serenade

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1. Music. A complimentary performance given to honor or express love for someone.
2. South Atlantic U.S. See shivaree. See Regional Note at shivaree.
3. Music. An instrumental composition written for a small ensemble and having characteristics of the suite and the sonata.

[French sérénade, from Italian serenata, from sereno, calm, clear, the open air, from Latin serēnus. See serene.]

A musical form, closely related to the Divertimento. The word, from the Latin serenus, was used in its Italian form, Serenata, for vocal works of various kinds, and serenade arias (love songs performed out of doors in the evening) occur in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Don Giovanni. In the Classical period the serenata's function was increasingly taken over by the instrumental serenade, of which Mozart's are the finest examples. Such works were often performed in the evenings or on social occasions; in the Salzburg tradition they might include as many as ten movements, often with three in concerto style set within four or more for orchestra. In the 19th century the orchestral serenade began to predominate, whether for strings (e.g. Dvořák's op.22, Tchaikovsky's op.48 and Elgar's op.20), wind instruments (Dvořák's op.44 and Strauss's op.7) or full orchestra (Brahms's opp. 11 and 16, the latter without violins). Smaller-scale serenades include Wolf's Italienische Serenade for string quartet. Britten's Serenade op.31 for tenor, horn and string orchestra is a cycle of songs about evening (in the widest sense).

Ballet in one act with choreography by Balanchine and music by Tchaikovsky. Premiered 10 June 1934 by students of the School of American Ballet in a private performance at Felix M. Warburg's estate, White Plains, New York; given its first public performance 8 Dec. 1934, Avery Memorial Theater, Hartford, Connecticut, and its first professional performance, with scenery by Gaston Longchamp and costumes by Jean Lurcat, on 1 Mar. 1935 by American Ballet at Adelphi Theater, New York. This setting of Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C major for String Orchestra (with the 3rd and 4th movements of the score interchanged) is probably the most popular and widely performed of all Balanchine's works. It is essentially a plotless ballet, though romantic images are suggested in its final movement which refer to earlier ballets such as Swan Lake and Giselle. Its pure dance sections are largely performed by women, reflecting the gender balance of students for whom it was first choreographed, and two moments—when a woman arrives late to take her place amongst the rows of dancers, and when another woman falls to the floor—were famously incorporated from real events which occurred during rehearsal. After 1936 the work was performed without scenery and new costumes were designed for later productions such as those by Karinska, 1964. It has been revived for many companies, including Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (1940), Paris Opera Ballet (1947), Royal Danish Ballet (1957), La Scala, Milan (1960), Royal Ballet (1964), Australian Ballet (1970), Berlin Opera Ballet (1970), Hungarian State Opera Ballet (1977), Dance Theatre of Harlem (1979), and Matsuyama Ballet (1982).

A love song, or piece traditionally performed below a loved one's window in the evening.

A lover's song or poem of the evening.

This article is about the musical form. See Serenade (disambiguation) for other meanings.

"Serenade" by Judith Leyster.

In music, a serenade (or sometimes serenata) is, in its most general sense, a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone's honor. There are three general categories of serenade in music history.

• In the oldest usage, which survives in informal form to the present day, a serenade is a composition performed for a lover, friend, or other person to be honored, typically in the evening and often below a window. The custom of serenading in this manner began in the Medieval era or Renaissance, and the word "serenade" as commonly used in current English 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, for example a guitar or an accordion. Works of this type also appeared in later eras, but usually in a context that referred specifically to a past time, such as an arias in an opera (there is a famous example in Mozart's Don Giovanni).
• In the Baroque era, and generally called a Serenata (Italian "serenade"--since this form occurred most frequently in Italy), a serenade was a type of cantata performed outdoors, in the evening, with mixed vocal and instrumental forces. Some composers of this type of serenade include Alessandro Stradella, Alessandro Scarlatti, Johann Joseph Fux, Johann Mattheson, and Antonio Caldara. Usually these were large-scale works performed with minimal staging, intermediate between a cantata and an opera. According to some commentators, the main difference between a cantata and a serenata, around 1700, was that the serenata was performed outdoors and therefore could use instruments which would be too loud in a small room--for example trumpets, horns and drums.
• The most important and prevalent type of serenade in music history is a work for large instrumental ensemble in multiple movements, related to the divertimento, and mainly being composed in the Classical and Romantic 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 the symphony), with tunefulness being more important than thematic development or dramatic intensity. Most of these works are from Italy, Germany, Austria and Bohemia.

The most famous examples of the serenade from the 18th century are undoubtedly the ones by Mozart, which are works in more than four movements, and sometimes as many as ten. The most typical ensemble for a serenade was a wind ensemble augmented with basses and violas: instrumentalists who could stand, since the works were often performed outdoors. Frequently the serenades began and ended with movements of a marchlike character--since the instrumentalists often had to march to and from the place of performance. Famous serenades by Mozart include the Haffner Serenade and one of his most famous works, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, which is atypical for only containing string instruments.

By the 19th century, the serenade had transformed into a concert work, less associated with outdoor performance for honorary occasions, and composers began to write serenades for other ensembles. The two serenades by Brahms are rather like light symphonies, except that they use an ensemble Mozart would have recognized: a small orchestra (in the case of the Serenade No.2, an orchestra entirely without violins). Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Josef Suk and others wrote serenades for strings only, as did Hugo Wolf, who wrote one for string quartet (the Italian Serenade). Other composers to write serenades in a Romantic style include Richard Strauss, Max Reger, Edward Elgar and Jean Sibelius.

Some examples of serenades in the 20th century include the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings by Benjamin Britten, the Serenade for piano by Stravinsky, Serenade for baritone and septet Op. 24 by Arnold Schoenberg, and the movement entitled "Serenade" in Shostakovich's last string quartet, No. 15 (1974).

Sources

• The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, ed. Don Randel. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN 0-674-61525-5
• Articles "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart", "Serenade," "Serenata," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - serenade
v. tr. - synge serenade for nogen
v. intr. - synge serenade

Nederlands (Dutch)
serenade, een serenade geven, toezingen

Français (French)
n. - sérénade
v. tr. - donner une sérénade à
v. intr. - donner une sérénade

Deutsch (German)
n. - Ständchen, Serenade
v. - ein Ständchen bringen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (μουσ.) σερενάτα, καντάδα
v. - κάνω καντάδα

Italiano (Italian)
serenata

Português (Portuguese)
n. - serenata (f)
v. - fazer uma serenata

Русский (Russian)
серенада, исполнять серенаду

Español (Spanish)
n. - serenata, cencerrada
v. tr. - obsequiar con una serenata
v. intr. - dar o tocar una serenata

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - serenad
v. - ge en serenad

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
小夜曲, 情歌, 对...唱小夜曲, 唱小夜曲

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 小夜曲, 情歌
v. tr. - 對...唱小夜曲
v. intr. - 唱小夜曲

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 세레나데, 다악장으로 된 기악곡 형식의 하나
v. tr. - (~에게) 세레나데를 들려주다
v. intr. - 세레나데를 연주하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - セレナード
v. - セレナードを歌う

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) لحن يعزف أو يغنى ليلا في ألهواء ألطلق (فعل) يعزف أو يغني سرينادا‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮לחן מושר או מנוגן בלילה, בעיקר ע"י אוהב מתחת לחלון אהובתו, יצירה למקהלה ולתזמורת עם נושא כפרי (קנטטה), סרנדה‬
v. tr. - ‮ניגן או שר סרנדה‬
v. intr. - ‮ניגן או שר סרנדה‬

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