The ''Concierto serenata'' for

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

was composed in 1952 by

Joaquín Rodrigo Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquess of the Gardens of Aranjuez (; 22 November 1901 – 6 July 1999), was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist. He is best known for composing the '' Concierto de Aranjuez'', a cornerstone of the classical g ...

.Spanish Music in the Twentieth Century
Marco, T. 1993. Harvard University Press. Retrieved: 27/05/18 It was written for

Nicanor Zabaleta Nicanor Zabaleta (January 7, 1907 – April 1, 1993) was a Spanish harpist. Zabaleta was born in San Sebastián, Spain, on January 7, 1907. In 1914 his father, an amateur musician, bought him a harp in an antique shop. He soon began taking ...

, who

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

d the work in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

on November 9, 1956;KAMHI DE RODRIGO, V. (1992). Hand in hand with Joaquín Rodrigo: my life at the maestro's side. Pittsburgh, Pa, Latin American Literary Review Press.

Odón Alonso Odón Alonso Ordás (28 February 1925 – 21 February 2011) was a Spanish conducting, conductor and composer, best known for his film scores. Alonso was born at La Bañeza, León, Spain. He studied in Madrid, Siena, Salzburg and Vienna. His fir ...

conducted the

Spanish National Orchestra The Orquesta Nacional de España (Spanish National Orchestra) is a Spanish orchestra based in Madrid. History Although the orchestra originated as of 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, it was legally founded in 1940, by the merging of Pérez Casa ...

. Zabaleta recorded it with the

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (''Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie. The orchestra has a ...

under Ernst Märzendorfer for

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

three years later. The concerto is in three

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

; a typical performance lasts around 20 minutes. The first of the three movements represents a group of young musicians walking in the street; the third represents evening. The second is written in form of a canon. The movements are: *''Estudiantina'' (Allegro ma non troppo — Andante) *''Intermezzo'' (Molto tranquillo) *''Sarao'' (Allegro deciso)

References

See also