The four-movement work written in 1880 and first performed in Moscow in 1882 is dedicated to Konstantin Albert, Tchaikovsky's fellow professor at the Conservatory of Moscow. By virtue of the varied nature and manifold elaboration of the music material as well as its numerous original solutions the Serenade for strings belongs to Tchaikovsky's most remarkable and - in spite of its title - profoundest compositions. The hidden relatedness of themes in the first and last movements, recoilings and melancholic darkenings interrupting the dance rhythm of the Valse (that have no more to do with light music than Chopin's or Brahms' waltzes) and the grave, slowly resolving then returning dissonances of the Elegy are all of this kind, and have contributed to making the Serenade in C major the most lasting work for string orchestra of the 19th century.