How do you pronounce "Serenade"? Options

[rg]

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.)

[Old Fashioned]

Thanks for reviving this thread. I hadn't read it before and found it amusing since I've never given a thought to how Serenade should be pronounced. I always assumed it was Serenade like lemonade, and I pronounce Agon like Ay-gon.

[rg]

Arlene Croce - in her essay called "The Spelling of AGON" - suggestst that Balanchine pronounced his Greek/Stravinsky ballet <<ah-GOHN>>

[Amy Reusch]

If life gives you lemons, make Serenade?

[Hans]

The dancers at SAB/NYCB say Seren-AHD. Indeed, I've never heard it pronounced any other way.

[cubanmiamiboy]

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... (IMG:http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/style_emoticons/default/blush.gif) )

[Gina Ness]

It's pronounced as Hans has noted...Or earlier posts (Farrell Fan), Seren-ODD...I believe Han's "AHD" is the same as "ODD".

[cubanmiamiboy]

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

[Hans]

Yes, Gina, that is what I meant. (IMG:http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[rg]

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.