These 12 perennial crowd pleasers were composed by Granados in support of his own pianistic career at various times during the late 1880s and early 1890s and later collected into four published books. Compared by critics at the time with the Norwegian nationalist works of Grieg, they are short works that draw on Spanish dance rhythms and forms. Grieg in turn is said to have admired them, as did Saint-Saëns and Massenet, contemporary masters of the French scene that shaped Granados' own style. They are colorful and infectious rather than really pathbreaking; piano pedagogue Maurice Hinson once wrote that "[t]hey vibrate like living organisms, pulsating with sun-drenched energies." Granados, however, had immersed himself in Spanish folk music as a result of studies with the pioneering Spanish musicologist Enrique Pedrell, and some of these works delve into unusual dance rhythms and pursue their musical implications. Through their considerable popularity and their wide reach into folk culture, these dances helped pave the way for the nationalistic path Spanish music would take for much of the twentieth century. Three of them were made into orchestra pieces in 1892 and are still known in those versions. The 12 dances are titled Galante, Orientale, Fandango, Villanesca, Andaluza, Rondalla aragonesa, Valenciana, Sardana, Romántica, Melancólica, Arabesca, and Bolero.

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5.Andaluza: Andantino quasi Allegretto

This may be the single most popular piece written by Granados. In its original piano version, it stands out among the 12 works comprising the "Spanish Dances" when appearing on countless recital programs and recordings. But versions for guitar are as plentiful in both these venues and there are also popular renditions for violin and piano, voice and piano or orchestra, for band, and for other assorted combinations of instruments. Of course, these transcriptions were done by another hand, but many capture the spirit of the piano original nonetheless. That said, none are ultimately quite as effective. The piano is better suited to the colorful thematic material and brilliantly captures the contrasts in mood, from the spiky rhythms of the opening to the nocturnal mystery of the slower version of the main theme. Guitar versions are nearly as convincing, but lack the muscle of the keyboard and in places, sound relatively tame in conveying the rougher edges of this subtly atmospheric and utterly Spanish music. Segovia played the arrangement by Guillermo Gomez, which is also used by many other guitarists who perform the work. Violin/piano versions of Andaluza can often possess as much muscle and atmosphere as the piano original, but out of necessity must add music. David Oistrakh and other violinists played the arrangement by Fritz Kreisler (who undoubtedly also performed it himself) and while it is quite effective, purists will object to any embellishments in this masterful gem. Vocal versions are both the least common and least faithful to the original score. Tito Schipa, a well-known tenor from the first half of the twentieth century, sang his own arrangement of the piece using piano accompaniment and it was a fairly imaginative treatment. Later versions for voice and orchestra tend to both fatten and sweeten the music, if not substantially change its character.

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