Serenade is about music; the words are Shakespearean. The two verses of the song ‘O mistress mine’ act as book-ends to some words from The Merchant of Venice. These tell of the (to us) silent but imagined music of the spheres, and then, by contrast, of ‘the man that hath no music in his soul’; two of the four double basses in this latter section are fixed on a monotone, where they are joined, eventually, by the singer. A repeat of the heavenly-music section, done as a vocalise, leads into the more earth-bound, but still musical, second verse of the song.’ [Humphrey Clucas]
‘Serenade’ was commissioned by David Heyes for Bass-Fest 2002 and was premiered at Downe House School (Newbury, Berkshire, UK) on 6 April 2002 by Sarah Poole (soprano) with an international Double Bass, Quartet featuring Thierry Barbé (France), Mette Hanskov (Denmark), David Heyes (UK) and Teppo Hauta-aho (Finland).