Your Favorite Orchestral Serenades

[Florestan]

(Inspired by an exchange in the WAYLT thread. You may name as many as you want)

My list:

1. Mozart (no particular order): Haffner, Posthorn, Eine kleine Nacht Musik, Gran Partita, Serenata Notturna, KV 375, all of the rest

2. Tchaikovsky: Op. 48

3. Dvorak: Op. 22

4. Brahms: Op. 11, Op. 16

5. Robert Fuchs: Serenade No.3 in E minor, Op.21

Honorable mention Elgar: Serenade for Strings in E minor Op. 20

[vandermolen]

Bax: Symphonic Serenade for String Orchestra

Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings

Lennox Berkeley: Serenade for Strings

+ Wiren (having read Daverz's post below)

[Jo498]

Full orchestra:
Brahms #1
Mozart: Posthorn
Mozart: Haffner

Strings only:
Dvorak
Tchaikovsky
Mozart K 525

Winds:
Dvorak
Mozart K 361
Mozart K 388

[Symphonic Addict]

Stenhammar
Brahms 1
Suk
Dvorak
Korngold Symphonic Serenade
Mozart Posthorn

Oddly enough I'm not as keen on the Tchaikovsky as I should.

[Florestan]

Oddly enough I'm not as keen on the Tchaikovsky as I should.

De gustibus...

FWIW the Tempo di Valse from Op. 48 is my favorite movement of any Serenade I've ever heard, Mozart included. Pure bliss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSGKRfEUqVk

[Symphonic Addict]

De gustibus...

FWIW the Tempo di Valse from Op. 48 is my favorite movement of any Serenade I've ever heard, Mozart included. Pure bliss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSGKRfEUqVk

I understand why, that is an empeccable tune, incredibly catchy and memorable, and surely it must bring many memories to your mind, I guess. Maybe it is the 3rd movement the one that convinces me the least? I'm not sure, actually. The work has everything to give me a good impression, though. Lovely stuff.

If I could include his Souvenir de Florence as an orchestral serenade, I would go for it!

[amw]

Dvořák: op. 22 (for strings), op. 44 (for winds)
Bartók: BB 118/Sz. 113 (for strings)
Britten: op. 31 (for tenor, horn and strings)
Sibelius: op. 69, nos. 1 and 2 (for violin and orchestra)
Brahms: op. 11 and 16 (for orchestra)
Suk: op. 6 (for strings)
Reger: op. 95 (for orchestra)
Tchaikovsky: op. 48 (for strings), op. 55 (for orchestra)
Fuchs: op. 9 (for strings)
Stenhammar: op. 31 (for orchestra)
Mozart: KV 185, 203, 204, 239, 250, 320, 334, 361, 375, 388, 525 (for various ensembles)

The restriction here to orchestral works, however, excludes the two or three greatest serenades/divertimenti in music history, which are of course Mozart's KV 563 and Beethoven's Op. 130 and 131.

[Symphonic Addict]

Reger: op. 95 (for orchestra)
Tchaikovsky: op. 55 (for orchestra)

You're cheating with the Tchaikovsky. That is a Suite. 

As for the Reger, what a dense piece. It's not something I want to hear everyday.

[amw]

You're cheating with the Tchaikovsky. That is a Suite. 

Arguably the Tchaikovsky suites are closer to the traditional concept a serenade than the actual "Serenade" op. 48—all movements are character pieces, none are in sonata form, and the overall character is lighter. I can, however, replace it with the Sérénade mélancolique op. 26 if it is voided.

As for the Reger, what a dense piece. It's not something I want to hear everyday.

Honestly, it might be my favourite Reger piece, although the Violin Concerto is up there as well. I love the super-chromatic harmonic language, the orchestration, and the sort of fin-de-siècle nostalgia of it all, similar to the Suk Serenade on the same list (one could also compare/contrast with the much shorter serenades by Elgar and Victor Herbert, although I didn't name them specifically).

[Daverz]

Love the Stenhammar.  Would also add Dag Wiren's.

[kyjo]

I'm mostly repeating ones that have already been mentioned:

For orchestra:
Arnold (for small orchestra)
Brahms no. 1
Korngold Baby Serenade ()
Mozart no. 7 Haffner
Georg Schumann
Stenhammar

For string orchestra:
Lennox Berkeley
Dvorak
Fuchs no. 3
Suk
Wiren

Other:
Beethoven (for string trio in D major)
Damase (for flute and strings)
Dohnanyi (for string trio)
Hanson (for flute, harp, and strings)
Merikanto (for cello and strings)
Suk (for cello and piano, op. 3/2)

[vandermolen]

+ Moeran's Serenade and Hanson's (as mentioned above by Kyle).

[Irons]

Do they all not follow in the slipstream of Mozart?

[Roasted Swan]

the Bruch Serenade for Violin & Orchestra on this disc is quite quite delightful.......

[Jo498]

Do they all not follow in the slipstream of Mozart?

I wonder how well known Mozart's serenades were in the 19th and early 20th century. Composers might have known a few of them, but the general public probably not. There also seems a lack of serenades for over half a century in the first half of the 19th century. Their recurrence in the 1870s or so seems almost a neoclassical trend.

[Brian]

Tchaikovsky
Suk
Wirén
Brahms No. 1
Dvorák (winds)
Stenhammar
Fuchs No. 1

[LKB]

The Brahms Serenade in D Major ( no. 2 iirc ), and RVW's Serenade to Music.

[Symphonic Addict]

The Brahms Serenade in D Major ( no. 2 iirc ), and RVW's Serenade to Music.

No. 2 is in A major

Though both qualify!

[LKB]

I stand corrected, thanks. I had the pleasure of performing the Brahms back when l was still an oboist, and that feeling has stayed with me... but not the title, apparently. 

[ritter]

Strangely, apart from Mozart's, I cannot recall any composition for orchestra with the word "Serenade" in its title that I can call a favourite.