Shortly after his arrival in New York he stated to several reporters that America knew nothing about Spanish music, and that Bizet's _Carmen_ was not in any sense Spanish. I hold no brief for _Carmen_ being Spanish but it is effective, and that _Goyescas_ as an opera is not. In the first place, its muddy and blatant orchestration would detract from its power to please (this opinion might conceivably be altered were the opera given under Spanish conditions in Spain). The manuscript score of _Goyescas_ now reposes in the Museum of the Hispanic Society, in that delightful quarter of New York where the apartment houses bear the names of Goya and Velasquez, and it is interesting to note that it is a _piano_ score. What has become of the orchestral partition and who was responsible for it I do not know. It is certain, however, that the miniature charm of the _Goyescas_ becomes more obvious in the piano version, performed by Ernest Schelling or the composer himself, than in the opera house. The growth of the work is interesting. Fragments of it took shape in the composer's brain and on paper seventeen years ago, the result of the study of Goya's paintings in the Prado. These fragments were moulded into a suite in 1909 and again into an opera in 1914 (or before then). F. Periquet, the librettist, was asked to fit words to the score, a task which he accomplished with difficulty. Spanish is not an easy tongue to sing. To Mme. Barrientos this accounts for the comparatively small number of Spanish operas. _Goyescas_, like many a zarzuela, lags when the dance rhythms cease. I find little joy myself in listening to _La Maja y el Ruiseñor_; in fact, the entire last scene sounds banal to my ears. In the four volumes of Spanish dances which Granados wrote for piano (published by the Sociedad Anónima Casa Dotesio in Barcelona) I console myself for my lack of interest in _Goyescas_. These lovely dances combine in their artistic form all the elements of the folk-dances as I have described them. They bespeak a careful study and an intimate knowledge of the originals. And any pianist, amateur or professional, will take joy in playing them.