Samuel Osborne Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His
Adagio for StringsAdagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year as he wrote the quartet...
(1936) is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music. He was twice awarded the
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for music, for his opera
VanessaVanessa is an opera in three acts by Samuel Barber with an original English libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. It was composed in 1956–1957 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 15, 1958 under the baton of Dimitri Mitropoulos in a production designed by...
(1956–57) and his
Concerto for Piano and OrchestraThe Piano Concerto, Op. 38, by Samuel Barber was commissioned by the music publishing company G. Schirmer in honor of the hundredth anniversary of their founding...
(1962). His
Knoxville: Summer of 1915Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is a 1947 work for voice and orchestra by Samuel Barber. The text is taken from a 1938 short prose piece by James Agee...
(1947), a work for soprano and orchestra, was an acclaimed setting of prose by
James AgeeJames Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...
.
Early years
Barber was born in
West Chester, PennsylvaniaThe Borough of West Chester is the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,461 at the 2010 census.Valley Forge, the Brandywine Battlefield, Longwood Gardens, Marsh Creek State Park, and other historical attractions are near West Chester...
, the son of Marguerite McLeod (née Beatty) and Samuel Le Roy Barber. At a very early age, Barber became profoundly interested in music, and it was apparent that he had great musical talent and ability. At the age of nine he wrote to his mother:
He wrote his first musical at the early age of 7 and attempted to write his first opera at the age of 10. He was an
organistAn organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
at the age of 12. When he was 14, he entered the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he studied piano,
compositionThe term musical form refers to the overall structure or plan of a piece of music, and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections...
, and
voiceVoice may refer to:* Human voice* Voice control or voice activation* Writer's voice* Voice acting* Voice vote* Voice message-In film:* Voice , a 2005 South Korean film* The Voice , a 2010 Turkish horror film directed by Ümit Ünal...
.
Barber was born into a comfortable, educated, social, and distinguished Irish-American family. His father was a physician, and his mother was a pianist. His aunt,
Louise HomerLouise Homer was an American operatic contralto who had an active international career in concert halls and opera houses from 1895 until her retirement in 1932. After a brief stint as a vaudeville entertainer in New England, she made her professional opera debut in France in 1898...
, was a leading
contraltoContralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
at the
Metropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
and his uncle,
Sidney HomerSidney Homer was a classical composer, primarily of songs.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in 1864 , he was the youngest child of deaf parents. He attended Phillips Academy, Andover, in the Class of 1884, but did not attend college. He married contralto Louise Dilworth Beatty in 1895...
, was a composer of American art songs. Louise Homer is known to have influenced Barber's interest in voice. Through his aunt, Barber had access to many great singers and songs.
Barber began composing seriously in his late teenage years. Around the same time, he met fellow Curtis schoolmate
Gian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
, who became his partner in life as well as in their shared profession. At the Curtis Institute, Barber was a triple prodigy in composition, voice, and piano. He soon became a favorite of the conservatory's founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok. It was through Mrs. Bok that Barber was introduced to his lifelong publisher, the Schirmer family. At the age of 18, Barber won the
Joseph H. Bearns PrizeThe Joseph H. Bearns Prize in Music was established on February 3, 1921 by Lillia M. Bearns, in memory of her father. It was her desire to encourage talented young composers in the United States...
from
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
for his
Violin SonataA violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, which is nearly always accompanied by a piano or other keyboard instrument, or by figured bass in the Baroque period.-A:*Ella Adayevskaya**Sonata Greca for Violin or Clarinet and Piano...
(now lost or destroyed by the composer).
Middle years
From his early to late twenties, Barber wrote a flurry of successful compositions, launching him into the spotlight of the classical music world. Many of his compositions were commissioned or first performed by such famous artists as
Vladimir HorowitzVladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...
,
Eleanor SteberEleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...
