Description
Elizabethan Serenade, by the English light music composer Ronald Binge (1910-1979), was written in 1951 and first performed by the Mantovani orchestra (for whom Binge had created their characteristic ‘cascading strings’ effect). It was originally entitled simply ‘Andante cantabile’ and may have been intended for an early television documentary called ‘The Man in the Street’. However, upon the accession of Queen Elizabeth in 1952, and the post-war optimism of a “new Elizabethan Age”, Binge renamed the piece Elizabethan Serenade.
This beautifully crafted miniature won Binge an Ivor Novello Award and, through its use as a radio signature tune, became his best known work.
