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How do you pronounce "Serenade"?


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A lot of how Serenade is pronounced has to do with the publisher of the score marks the score. I believe that most American editions of Serenade in C for Strings were printed in France, with French markings for tempo, and so forth. Ergo, Se-re-NOD. Now, as to say, Vaughan Williams' "Serenade to Music", published by Boosey & Hawkes, Seh-reh-NADE (long A) would be the preferred pronunciation.

And Rodeo is a nice conundrum. If you are in Texas, it's pronounced one way, in Wyoming, another way, and in California, definitely Ro-DAY-oh. Maybe Agnes had been talking the idea over with uncle Cecil.

[ February 19, 2002: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

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Well I'm not well versed in the history of these ballets, but I agree that what the choreographer pronounced or probably pronounced should be respected. But the snobery of the ballet world probably requires Ro-day-o rather than

Ro-dee-o smile.gif . It's trickier with Serenade since Sere-naid, Sere-nod and Sere-nad all have a certain elegance depending on your inclination. My first instinct is to say Sere-naid, like the verb to sing to someone.

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As I was trying to navigate the ever-perplexing NYCB website (where IS the information about the repertoire?), I came across a pronunciation guide. They've recorded people saying the titles to most of the ballets in their repertoire. It's a great idea, but poorly (sometimes amusingly) executed: if NYCB audiences went around trying to pronounce Serenade the way the very proper Frenchwoman does on the site, we'd all sound like a bunch of pretentious twits! (Just try saying Sarabande and Danse in conversation the way she does and see what kind of reaction you get, lol!) Apparently, Italian titles are supposed to be pronounced with a French accent as well. And I'm pretty sure every single German title is flat-out mispronounced.

It got me thinking that a decent rule of thumb for American usage might be to approximate the pronunciation of the original language using only sounds intrinsic to American English, and with American stress-rhythms. HARmony-lay-ruh for Harmonielehre, for instance; SerenODD or SerenAYD with a hard America r and our back-of-throat e's.

Thoughts? Are there other sites that do this better?

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as has likely been noted on this site, George Balanchine said <<sereNAYD>>.

(anyone listening to the narration of PBS's BALANCHINE (Part 1 and 2) (1984) can hear this on the part of the docu. where the balletmaster recalls making his first ballet he made in America.)

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When I first started reading about the ballet, way before seeing it onstage, I would pronounce it as in "lemonade", but then one day a friend/balletomane pointed at it and corrected me, saying that it was the french pronunciation the right way. I still pronounce it as in english. Not with Agon, which I pronounce as Ah-Gohn-(don't know why, to be honest... :( )

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as has likely been noted on this site, George Balanchine said <<sereNAYD>>.

(anyone listening to the narration of PBS's BALANCHINE (Part 1 and 2) (1984) can hear this on the part of the docu. where the balletmaster recalls making his first ballet he made in America.)

So then I'm assuming that it can be pronounced both ways. I would just say the word as it is usually pronounced in English out of the choreographic work context.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/serenade

Then, in a couple of occasions I have mentioned the ballet's title with a little variation, as we use the word in Spanish/Italian: Serenata, just as I usually exchange La Bayadere for La Bayadera, in its Spanish form.(Same with bailarina instead of ballerina, etc...)

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=s...ata&db=luna

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it's true that many? most? all? individuals around NYCB and SAB say: sereNAHD.

i have no idea where or how it began but it has stuck, which doesn't make is 'correct' of course.

the following article by Joan Acocella discusses this by stressing that "sereNAHD" and "HARlehkwinahd" each mix foreign and Americanized pronunciations. her conclusion is that these ballet names, among other words in the ballet world of the USA are best said in plain English, a notion that strikes me as sound (no pun intended):

"You say potahto."

Dance ink. New York. v. 2, no. 1, Apr. 1991, p. 2-5. ill.

Pronunciations of ballet terminology and the biases attached.

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