,
Raya GarbousovaRaya Garbousova was a cellist and teacher.-Early life & career:According to the biography contained in the program booklet for the 1997 memorial concert in her honor in DeKalb, Illinois, she made her formal debut in Moscow in 1923 and left the Soviet Union in 1925. She lived and performed in...
,
John BrowningJohn Browning was an American pianist known for his reserved, elegant style and sophisticated interpretations of Bach and Scarlatti, and for his collaboration with the American composer Samuel Barber.-Biography:...
,
Leontyne PriceMary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in the Deep South, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.One critic characterized Price's voice as "vibrant",...
,
Pierre BernacPierre Bernac was a French baritone.Born Pierre Bertin in Paris on January 12, 1899, he studied with Reinhold von Wahrlich in Salzburg. he came to music relatively late and gave his first recital in 1921....
,
Francis PoulencFrancis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
, and
Dietrich Fischer-DieskauDietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
. When Barber was 28, his
Adagio for StringsAdagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year as he wrote the quartet...
was performed by the
NBC Symphony OrchestraThe NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
under the direction of
Arturo ToscaniniArturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
in 1938, along with his first
Essay for OrchestraSamuel Barber's Essay for Orchestra , completed in the first half of 1938, is an orchestral work in one movement. It was given its first performance by Arturo Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on November 5, 1938 in New York in a radio broadcast concert in which the composer's Adagio for...
. The Adagio had been arranged from the slow movement of Barber's String Quartet, Op. 11. Toscanini had only rarely performed music by American composers before (an exception was
Howard HansonHoward Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music...
's Second Symphony, which he conducted in 1933).
[Heyman 1992, 164.] At the end of the first rehearsal of the piece, Toscanini remarked, "Semplice e bella" (simple and beautiful).
Barber served in the
Army Air CorpsThe United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
in World War II, where he was commissioned to write his Second Symphony, a work he later suppressed. (It was released in a "Vox" recording by the
New Zealand Symphony OrchestraThe New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is the national orchestra of New Zealand. It is a crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, with 90 full-time players....
conducted by Andrew Schenck). Composed in 1943, the symphony was originally titled
Symphony Dedicated to the Air Forces and was premiered in early 1944 by Serge Koussevitsky and the
Boston Symphony OrchestraThe Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
. Barber revised the symphony in 1947, which was published by G. Schirmer, and recorded the following year by the New Symphony Orchestra of London conducted by the composer, but Barber subsequently destroyed the score in 1964. It was reconstructed from the instrumental parts. According to another source, however, it was precisely the parts to the symphony that Barber had torn up.
Hans HeinsheimerHans Heinsheimer was an Austrian-American music publisher, author, and journalist.-Life and Works:...
was an eyewitness, and reported that he accompanied Barber to the publisher's office where they collected all the music from the library and Barber "tore up all these beautifully and expensively copied materials with his own hands" Doubt has been cast on this story, however, on grounds that Heinsheimer, as an executive at G. Schirmer, would have allowed Barber into the Schirmer offices to watch him "rip apart the music that his company had invested money in publishing".
Barber won the
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
twice: in 1958 for his first opera
VanessaVanessa is an opera in three acts by Samuel Barber with an original English libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. It was composed in 1956–1957 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 15, 1958 under the baton of Dimitri Mitropoulos in a production designed by...
, and in 1963 for his
Concerto for Piano and OrchestraThe Piano Concerto, Op. 38, by Samuel Barber was commissioned by the music publishing company G. Schirmer in honor of the hundredth anniversary of their founding...
.
Later years
Barber spent many years in isolation after the harsh rejection of his third opera
Antony and Cleopatra. He suffered from depression, and was also beset by alcoholism. The opera was written for and premiered at the opening of the new
Metropolitan Opera HouseThe Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
on September 16, 1966. After this setback, Barber continued to write music until he was almost 70 years old. Barber's music in his later years would be lauded as reflective and contemplative, but without the morbidity or unhappiness of other composers who knew they had a limited time to live. The
Third Essay for Orchestra (1978) was his last major work.
