Serenade for Strings (Tchaikovsky)

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

Contents
Form
Premieres
References in other contexts
References
External links

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 conspirito
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 underEduard Napravnik.

References in other contexts

The score was used as the foundation of theGeorge 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 rinity
T 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]

Channel Television in the 1980s.[4]

The waltz section was also used as the startup theme for British television station
Excerpts from the score were used in the 2005 balletAnna Karenina, choreographed by Boris Eifman.
The waltz was used in theGoogle Doodle for the 100th anniversary of the completion of theTrans-Siberian Railway
in 2016.
 The first movement (Pezzo in forma di sonatina: Andante non troppo — Allegro moderato) is the motif of Stefano
Valentini, one of the main antagonists in the game The Evil Within 2.

References
1. "Tchaikovsky-Research Wiki Page on the String Serenade" (http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Serenade_for_
String_Orchestra). Retrieved June 21, 2015.
2. "Program Notes, Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings" (http://www.sydneysymphony.com/media/81472/PROG15_1006
11_SerenadeStrings-TaS_SSO.pdf) (PDF). Sydney Symphony. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
3. Goodchild, Peter (1981).J. Robert Oppenheimer : Shatterer of worlds. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 161. ISBN 0-
39530-530-6. OCLC 7283805 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7283805).
4. Channel TV Opening Routine - 1982(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfB4Kys5lCU) on YouTube

External links
Serenade for Strings: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project(IMSLP)
Tchaikovsky Research
Performance of Serenade for Stringsby A Far Cry from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museumin MP3 format

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