Serenade for Strings (Tchaikovsky)

Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48, premiered in 1880. It remains one of the late Romantic era's most definitive compositions.

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. 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 the string orchestra, the better will the composer's desires be fulfilled."

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

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 and performed by Kathryn Grayson with José Iturbi conducting the MGM studio orchestra.
• Excerpts from the score were used in the 2005 ballet Anna Karenina, choreographed by Boris Eifman.

External links

• Serenade for Strings: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.