Barber died of cancer in 1981 in New York City at the age of 70. He was buried in Oaklands Cemetery in his hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Achievements and awards
Barber was the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the
Rome PrizeThe Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists and to 15 scholars The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists...
(the American version of the
Prix de RomeThe Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture, and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by...
), two
PulitzersThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 1961.
Barber was initiated, as a full collegiate member, into the Zeta Iota chapter of
Phi Mu Alpha SinfoniaPhi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music...
music fraternity at
Howard UniversityHoward University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
in 1952.
In addition to composing, Barber was active in organizations that sought to help musicians and music. He was president of the International Music Council of
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, where he did much to bring into focus and ameliorate the conditions of international musical problems. One of the first American composers to visit Russia (which was then a
constituentConstituent country is a phrase sometimes used in contexts in which a country makes up a part of a larger entity. The term constituent country does not have any defined legal meaning, and is used simply to refer to a country which is a part Constituent country is a phrase sometimes used in contexts...
republic of the Soviet Union), Barber was influential also in the successful campaign of composers against ASCAP, helping composers increase the share of
royaltiesRoyalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
they receive from their compositions.
Music
Orchestral music
Barber played and studied the music of
Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and was an adherent of
Johannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, from whom he learned how to compress profound emotions into small modules of highly charged musical expression (
Cello SonataThe Cello Sonata opus 6 by Samuel Barber is a sonata for cello and piano. It is in the key of C minor.It has three movements:#Allegro ma non troppo#Adagio#Allegro appassionato....
, 1932).
In 1933, after reading the poem "Prometheus Unbound" by
Percy Bysshe ShelleyPercy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
, Barber composed the tone poem
Music for a Scene from Shelley, Op. 7. In 1935, when the work was premiered at
Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, it was the first time the composer heard one of his orchestral works performed publicly.
Barber's compositional style has been lauded for its musical logic, sense of architectural design, effortless melodic gift, and direct emotional appeal. This was evident in the Overture to
The School for ScandalSamuel Barber's overture to The School for Scandal, Op. 5, was the composer's first composition for full orchestra. It was composed in 1931 while Barber was completing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The premiere was given on August 30, 1933 by the Philadelphia...
(1931) and
Music for a Scene from Shelley (1933). These were characteristics of his music throughout his lifetime.
Through the success of his Overture to
The School for ScandalSamuel Barber's overture to The School for Scandal, Op. 5, was the composer's first composition for full orchestra. It was composed in 1931 while Barber was completing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The premiere was given on August 30, 1933 by the Philadelphia...
(1931),
Music for a Scene from Shelley (1933),
Adagio for StringsAdagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year as he wrote the quartet...
(1938); (First)
Symphony in One MovementSamuel Barber's Symphony in One Movement , was completed 24 February 1936. It was premiered by Rome's Philharmonic Augusteo Orchestra under the baton of Bernardino Molinari 13 December 1936. It lasts around 21 minutes....
(1936), (First)
Essay for OrchestraSamuel Barber's Essay for Orchestra , completed in the first half of 1938, is an orchestral work in one movement. It was given its first performance by Arturo Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on November 5, 1938 in New York in a radio broadcast concert in which the composer's Adagio for...
(1937) and
Violin ConcertoSamuel Barber completed his Violin Concerto, Op. 14, in 1939. It is a work in three movements, lasting about 22 minutes.-History:In 1939 Philadelphia industrialist Samuel Simeon Fels commissioned Barber to write a violin concerto for Fels' ward, Iso Briselli, a graduate from the Curtis Institute...
(1939), Barber garnered performances by the world's leading conductors –
Artur RodzińskiArtur Rodziński was a Polish conductor of opera and symphonic music. He is especially noted for his tenures as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:...
,
Eugene OrmandyEugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...
, Dimitri Mitropoulos,
Bruno WalterBruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
,
Charles MünchCharles Munch was an Alsatian symphonic conductor and violinist. Noted for his mastery of the French orchestral repertoire, he is best known as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.-Biography:...
