Dvo?ák Serenade for Strings in E minor
ANTONIN DVORAK 1841 - 1904
SERENADE IN E MINOR FOR STRINGS
Moderato
Tempo di valse
Scherzo. Vivace
Larghetto
Finale. Allegro vivace
The thirty three year old Dvorák started work on the Serenade on 3rd May 1875 and completed the entire work just eleven days later, a month after he had finished the B flat Piano Trio and not long before the composition of the Piano Quartet in D major.
Formally the Serenade is a cycle of five parts; a waltz in C sharp minor, a scherzo in F major, and a slow movement of pensive character in A major. The melancholy of these three middle movements is framed by the characteristic serenade atmosphere of the introductory Moderato and the vigourous finale, both in E major. A feature of the work is the use of strict canonic imitations, which occur in all five movements.
The Serenade is a composition of great spontenaity and its sunny and straightforward charm accounted for the work's immediate success. It remains to this day one of Dvorák's best-loved and most frequently played compositions.
The work was first performed on December 10th 1876 in Prague, at a concert given by the joint orchestras of the Czech and German theatres, conducted by Adolf Cech.
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