Serenade for Strings (Dvořák)

Antonín Dvořák's Serenade for Strings in E major (Czech: Smyčcová serenáda E dur), Op.

He received a generous stipend from a commission in Vienna, allowing him to write the Serenade, in addition to Symphony No.

The piece premiered in Prague on 10 December 1876 by Adolf Čech and the combined orchestras of the Czech and German theatres.

It is believed that Dvořák took up this small orchestral genre because it was less demanding than the symphony, but allowed for the provision of pleasure and entertainment.

More thematic material enters at bar 32 as the violins and cellos trade calls and responses over running eighths in the violas.

A 20-bar eighth-note passage leads into a quotation of the first movement's theme, bringing the piece full circle.

22) was aptly entitled, since at least four of its five movements (the second of which was a delightful waltz) displayed an elegant touch suggestive of gracious living accompanied by 'serenading' in the stately home of some 18th-century aristocrat; in the finale alone did the composer discard periwig and lace cuffs, and even here the junketing, though lively, was well-bred, and in the closing moments there was a delicious return to the courtliness of the opening.

Since Dvořák was as yet only on the threshold of developing an individual style, it is perhaps not surprising that this slightly uncharacteristic but extremely accomplished and enjoyable Serenade is the earliest of his compositions in which a detached listener is likely to discover enchantment.Just like delivering good news to someone has a positive rub-off effect on the messenger, performing Dvořák's Serenade is really a very therapeutic endeavor for performers.

Somehow even the moments which could cast a gloomy shadow – light melancholy of the Waltz, or the fragility of the opening of Larghetto – retain the wonderfully cloudless atmosphere...

The remarkable thing about Dvořák's Serenade – this 'cloudless goodness' is fully sufficient for sustaining meaningful communication for nearly half an hour of music.