,
George SzellGeorge Szell , originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer...
,
Leopold StokowskiLeopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
, and
Thomas SchippersThomas Schippers was an American conductor. He was highly-regarded for his work in opera.-Biography:...
.
His compositions later included
polytonalityThe musical use of more than one key simultaneously is polytonality . Bitonality is the use of only two different keys at the same time...
(Second Symphony, 1944);
atonalityAtonality in its broadest sense describes music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality in this sense usually describes compositions written from about 1908 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone is not used, and the notes of the chromatic scale...
(
MedeaMedea's Dance of Vengeance is a composition by the American composer Samuel Barber derived from his earlier ballet suite Medea. Barber first created a seven movement concert suite from this ballet , and five years later reduced this concert suite down to a single-movement concert piece using what...
, 1946,
Prayers of KierkegaardPrayers of Kierkegaard is a one-movement extended cantata written by Samuel Barber between 1942 and 1954. The piece has four main subdivisions and is based on prayers by Søren Kierkegaard...
, 1954);
Twelve-tone techniqueTwelve-tone technique is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg...
(
Nocturne, 1959 and the Piano Sonata, 1949); and
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
(
ExcursionsExcursions, Op. 20, is the first published solo piano piece by Samuel Barber. Barber himself explains:"These are ‘Excursions’ in small classical forms into regional American idioms...
, 1944; and
A Hand of BridgeA Hand of Bridge, opus 35, is an opera composed by Samuel Barber with libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, is possibly the shortest opera that is regularly performed - it lasts about ten minutes. It consists of two couples playing a hand of bridge, during which each character has a short arietta in...
, 1959).
Among his finest works are his four concertos, one each for Violin (1939), Cello (1945) and Piano (1962), and also the
neoclassicalNeoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...
Capricorn ConcertoSamuel Barber's Capricorn Concerto , completed 8 September 1944 is a chamber piece for flute, oboe, trumpet and strings. It was premiered by Saidenberg Little Symphony at Town Hall 8 October 1944. It lasts approximately 14 min....
for flute, oboe, trumpet and string orchestra. All of these works are rewarding for the soloists and public alike, as all contain both highly virtuosic and beautiful writing, often simultaneously. The latter three have been unfairly neglected until recent years, when there has been a reawakening of interest in the expressive possibilities of these masterpieces.
Barber's final opus was the
Canzonetta for oboe and string orchestra (1979/1981).
Piano
The four piano "bagatelles"
ExcursionsExcursions, Op. 20, is the first published solo piano piece by Samuel Barber. Barber himself explains:"These are ‘Excursions’ in small classical forms into regional American idioms...
, Op. 20, (1942–44), was his first and only venture into Americana music. Its elements of
boogie-woogieBoogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...
,
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, theme and variations on a
cowboyA cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
song, and
hoedownA Hoedown is a type of American folk dance or square dance in duple meter, and also the musical form associated with it.-Overview:The most popular sense of the term is associated with Americans in rural or southeastern parts of the country, particularly Appalachia. It is a dance in quick movement...
are not typical of Barber's generally more classical style. In 1949, Barber wrote his keyboard masterpiece
Piano SonataThe Piano Sonata in E-flat minor, Op. 26 was written by Samuel Barber in 1949 for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the League of Composers. First performed by renowned pianist, Vladimir Horowitz, the sonata has remained a popular concert staple ever since....
, which has maintained a prominent position in the concert repertoire since its premiere. The
Nocturne for Piano (Homage to John Field), Op. 33, is another respected piece which he composed for the instrument.
Opera
Barber's life partner
Gian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
, whom he had met at Curtis, supplied the
librettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
(text) for Barber's opera,
VanessaVanessa is an opera in three acts by Samuel Barber with an original English libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. It was composed in 1956–1957 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 15, 1958 under the baton of Dimitri Mitropoulos in a production designed by...
