Inmusic, aserenade (/ˌsɛrəˈneɪd/; also sometimes called aserenata, from theItalian) is amusical composition orperformance delivered inhonour of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from theItalian wordserenata, which itself derives from theLatinserenus.[1] Sense influenced by Italiansera "evening", from Latinsera, fem. ofserus "late".[2]
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In the oldest usage, which survives in informal form to the present day, a serenade is a musical greeting performed for a lover, friend, person of rank or other person to be honored. The classic usage would be from a lover to his lady love through a window. It was considered an evening piece, one to be performed on a quiet and pleasant evening, as opposed to anaubade, which would be performed in the morning. The custom of serenading in this manner began in theMedieval era, and the word "serenade" as commonly used in currentEnglish is related to this custom. Music performed followed no one particular form, except that it was typically sung by one person accompanying himself on a portable instrument, most likely a guitar, lute or other plucked instrument. Works of this type also appeared in later eras, but usually in a context that referred specifically to a past time, such asarias in anopera (there is a famous example inMozart'sDon Giovanni).Carl Maria von Weber composed his serenade for voice and guitar, "Horch'! Leise horch', Geliebte!" (1809).
In theBaroque era, aserenata—as the form was called since it occurred most frequently in Italy and Vienna—was a typically celebratory or eulogistic dramaticcantata for two or more singers and orchestra, performed outdoors in the evening by artificial light.[3] Some composers of this type of serenade includeAlessandro Stradella,Alessandro Scarlatti,Johann Joseph Fux,Johann Mattheson, andAntonio Caldara. Often these were large-scale works performed with minimal staging, intermediate between acantata and anopera. The main difference between acantata and a serenata, around 1700, was that theserenata was performed outdoors and therefore could use instruments which would be too loud in a small room (for example,trumpets,horns, anddrums).[citation needed]
The most important and prevalent type of serenade in music history is a work for large instrumental ensemble in multiple movements, related to thedivertimento, and mainly being composed in theClassical andRomantic periods, though a few examples exist from the 20th century. Usually the character of the work is lighter than other multiple-movement works for large ensemble (for example thesymphony), with tunefulness being more important than thematic development or dramatic intensity. Most of these works are fromItaly,Germany,Austria andBohemia.
Among the most famous examples of the serenade from the 18th century are those byMozart, whose serenades typically comprise between four and ten movements. His serenades were often purely instrumental pieces, written for special occasions such as those commissioned for wedding ceremonies. Famous serenades by Mozart include theHaffnerSerenade,Serenade No. 10 for winds commonly known asGran Partita, theSerenata notturna, and one of his most famous works,Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The last two of these, had they been written earlier in the century, would have been atypical for using onlystring instruments.[4]
By the 19th century, the serenade had transformed into a concert work, and was less associated with outdoor performance for honorary occasions. Composers began to write serenades for other ensembles. Thetwo serenades by Brahms are rather like light symphonies, perhaps more closely related to suites, except that they use an ensemble such as Mozart would have recognized: a small orchestra (in the case of the Serenade No. 2, an orchestra entirely withoutviolins).Dvořák,Tchaikovsky,Josef Suk,Edward Elgar, and others wrote serenades for strings only, seeSerenade for Strings (Dvořák),Serenade for Strings (Tchaikovsky),Serenade for Strings (Suk), andSerenade for Strings (Elgar), as didHugo Wolf, who wrote one for string quartet (theItalian Serenade). Other composers to write serenades in a Romantic style includeLudwig van Beethoven,Franz Schubert,Richard Strauss,Max Reger,Ethel Smyth,Wilhelm Stenhammar andJean Sibelius (seeTwo Serenades (Sibelius)).
Some examples of serenades in the 20th century include theSerenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings byBenjamin Britten, theSerenade in A forpiano byStravinsky, the Serenade forbaritone andseptet, Op. 24 byArnold Schoenberg, and the movement entitled "Serenade" inShostakovich's last string quartet,No. 15 (1974).Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote aSerenade to Music (for 16 solo voices and orchestra) that premiered in 1938, whileLeonard Bernstein composed hisSerenade after Plato's "Symposium" (for solo violin, strings harp and percussion) in 1954. These modern serenades are freely explored adaptations to the serenade's original formal layout and instrumentation. A modern play on serenading is using aboombox to play music. One notable example is in the 1989 movieSay Anything when John Cusack's character Lloyd plays "In Your Eyes" byPeter Gabriel under his love interest's open bedroom window.
A serenade is commonly of a multi-movement structure, ranging anywhere from four to up to ten movements. They usually are constructed with a fast opening movement, followed by middle slow movements that alternate with fast ones and close with a fast presto orallegro movement. There are strong influences from chamber music, and serenades can be subtly inserted into a chamber music program. A serenade can be considered somewhere in between a suite and a symphony, but is usually of a light and romantic nature — casual and without too many overly dramatic moments.[5]
