20-21PB Tch&Barber SINGLEPGS - Flipbook - Page 12
SAMUEL BARBER
(March 9, 1910-January 23, 1981)
TCHAIKOVSKY AND BARBER
Adagio for Strings
Samuel Barber is widely remembered
today for his orchestral music
including his three essays, Overture
to The School for Scandal, and
Violin Concerto; however, his most
iconic work by far is the Adagio for
Strings, which began as the central
movement to a piece of chamber
music. While it’s often difficult to
predict the success of a piece before
its premiere, Barber had the utmost
confidence in the movement. During
a visit to Italy in 1936 he wrote to
Orlando Cole, cellist with the Curtis
String Quartet:
BY THE NUMBERS
Work Composed: As a string quartet
in 1936, and expanded for string
orchestra in 1938
World Premiere: String quartet,
December 14, 1936, by the Pro Arte
Quartet at the Villa Aurelia in Rome;
orchestral version, November 5,
1938, in a radio broadcast by Arturo
Toscanini and the NBC Symphony
York Symphony Orchestra Premiere:
January 16, 1947, Louis Vyner,
conductor
Most Recent York Symphony
Orchestra Performance: November
15, 1992, Robert Baker, conductor
I have just finished the slow
movement of my quartet today – it Estimated Duration: ca. 8 minutes
is a knock-out! Now for a finale.
While the finale was not completed in time, the rest of the piece premiered
on the quartet’s upcoming European tour.
The following year the famed conductor Arturo Toscanini attended the
Salzburg Festival in Austria where he heard Barber’s Symphony No. 1, the
first work by an American to be performed at the event. Toscanini was so
moved that he contacted the Barber to request several pieces to perform
with his new radio orchestra, the NBC Symphony, suggesting that the slow
movement from the string quartet might be reworked into a stand-alone
piece for orchestra.
After Toscanini’s orchestral premiere, Adagio for Strings quickly became
a staple of the repertoire, and possessing a genuinely solemn quality, has
often been associated with tragic moments. The piece was aired in memorial
concerts following the deaths of presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F.
Kennedy and is often performed at other “in memoriam” occasions.
12
12