. Using his vocal training, in 1956 Barber played and sang the score to the Metropolitan Opera's General Manager, Rudolf Bing, who accepted the work. It premiered in January 1958. The title role was written for
Sena JurinacSena Jurinac Sena (Srebrenka) Jurinac Sena (Srebrenka) Jurinac ([juˈrinats] (24 October 192122 November 2011) was a Bosnian Croat/Austrian operatic soprano.Born in Travnik, Bosnia-Herzegovina, she studied at the Zagreb Academy of Music, and also with Milka Kostrenčić (whose other well-known...
but she cancelled six weeks before the opening, to be replaced by
Eleanor SteberEleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...
, with whom the role has become closely identified.
Vanessa won the 1958
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
and gained acclaim as the first American grand opera.
Menotti also contributed the
librettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
for Barber's chamber opera
A Hand of Bridge. Barber's
Antony and CleopatraAntony and Cleopatra is an opera in three acts by American composer Samuel Barber. The libretto was prepared by Franco Zeffirelli based on the play Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare...
was commissioned to open the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in 1966. The elaborate production designed by
Franco ZeffirelliFranco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
was plagued with technical disasters; it also overwhelmed and obscured Barber's music, which most critics derided as uncharacteristically weak and unoriginal. The critical rejection of music that Barber considered to be among his best sent him into a deep depression. In recent years, a revised version of
Antony and CleopatraAntony and Cleopatra is an opera in three acts by American composer Samuel Barber. The libretto was prepared by Franco Zeffirelli based on the play Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare...
, for which Menotti provided collaborative assistance, has enjoyed some success.
Vocal
Barber's background, deeply rooted in singing (including studies with
Emilio de GogorzaEmilio Eduardo de Gogorza was an American baritone of Spanish parentage.He was born in Brooklyn, New York, but brought up and trained musically in Spain. He returned to the USA in his early 20s. He sang in many languages, including French, Italian and English, as well as Spanish...
), his love of poetry, and his intimate knowledge and appreciation of the human voice, inspired his vocal writing. Barber's most famous vocal compositions,
Knoxville: Summer of 1915Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is a 1947 work for voice and orchestra by Samuel Barber. The text is taken from a 1938 short prose piece by James Agee...
(to words by
James AgeeJames Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...
) and
Dover Beach"Dover Beach" is a short lyric poem by the English poet Matthew Arnold. It was first published in 1867 in the collection New Poems, but surviving notes indicate its composition may have begun as early as 1849...
(to the poem by
Matthew ArnoldMatthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator...
), were greatly successful. Their critical acclaim has made a powerful case for Barber as one of the twentieth century's most accomplished composers for the voice.
In honor of Barber's influence on American music, on October 19, 1974, he was awarded the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit. This award was established in 1964 "to bring a declaration of appreciation to an individual each year who has made a significant contribution to the world of music and helped to create a climate in which our talents may find valid expression."
In September 1992, soprano
Cheryl StuderCheryl Studer is a Grammy Award winning American dramatic soprano who has sung at many of the world's major opera houses. A singer with unusual versatility, Studer has performed more than eighty roles ranging from the dramatic repertoire to roles more commonly associated with lyric sopranos and...
, baritone Thomas Hampson, the preeminent Samuel Barber pianist
John BrowningJohn Browning was an American pianist known for his reserved, elegant style and sophisticated interpretations of Bach and Scarlatti, and for his collaboration with the American composer Samuel Barber.-Biography:...
and the
Emerson String QuartetThe Emerson String Quartet is a New York–based string quartet in residence at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Previously the Quartet was in residence at The Hartt School. Formed in 1976, they have released more than twenty albums and won nine Grammy Awards. Both violinists...
recorded the complete songs of Samuel Barber (with the exception of
Knoxville: Summer of 1915) at the Brahms-Saal of the famous Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. The
Deutsche GrammophonDeutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
(catalogue 435 867–2) set has become a classic of American song on record.
