Serenade for Strings (Tchaikovsky) explained
Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48, was composed in 1880.[1] It was first performed October 30, 1881 in St. Petersburg at a Russian Musical Society concert conducted by Eduard Nápravník.
| Serenade for Strings |
| Composer: | P. I. Tchaikovsky |
| Image Upright: | 0.8 |
| Key: | C major |
| Opus: | 48 |
| Dedication: | Karl Albrecht |
| Published: | 1881, Moscow |
| Publisher: | P. Jurgenson |
| Movements: | 4 |
| Premiere Date: | October 30 1881 |
| Premiere Conductor: | Eduard Nápravník |
| Premiere Location: | St. Petersburg |
Form
Serenade for Strings has 4 movements:
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]
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.
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 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 Trinity 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.[2]
- The waltz section was also used as the startup theme for British television station Channel Television in the 1980s.
- Excerpts from the score were used in the 2005 ballet Anna Karenina, choreographed by Boris Eifman.
- The waltz was used in the Google Doodle for the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Trans-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.
- Excerpts from the score were used during NBC's broadcast of a 1983 NFL playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers as a lead in to commercial breaks.
- The second movement was used a few times in the 2021 South Korean survival drama TV series Squid Game.
- The waltz in the second movement is featured in "On Wine: How to Select & Serve," which in turn is sampled on the Beastie Boys "The Blue Nun" from "Check Your Head."
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Tchaikovsky-Research Wiki Page on the String Serenade. June 21, 2015.
- Book: Goodchild, Peter . J. Robert Oppenheimer : Shatterer of worlds . 1981 . Houghton Mifflin . Boston . 0-39530-530-6 . 7283805 . 161 . registration .
