Download Serenade
Drema Elleman
In music, a serenade (/ˌsɛrəˈneɪd/; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honour of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian word serenata, which itself derives from the Latin serenus.[1] Sense influenced by Italian sera "evening", from Latin sera, fem. of serus "late".[2]
In the oldest usage, which survives in informal form to the present day, a serenade is a musical greeting performed for a lover, friend, person of rank or other person to be honored. The classic usage would be from a lover to his lady love through a window. It was considered an evening piece, one to be performed on a quiet and pleasant evening, as opposed to an aubade, which would be performed in the morning. The custom of serenading in this manner began in the Medieval era, and the word "serenade" as commonly used in current English is related to this custom. Music performed followed no one particular form, except that it was typically sung by one person accompanying himself on a portable instrument, most likely a guitar, lute or other plucked instrument. Works of this type also appeared in later eras, but usually in a context that referred specifically to a past time, such as arias in an opera (there is a famous example in Mozart's Don Giovanni). Carl Maria von Weber composed his serenade for voice and guitar, "Horch'! Leise horch', Geliebte!" (1809).
The most important and prevalent type of serenade in music history is a work for large instrumental ensemble in multiple movements, related to the divertimento, and mainly being composed in the Classical and Romantic periods, though a few examples exist from the 20th century. Usually the character of the work is lighter than other multiple-movement works for large ensemble (for example the symphony), with tunefulness being more important than thematic development or dramatic intensity. Most of these works are from Italy, Germany, Austria and Bohemia.
Among the most famous examples of the serenade from the 18th century are those by Mozart, whose serenades typically comprise between four and ten movements. His serenades were often purely instrumental pieces, written for special occasions such as those commissioned for wedding ceremonies. Famous serenades by Mozart include the Haffner Serenade, Serenade No. 10 for winds commonly known as Gran Partita, the Serenata notturna, and one of his most famous works, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The last two of these, had they been written earlier in the century, would have been atypical for using only string instruments.[4]
By the 19th century, the serenade had transformed into a concert work, and was less associated with outdoor performance for honorary occasions. Composers began to write serenades for other ensembles. The two serenades by Brahms are rather like light symphonies, perhaps more closely related to suites, except that they use an ensemble such as Mozart would have recognized: a small orchestra (in the case of the Serenade No. 2, an orchestra entirely without violins). Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Josef Suk, Edward Elgar, and others wrote serenades for strings only, as did Hugo Wolf, who wrote one for string quartet (the Italian Serenade). Other composers to write serenades in a Romantic style include Ludwig van Beethoven, Hector Berlioz, Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss, Max Reger, Ethel Smyth, Wilhelm Stenhammar and Jean Sibelius.
Some examples of serenades in the 20th century include the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings by Benjamin Britten, the Serenade in A for piano by Stravinsky, the Serenade for baritone and septet, Op. 24 by Arnold Schoenberg, and the movement entitled "Serenade" in Shostakovich's last string quartet, No. 15 (1974). Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a Serenade to Music (for 16 solo voices and orchestra) that premiered in 1938, while Leonard Bernstein composed his Serenade after Plato's "Symposium" (for solo violin, strings harp and percussion) in 1954. These modern serenades are freely explored adaptations to the serenade's original formal layout and instrumentation. A modern play on Serenading is using a Boombox to play music. One notable example is in the 1989 movie Say Anything when John Cusack's character Lloyd plays In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel under his love interest's open bedroom window.
Problem 1 - It encourages long, drawn out fights which are opposite to how red builds want to play. The whole point of building red is to get a ton of fast damage and just shred enemies before they can get their attacks off. But in order to use serenade to it's full extent, you need to let it attack enemies to build up marks, then call it back so you can attack the marks to proc them, then let it back out to proc your marks. Why bother with all this when other red weapons can just burst enemies in half the time?
Which leads into problem 2 - It requires too much from the player and the payoff is too little. The crits aren't particularly strong, and using Serenade basically takes up both a weapon slot (most of which have stronger crits and attacks than it does) as well as an item slot. Then you also have to track so many things to utilize it effectively - you have to keep an eye on its patience timer so it doesn't go on cooldown, you need to watch which enemies it's marked, you need to watch which enemies you've marked, you need to mentally remember whether your x is the serenade attack or your normal weapon attack at any given time, and it's just too much to keep track of for how little benefit you get. Compare this to the other pets, which require pretty much no thought and will just add to your DPS no matter what.
When Elias investigated further, he found that male jumping spiders accompany their moves with a remarkably elaborate serenade of vibrations, sent through the ground to the females, beyond human perception.
With Valentine's Day less than 48 hours away, you might be sweating bullets trying to come up with some way--any way--to impress that special someone.Well, I'm going let you in on a little secret. There is nothing that wins someone over like MUSIC. Sure, you could always gift your sweetheart a violin. But it's also prime time for serenading and the singing telegram. And this strange tradition of awkwardly showing up at someones door to sing songs (think Christmas carolers) is nothing new. It all began with the serenade.A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SERENADEGoing back to prehistoric times, there is evidence of music. Like verbal language itself, music is similarly a natural and essential form of communication. The oldest known musical instruments include a collection from China even dating between 6,600 and 7,000 BC. Now those are some serious oldies.If you think about it, almost any piece of music could be considered a serenade in the sense that all music is intended to be performed for an audience, whether it be a hall of concertgoers or simple an individual.But when it comes to the traditional serenade, this form developed in Medieval times as a way for an eager gentleman to serenade his lady love of choice. This was typically done in the evening through a window (Romeo-and-Juliet style) with self-accompaniment on a lute or guitar.These medieval serenades developed into an art form of its own kind. During the Baroque era the serenade evolved into a lyrical piece still sung and played outdoors, but for an an audience rather than a courted lady. By the Classical and Romantic eras the serenade further evolved into a form in concert literature for string ensembles and orchestras, like a light symphonic work with multiple movements and varying tempos, but free of heavy, dramatic orchestration. The serenade kept it's lyrical, evening-song character.AND IT'S STILL HAPPENINGGoing back to the original serenade with that young man singing at the window, this form of the serenade is still performed today. There is no shortage of young men wooing girls on the guitar. One of my old roommates was even proposed to via song. Singing telegrams, caroling, Italian men singing from gondolas, mariachi band specials, and even Elvis impersonators serenading couples down the aisles of Vegas wedding chapels are today's popular way to send messages of love.Now, you can even serenade your loved ones online. For example, my friend Fresh Big Mouf will send his original song, "Secret Crush" to your very own secret crush as a digital message of love. There's modern serenading at its finest. Serenade your secret sweetheart with a virtual valentine.
(Photo by Marcello Ambriz)
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