Manuel de Falla y Matheu (1876 – 1946) was a Spanish composer. With Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century. His image was on Spain's 1970 100-pesetas banknote.

Falla was born Manuel María de los Dolores Falla y Matheu in Cádiz. He was the son of José María Falla, a Valencian, and María Jesús Matheu, from Catalonia (Hess 2001a).

In 1889 he continued his piano lessons with Alejandro Odero and learned the techniques of harmony and counterpoint from Enrique Broca. At age 15 he became interested in literature and journalism and founded the literary magazines El Burlón and El Cascabel.

The Andalusian Serenade of Falla is one of the earliest works of the composer and therefore belongs to the suite of "Three pieces of youth", together with the Nocturno (1896) and the Vals Capricho (1900). It is inspired by a calm Andalusian landscape, and although it was composed in Madrid, Falla is transported to its native Cadiz. It premiered at the Ateneo de Madrid on May 6, 1900, at the hands of Falla himself.

Although originally written for Piano, I created this arrangement for Flute & Classical Guitar