Serenade to Music
For 16 soloists and orchestra<
Serenade to Music is an orchestral concert work completed in 1938 by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, written as a tribute to conductor Sir Henry Wood. It features an orchestra and 16 vocal soloists, with lyrics adapted from the discussion about music and the music of the spheres from Act V, Scene I from the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. Vaughan Williams later arranged the piece into versions for chorus and orchestra and solo violin and orchestra.
Movements
- Andantino
- “How Sweet the Moonlight”
- “Look How the Floor of Heaven…”
- “Come, Ho! and Wake Diana With a Hymn”
- “I Am Never Merry When I Hear Sweet Music”
- “Music! Hark!”
- “How Many Things by Season…”
- “Soft Stillness and the night”
Recommended recordings
- London Philharmonic Orchestra · Adrian Boult YouTubeSpotify (subscription)
- Academy of St Martin in the Fields · Neville Marriner YouTubeSpotify (subscription)