A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Serenade
SERENADE (Ital. Serenata; Fr. Sérénade; Germ. Ständchen). Evening song. The Italian word Serenata means, literally, fine weather more especially, that of a calm summer night. [App. p.792 "The Italian word Serenata is almost undoubtedly allied to Sera, evening, which gives a more satisfactory definition than that given in the Dictionary."] Hence, the word has been applied, indiscriminately, to many different kinds of Music, intended to be sung, or played, at night, in the open air: and, so generally has this connection of ideas been accepted, that, by common consent, the term 'Serenade' has identified itself, in many languages, with the Song sung by a lover standing beneath his mistress's window, or the Concert of Instrumental Music substituted for it by an admirer with 'no Voice for singing.' This is not, indeed, the only sense in which the term is used: but it is the most popular one; and, for the present, we shall entirely confine ourselves to it.
To be true to Nature, a Serenade of this kind should be simple in construction, melodious in character, sensuous in expression, and accompanied by some kind of Instrument which the lover might conveniently carry in his hand. All these conditions are fulfilled in the most perfect example of the style that ever has been, or is ever likely to be written—'Deh vieni alla fenestra [App. p.792 "finestra"],' in 'Il Don Giovanni.' The Melody of this is as artless as a primitive Chant du pays; yet capable—teste Tamburini—of breathing the very soul of voluptuous passion; and accompanied by a Mandoline. No other embodiment of the type can be compared with this; but 'Ecco ridente il cielo,' and the 'Se il mio nome,' in the 'Barbieres' of Rossini and Paisiello, are very beautiful examples.
Stage surroundings are, however, by no means indispensable to the true Serenade; nor is there any limit to the amount of earnest feeling, or even hopeless sadness, that may be thrown into it. Schubert has left us two examples, each of which stands unrivalled, as the exponent of its own peculiar vein of Poetry. Neither scenery, nor costume, are needed, to enforce the tone of chivalrous devotion which raises 'Who is Sylvia' above other Compositions of its class, or to deepen the passionate longing of 'Leise flehen meine Lieder.'
The distance which separates the examples we have quoted from such Compositions as Donizetti's 'Com' e gentil,' or Kücken's 'Maurisches Ständchen' is impassable: yet both are meritorious enough in their way; and a hundred others will suggest themselves to the reader. From these, however, we must turn to the consideration of the same idea clothed in an instrumental dress. And, let it be clearly understood that we are not speaking, here, of the grand Instrumental Serenade—which is quite another thing; but of the lover's greeting to his mistress, expressed in instrumental form for lack of voice to sing with.
The most delicious example of this that we possess is the Serenade in Sterndale Bennett's Chamber Trio in A, Op. 27. We have, here, in the sustained Melody for the Pianoforte, accompanied by the Guitar-like pizzicato of the Stringed Instruments, every essential feature of the vocal Serenade, except the words; while, in Mendelssohn's 'Serenade and Allegro Gioioso' for Pianoforte and Orchestra (Op. 43), we may imagine, both the lover's greeting, and the lady's brilliant response from the Pianoforte in her boudoir.
Many more examples will suggest themselves to the reader: but it is not often that the idea is carried out so happily as in those we have mentioned.