Rodrigo, the blind Spanish composer who would later become world-famous as the composer of the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, began his composition career with long years of struggle. He showed his interest in Spanish musical history in this early "Symphonic Essay" called "Minstrels." It was given its premiere in Valencia in 1924, winning the twenty-three-year-old composer some of his first major public acclaim.

The work is a tuneful piece with piquant harmonies, but does not strike the listener as unusually modernistic, even for its time. It is a five-minute piece in a simple ABA form. The two outer sections are in the rhythm of and in the style of a medieval dance. The contrasting inner section has the quality of a church chant.

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