Abstract
There have been divergent opinions concerning the instrumentation of Dvořák's Serenade, op. 44. Dvořák began the sketches for his Serenade after attending a concert in Vienna where he heard a programme including three movements from Mozart's Serenade in B Flat Major, K 361 (K 370a).
The study offers an analysis of the third movements, focusing on the instrumentation and sonority of the two serenades. The choices of instruments, instrumental registers, and their handling confirm that Dvořák took inspiration from Mozart's aforementioned Serenade.
The conclusions of the analysis are also supported by research of sources in the archives of the Vienna Philharmonic. Such critics as Karel Boleslav Jirák and Jaroslav Zich accused Dvořák of departing from the period norms of instrumentation, but this departure was in reality not a miscalculation, but an intentional choice made against the background of the concept of sound of the 18th century wind divertimentos and serenades, which had nearly been forgotten by that time.