Tchaikovsky: Serenade for String Orchestra, Op.48

Introduction

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

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 number of players in the string orchestra, the more this shall be in accordance with the author's wishes."

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 under Eduard Napravnik.