Violin
In 1939 Philadelphia industrialist
Samuel Simeon FelsSamuel Simeon Fels was an American businessman and philanthropist.Early in Samuel's life his family relocated to Philadelphia, where Samuel's older brother Joseph Fels founded a soap manufacturing company, Fels & Co. Samuel became the company's first president, a post which he held until his death...
commissioned Barber to write a
violin concertoA violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day...
for Fels' ward, Iso Briselli, a graduate from the
Curtis Institute of MusicThe Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
the same year as Barber, 1934. The Barber biographies written by Nathan Broder (1954) and Barbara B. Heyman (1992) discuss the genesis of the concerto during the period of the violin concerto's commission and subsequent year leading up to the first performance. Heyman interviewed Briselli and others familiar with the history in her publication. In late 2010, previously unpublished letters written by Fels, Barber, and Albert Meiff (Briselli's violin coach in that period) from the Samuel Simeon Fels Papers archived at the
Historical Society of PennsylvaniaThe Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...
became available to the public.
Notable compositions
- Dover Beach (Medium Voice
Voice may refer to:* Human voice* Voice control or voice activation* Writer's voice* Voice acting* Voice vote* Voice message-In film:* Voice , a 2005 South Korean film* The Voice , a 2010 Turkish horror film directed by Ümit Ünal...
and String QuartetA string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
) (Op. 3, 1931)
- The School for Scandal
Samuel Barber's overture to The School for Scandal, Op. 5, was the composer's first composition for full orchestra. It was composed in 1931 while Barber was completing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The premiere was given on August 30, 1933 by the Philadelphia...
(OvertureOverture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
) (Op. 5, 1931)
- Cello Sonata
The Cello Sonata opus 6 by Samuel Barber is a sonata for cello and piano. It is in the key of C minor.It has three movements:#Allegro ma non troppo#Adagio#Allegro appassionato....
(Op. 6, 1932)
- Music for a Scene from Shelley (Op. 7, 1933)
- (First) Symphony in One Movement
Samuel Barber's Symphony in One Movement , was completed 24 February 1936. It was premiered by Rome's Philharmonic Augusteo Orchestra under the baton of Bernardino Molinari 13 December 1936. It lasts around 21 minutes....
(Op. 9, 1936)
- Adagio for Strings
Adagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year as he wrote the quartet...
(arr. of String Quartet, mov’t 2) (Op. 11, 1938)
- Essay for Orchestra
Samuel Barber's Essay for Orchestra , completed in the first half of 1938, is an orchestral work in one movement. It was given its first performance by Arturo Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on November 5, 1938 in New York in a radio broadcast concert in which the composer's Adagio for...
(Op. 12, 1937)
- Violin Concerto
Samuel Barber completed his Violin Concerto, Op. 14, in 1939. It is a work in three movements, lasting about 22 minutes.-History:In 1939 Philadelphia industrialist Samuel Simeon Fels commissioned Barber to write a violin concerto for Fels' ward, Iso Briselli, a graduate from the Curtis Institute...
(Op. 14, 1939)
- Reincarnations for mixed chorus, (Op. 16, 1939–1940); words by Antoine Ó Raifteiri
Antoine Ó Raifteiri was an Irish language poet who is often called the last of the wandering bards.-Biography:...
in translation by James StephensJames Stephens was an Irish novelist and poet.James Stephens wrote many retellings of Irish myths and fairy tales. His retellings are marked by a rare combination of humor and lyricism...
- Second Essay for Orchestra
Samuel Barber's Second Essay for Orchestra , completed 15 March 1942 is an orchestral work in one movement. It was premiered by the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall 16 April 1942. It lasts around 11 minutes and is dedicated to Robert Horan.The work was commissioned by Bruno...
(Op. 17, 1942)
- Excursions
Excursions, Op. 20, is the first published solo piano piece by Samuel Barber. Barber himself explains:"These are ‘Excursions’ in small classical forms into regional American idioms...
