\Ser`e*na"ta\, Serenate \Ser"e*nate\, n. [It. serenata.
See {Serenade}.] (Mus.)
A piece of vocal music, especially one on an amoreus subject;
a serenade.
      Or serenate, which the starved lover sings To his
      pround fair.                             --Milton.
Note: The name serenata was given by Italian composers in the
      time of Handel, and by Handel himself, to a cantata of
      a pastoreal of dramatic character, to a secular ode,
      etc.; also by Mozart and others to an orchectral
      composition, in several movements, midway between the
      suite of an earlier period and the modern symphony.
      --Grove.