The Italian composer Luigi Boccherini was attached to the Court of the Spanish Infante, Luis Antonio (1727–85), brother of King Charles III of Spain (1759–88). For having married a common citizen, King Charles exiled the Infante from the Madrid Court to the Arenas de San Pedro palace in Ávila province. As a courtier of Luis Antonio, Boccherini joined the exile, and found himself with much time for composition, and there completed more than one hundred quintets for various instruments.

Of the ‘Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid’, Boccherini wrote: ”The piece is absolutely useless, even ridiculous, outside Spain, because the audience cannot hope to understand its significance, nor the performers to play it as it should be played.” We will do our best to prove Boccherini wrong! The music appears in the 2003 feature film 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World'.