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

In music, a serenade (or sometimes serenata, from the Italian word) is a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone's honor. Serenades are typically calm, light music.

The word serenade is the translation of the Italian word serenata, derived from the word sereno, which means "calm".[1][not in citation given]

Early serenade music[edit]


Baroque era[edit]

A young woman is sung to from the street

In the Baroque era, and generally called a serenata (Italian "serenade"—since this form occurred most frequently in Italy and Vienna)—a serenata was a usually celebratory or eulogistic dramatic cantata for two or more singers and orchestra, performed outdoors in the evening by artificial light.[2] Again, most likely a guitar or lute was used to accompany the voices.[citation needed] Some composers of this type of serenade include Alessandro Stradella, Alessandro Scarlatti, Johann Joseph Fux, Johann Mattheson, and Antonio Caldara. Often these were large-scale works performed with minimal staging, intermediate between a cantata and an opera. According to some commentators,[who?] 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.

Classical and Romantic eras[edit]


The most famous examples of the serenade from the 18th century are undoubtedly[according to whom?] the ones by Mozart, which are works in more than four movements, and sometimes as many as ten. His serenades were often purely instrumental pieces, written for special occasions such as those commissioned for wedding ceremonies. 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 march-like character—since the instrumentalists often had to march to and from the place of performance.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

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 orchestral serenade began to dominate over the wind ensemble form.[citation needed] The two serenades by Brahms are rather like light symphonies, perhaps more closely related to suites, 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, Edward Elgar 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 and Jean Sibelius.

20th century[edit]




See also[edit]


  1. ^ "Hubert Unverricht & Cliff Eisen. “Serenade”. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 8 December 2009.". (subscription required (help)). 



External links[edit]

  • Media related to Serenades at Wikimedia Commons
  • The dictionary definition of serenade at Wiktionary