(Op. 20, 1942–44)
- Capricorn Concerto
Samuel Barber's Capricorn Concerto , completed 8 September 1944 is a chamber piece for flute, oboe, trumpet and strings. It was premiered by Saidenberg Little Symphony at Town Hall 8 October 1944. It lasts approximately 14 min....
(Op. 21, 1944)
- Cello Concerto
Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto in A minor , completed on 22 November 1945, was the second of his three concertos . Barber was commissioned to write his concerto for Raya Garbousova, an upstart Russian cellist, by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra...
(Op. 22, 1945)
- Medea (Ballet)
Medea is a composition by American composer, Samuel Barber. Medea's Dance of Vengeance was derived from the work....
(Op. 23, 1946)
- Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is a 1947 work for voice and orchestra by Samuel Barber. The text is taken from a 1938 short prose piece by James Agee...
(SopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
& Orchestra) (Op. 24, 1948)
- Sonata for Piano
The Piano Sonata in E-flat minor, Op. 26 was written by Samuel Barber in 1949 for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the League of Composers. First performed by renowned pianist, Vladimir Horowitz, the sonata has remained a popular concert staple ever since....
(Op. 26, 1949)
- Hermit Songs
Hermit Songs is a cycle of ten songs for voice and piano by Samuel Barber. Written in 1953 on a grant from the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, it takes as its basis a collection of anonymous poems written by Irish monks and scholars from the 8th to the 13th centuries, in translations by W....
(Op. 29, 1953)
- Prayers of Kierkegaard
Prayers of Kierkegaard is a one-movement extended cantata written by Samuel Barber between 1942 and 1954. The piece has four main subdivisions and is based on prayers by Søren Kierkegaard...
(SopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
, Choir & Orchestra) (Op. 30, 1954)
- Summer Music for Wind Quintet
Summer Music for Wind Quintet is a classical piece of music composed by Samuel Barber for a woodwind quintet.-Background:Samuel Barber received an offer from the Chamber Music Society of Detroit to write a piece of music for string instruments and woodwind instruments in 1953...
(Op. 31, 1956)
- Vanessa
Vanessa is an opera in three acts by Samuel Barber with an original English libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. It was composed in 1956–1957 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 15, 1958 under the baton of Dimitri Mitropoulos in a production designed by...
(opera) (Op. 32, 1957)
- A Hand of Bridge
A Hand of Bridge, opus 35, is an opera composed by Samuel Barber with libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, is possibly the shortest opera that is regularly performed - it lasts about ten minutes. It consists of two couples playing a hand of bridge, during which each character has a short arietta in...
(Chamber operaChamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra.The term and form were invented by Benjamin Britten in the 1940s, when the English Opera Group needed works that could easily be taken on tour and performed in a variety of small...
) (Op. 35, 1959)
- Toccata Festiva (Organ and Orchestra) (Op. 36, 1960)
- Piano Concerto
The Piano Concerto, Op. 38, by Samuel Barber was commissioned by the music publishing company G. Schirmer in honor of the hundredth anniversary of their founding...
(Op. 38, 1962)
- Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
(Op. 40, opera, 1966, rev. 1974)
Popular culture
Adagio for Strings is a string-orchestra version of the slow movement from Barber's only string quartet. It was broadcast as part of a radio tribute following the death of US president, Franklin D. Roosevelt and at the funeral of
Princess Grace of MonacoGrace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
. It was used by French film composer, Georges Delerue, as part of his score, in the opening and various other passages of
PlatoonPlatoon is a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone and stars Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. It is the first of Stone's Vietnam War trilogy, followed by 1989's Born on the Fourth of July and 1993's Heaven & Earth....
(1986), a film directed by
Oliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
about the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and in the film,
Lorenzo's Oil, starring Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon. It is the soundtrack of the movie
The Elephant ManThe Elephant Man is a 1980 American drama film based on the true story of Joseph Merrick , a severely deformed man in 19th century London...
