Serenade No. 2 for Strings in F, Op. 63 [String Orchestra (8-8-5-5-5)]

While not so well-known today, Robert Volkmann (1815-1883) was a composer of some standing among his contemporaries, encouraged to pursue music by Robert Schumann, called "dear friend" by Johannes Brahms, and promoted by Franz Liszt with whom he taught at Budapest's National Academy of Music.  This SERENADE FOR STRINGS is the second of three written by Volkmann, all three of which were among his most popular works and which were often performed up until World War I, when he and his music began to disappear, like the music of other fine Romantic era composers.  SERENADE NO. 2 consists of four short movements which function as mood pictures.  The work was referred to by Tchaikovsky as oustanding and superb.