Serenade, << `sair` uh NAYD, >> is a musical composition that has both instrumental and vocal forms. The instrumental form is more important in music history. This form consists of a collection of many short movements (sections) written for a small group of stringed instruments, wind instruments, or both. The movements generally include such forms as marches and minuets.
Traditionally, a vocal serenade is the song a lover performs beneath his lady’s window at night. The term comes from the Italian word sera, which means evening. While he sings, the lover usually accompanies himself with an instrument he can carry, such as a guitar. The Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote a famous serenade, “Deh vieni alla finestra,” in his opera Don Giovanni (1787).
