Serenade for strings

Edward Elgar's Serenade for Strings Op. 20 was composed in 1892 during a period when the composer was beginning to develop his distinctive personal style. The work already displays that warm, elegiac musical language that would later characterize his major orchestral works. The three movements breathe the spirit of English late Romanticism and combine continental European influences with a decidedly British tone.

Elgar's Serenade is considered an important building block in the revival of English art music after centuries of domination by foreign composers. The music is distinguished by noble melodic writing and sophisticated harmonic turns that already hint at the future master of the "Enigma Variations" and the symphonies. The slow middle movement in particular, with its intimate cantabile quality, is said to have moved audiences from the very beginning.

As a work for string orchestra, the Serenade stands in the tradition of corresponding compositions by Dvořák and Tchaikovsky, yet develops a completely independent expressive world. It marks Elgar's transformation from a regional composer to one of international stature.