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Serenade (Stravinsky)

Serenade in A is a work for solo piano by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. Completed on September 9, 1925, in Vienna[1] and published by Boosey & Hawkes,[2] it resulted from his signing his first gramophone recording contract, for Brunswick, and was written so that each movement could fit on one side of a 78 rpm record.[3] The dedicatee was Stravinsky's wife Yekaterina.[2]

Structure

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Serenade in A lasts about twelve minutes and is in four movements:

  1. Hymne (Hymn)
  2. Romanza (Romance)
  3. Rondoletto
  4. Cadenza finala (Final cadence)

Despite its title, the work is in neither A major nor A minor. According to Eric White, A is not the "key" of the work, but rather the music radiates from and tends towards A as a "tonic pole". Thus, the first and the last chord of each movement contains the note A, either as the root, third, or fifth of a triad.[4] According to Stravinsky, the piece was conceived "in imitation of the Nachtmusik of the eighteenth century, which was usually commissioned by patron princes for various festive occasions, and included, as did the suites, an indeterminate number of pieces".[5] Therefore, the movement titles are meant to evoke the specific parts of such festive celebration.

From the pianist's perspective, "Hymne" is related to Frédéric Chopin's Ballade No. 2, while the Cadenza finala reflects Stravinsky's Russian heritage.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Alexander Carpenter. Igor Stravinsky: Serenade for Piano in A major at AllMusic
  2. ^ a b Igor Stravinsky (1980). Soulima Stravinsky (ed.). "Serenade in A". London; New York: Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  3. ^ David Truslove, "Igor Stravinsky – Piano Music", liner notes to Stravinsky: Music for Piano Solo, Naxos 8.570377, January 2008. Accessed July 12, 2013.
  4. ^ Eric Walter White, Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works, second edition (Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press, 1979): 324. ISBN 0-520-03985-8.
  5. ^ Igor Stravinsky, An Autobiography (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1962): 124. ISBN 0-393-00161-X; OCLC 311867794. Originally published in French as Chroniques de ma vie, 2 vols. (Paris: Denoël et Steele, 1935), subsequently translated (anonymously) as Chronicle of My Life. London: Gollancz, 1936. OCLC 1354065. This edition reprinted as Igor Stravinsky An Autobiography, with a preface by Eric Walter White (London: Calder and Boyars, 1975) ISBN 0-7145-1063-7 (cloth); ISBN 0-7145-1082-3 (pbk.). Reprinted again as An Autobiography (1903–1934) (London: Boyars, 1990) ISBN 0-7145-1063-7 (cased); ISBN 0-7145-1082-3 (pbk). Also published as Igor Stravinsky An Autobiography (New York: M. & J. Steuer, 1958).
  6. ^ John Ogdon, "Stravinsky and the Piano", Tempo, new series, no. 81, Stravinsky's 85th Birthday (Summer 1967): 36–41. Citation on 40; Alfredo Casella, "Stravinsky" (Brescia: Editrice La Scuola, 1947): 129.

Further reading

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