(1980) directed by
David LynchDavid Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
. It has also been remixed by electronic dance artist DJ Tiesto and a choral version served as the theme to the real-time strategy game
HomeworldHomeworld is a real-time strategy computer game released on September 28, 1999, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. It was the first fully three-dimensional RTS. In 2003, Relic released the source code for Homeworld...
.
Reference and further reading
- Broder, Nathan. 1954. Samuel Barber. New York: G. Schirmer. Reprinted Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. ISBN 0313249849.
- Heinsheimer, Hans W. 1968. "The Composing Composer: Samuel Barber". ASCAP Today 2:7.
- Henahan, Donal. 1975. "Juilliard Rehabilitating 'Antony and Cleopatra'". New York Times (February 8).
- Heyman, Barbara B. 1992. Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195090581.
- Károlyi, Ottó
Ottó Károlyi , having studied in Budapest, Vienna, and London, is a musicologist and the Senior Lecturer of Music at the University of Stirling, Scotland.-Bibliography:*. Introducing Modern Music. ISBN 978-0140131147....
. 1996. Modern American Music: From Charles Ives to the Minimalists. London: Cygnus Arts; Madison [N.J.]: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 9780838637258 (cloth); ISBN 9781900541008 (pbk).
- Lee, Douglas A. 2002. Masterworks of 20th-Century Music: The Modern Repertory Of The Symphony Orchestra. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-93846-5
- Mostovoy, Marc. 2010. "Iso Briselli, Samuel Barber, and thbe Violin Concerto, op. 14: Facts and Fiction". Iso Briselli website. (Accessed December 6, 2010)
- Schenck, Andrew. 1988. Booklet notes. Samuel Barber: Symphony No. 2; Music for a Scene from Shelley; Overture to The School for Scandal; First Essay; Adagio for Strings. The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Schenck, cond. CD recording. Stradivari Classics SCD 8012. Hackensack, NJ: Special Music Company.
- Simmons, Walter. 2004. Voices in the Wilderness: Six American Neo-Romantic Composers. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810848848. Paperback reprint edition, Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8108-5728-6.
- Smith, Patricia Juliana. 2002. "Barber, Samuel". glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture, edited by Claude J. Summers. Chicago: glbtq, Inc.
- Staubrand, Jens
Jens Staubrand is a Danish freelance journalist, author and philosopher. Staubrand gained a degree in philosophy from the University of Copenhagen in 1987, with a thesis about Søren Kierkegaard and Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. He has written books and articles in the field of culture and art, and...
. 2009. Kierkegaard International Bibliography: Music Works and Plays: Appendix: About The Seducers Diary and the Illness and Death of Søren Kierkegaard, new edition. Copenhagen: Eget Forlag; i kommission hos Forlaget Underskoven. ISBN 978 87 92259 91 2.
- Valente, Erasmo. 1983. "A Spoleto rinasce Cleopatra". L’unità (June 27).
- Wade, Graham. 2003. A Concise Guide to Understanding Music. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publications. ISBN 9780786649815.
- Warrack, John Hamilton, and Ewan West. 1992. The Oxford Dictionary of Opera. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-869164-5
- Wright, Jeffrey Marsh II. 2010. "The Enlisted Composer: Samuel Barber's Career 1942–1945". PhD diss. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Biography
- Heyman, Barbara B (1992). Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195090586
- Wittke, Paul. Samuel Barber. G. Schirmer Inc.
- Homepage of Capricorn, the French Samuel Barber Society. (In English and French)
- Article "Barber, A Composer Between Two Worlds", by the Capricorn Society on American Center France
- Samuel Osborne Barber. IHAS. PBS.
- Smith, Patricia. Barber, Samuel. glbtq.com
glbtq.com is an online encyclopedia that presents detailed biographies of notable gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. It was named one of the "Best Free Reference Web Sites" in 2005 by the American Library Association....
- "Samuel Barber", Fyne Times
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