Tchaikovsky & Dvořák: Serenades

Featuring

Luigi Piovano
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Antonín Dvořák
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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Composition History

Both Dvořák's and Tchaikovsky's Serenades for Strings were composed very rapidly, within five years of each other: Dvořák's in 12 days in 1875, and Tchaikovsky's in three weeks in 1880.

Composition History

Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C major was written during a period of personal and artistic crisis, as he sought to distance himself from the complexities of symphonic composition.

Composer Biography

Tchaikovsky, by 1880, was already a well-established composer, famous for works like the *Romeo and Juliet* Overture-Fantasia, Symphony No. 4, and the opera *Eugene Onegin*.

Album & Artwork

The front cover features 'Presa di coscienza sulla natura, 1980' by Mario Giacomelli, an Italian photographer known for his landscape research and other series like 'Scanno'.

Composition History

Dvořák's Serenade in E major was composed during a happy period in his life, following the birth of his first child and receiving a scholarship from the Austrian government.

Composer Biography

In 1875, Dvořák, then 34, was experiencing his first successes, having recently become a father and been awarded a scholarship by the Austrian government.

Compositional Technique

Both Serenades feature a waltz as their second movement, a lyrical second-to-last movement, and a return of the opening theme at the very end to create structural unity.