Among Wolf-Ferrari s compositions, the positive mood of the Serenade for Strings is unique, or almost unique. It can be associated, even with its diversities, to 15-year-old Mendelssohn composing his string Octet. The Serenade in E flat was performed on occasion of the end-of-year concert of the Musical Academy of Leipzig, and became immediately popular. It was conducted by Ludwig Abel, who later proposed it to Steingräber, a publisher from Leipzig that published it and paid his author 150 marks.