LA SERENATA ("Angel's Serenade"), composed by Gaetano Braga

Описание: Performed by The Melachrino Strings (George Melachrino), from the album "Music for Relaxation" (1954).
Composed by Gaetano Braga. READ MORE about the story behind this song:

This is a song that was on the aforementioned LP album,"Music for Relaxation," that my parents owned; one I often heard played in our home.

Gaetano Braga (1828-1907) was an Italian composer and cellist.
"La Serenata," sometimes called "Angel's Serenade" or "Légende valaque," was originally composed for cello, and was first published in 1867. It is a dialogue between a worried mother and a girl who hears an angel's voice calling her to heaven; in the end the girl follows the voice:
("O mamma buona notte, io seguo il suon, io seguo il suon!")
("O mamma good night, I follow the sound, I follow the sound!")

Braga's "Serenade" is mentioned in Anton Chekhov's 1894 short story "The Black Monk," as well as in other Russian works of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In part 2 of the 9-part short story, "The Black Monk," Chekhov wrote:
"One day he [Kovrin] was sitting on the balcony after evening tea, reading. At the same time, in the drawing-room, Tanya taking soprano, one of the young ladies a contralto, and the young man with his violin, were practising a well-known serenade of Braga's. Kovrin listened to the words--they were Russian--and could not understand their meaning. At last, leaving his book and listening attentively, he understood: a maiden, full of sick fancies, heard one night in her garden mysterious sounds, so strange and lovely that she was obliged to recognise them as a holy harmony which is unintelligible to us mortals, and so flies back to heaven. Kovrin's eyes began to close. He got up, and in exhaustion walked up and down the drawing-room, and then the dining-room. When the singing was over he took Tanya's arm, and with her went out on the balcony."

One of my favorite theme songs of early TV was from the "Amos 'n Andy" TV show (CBS, 1951-1953). The music, "Angel's Serenade," was a choral rendition of Braga's "La Serenata." It was performed by the Jeff Alexander Chorus. The music really touched something in my young heart. You can hear the choral rendition here:
   • Jeff Alexander Chorus - Angels Serenade.wmv  

(video created by David R. Purnell)