Serenade for Strings (Tchaikovsky)

Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48, was composed in 1880.^[1]

Form

Serenade for Strings has 4 movements:

1. Pezzo in forma di sonatina: Andante non troppo — Allegro moderato
2. Valse: Moderato — Tempo di valse
3. Élégie: Larghetto elegiaco
4. Finale (Tema russo): Andante — Allegro con spirito

Tchaikovsky intended the first movement to be an imitation of Mozart's style, and it was based on the form of the classical sonatina, with a slow introduction.^[2] The stirring 36-bar Andante introduction is marked "sempre marcatissimo" and littered with double-stopping in the violins and violas, forming towering chordal structures. This introduction is restated at the end of the movement, and then reappears, transformed, in the coda of the fourth movement, tying the entire work together.

On the second page of the score, Tchaikovsky wrote, "The larger number of players in the string orchestra, the more this shall be in accordance with the author's wishes."^[1]

The second movement, Valse, has become a popular piece in its own right.

Premieres

The Serenade was given a private performance at the Moscow Conservatory on 3 December 1880. Its first public performance was in St Petersburg on 30 October 1881 under Eduard Napravnik.

References in other contexts

• The score was used as the foundation of the George Balanchine ballet Serenade in 1934.
• The waltz in the second movement was arranged for soprano and full orchestra for the 1945 MGM film Anchors Aweigh under the name "From the Heart of a Lonely Poet" and performed by Kathryn Grayson with José Iturbi conducting the MGM studio orchestra.
• The piece incidentally accompanied the final countdown for the Trinity atomic bomb test July 16, 1945, when it was being broadcast by a Voice of America station on the same frequency being used to transmit test communications.^[3]
• The waltz section was also used as the startup theme for British television station Channel Television in the 1980s.^[4]
• Excerpts from the score were used in the 2005 ballet Anna Karenina, choreographed by Boris Eifman.
• The waltz was used in the Google Doodle for the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway in 2016.

References

External links

• Serenade for Strings: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Tchaikovsky Research
• Performance of Serenade for Strings by A Far Cry from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Operas	The Voyevoda Undina The Oprichnik Vakula the Smith Eugene Onegin The Maid of Orleans Mazepa (or Mazeppa) Cherevichki The Enchantress The Queen of Spades Iolanta
Ballets	Swan Lake The Sleeping Beauty The Nutcracker
Symphonies	No. 1 in G minor ("Winter Daydreams") No. 2 in C minor ("Little Russian") No. 3 in D major ("Polish") No. 4 in F minor Symphony in B minor ("Manfred") No. 5 in E minor No. 6 in B minor ("Pathétique") No. 7 in E♭ major (unfinished)
Concertante	Piano Concerto No. 1 in B♭ minor Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major Piano Concerto No. 3 in E♭ major Concert Fantasia Andante and Finale Sérénade mélancolique Valse-Scherzo Violin Concerto in D major Variations on a Rococo Theme Pezzo capriccioso Cello Concerto
Orchestral works	Romeo and Juliet The Tempest Hamlet Capriccio Italien Francesca da Rimini The Storm Fatum The Voyevoda 1812 Overture Marche Slave Festival Overture on the Danish National Anthem Festival Coronation March Orchestral Suite No. 1 in D minor Orchestral Suite No. 2 in C major Orchestral Suite No. 3 in G major Orchestral Suite No. 4 in G major ("Mozartiana") Serenade for Strings
Vocal music	Liturgy of St John Chrysostom All-Night Vigil Moscow
Chamber music	Quartet Movement in B♭ major String Quartet No. 1 in D major String Quartet No. 2 in F major String Quartet No. 3 in E♭ minor Souvenir d'un lieu cher Piano Trio in A minor String Sextet in D minor (Souvenir de Florence)
Piano music	Scherzo à la russe Souvenir de Hapsal The Seasons (Les saisons) Piano Sonata No. 2 in C♯ minor Grand Piano Sonata in G major
Portrayals	Tchaikovsky (1969 film)
Related articles	Antonina Miliukova Belyayev circle Death International Tchaikovsky Competition Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky Musical style Nadezhda von Meck Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in popular media Symphonies by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Tchaikovsky State House-Museum The Five Vladimir Davydov
Book:Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky List of compositions by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Category:Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky