ve wandered through the delights of the Alhambra Palace, you’re doing much better than Debussy ever did – he seems only to have managed just one day trip to Spain, to San Sebastian. The primary source of inspiration for his La Puerta del Vino was a picture postcard of it, sent to him by fellow composer, Manuel de Falla.

Debussy’s Spain of Ibéria, of Soirée dans Granade, of La Sérénade Interrompue, and of La Puerta del Vino was a mind-made land, a land of the imagination; and what a splendid place it is!

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