Samuel Barber

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Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music.

Donal Henahan, a music critic, said, "No other American composer has ever received such early, so perceptive, and long-serving acclaim." "His Adagio for Strings (1936) has risen to a permanent spot in orchestral's concert repertory."

He has twice been voted Pulitzer Prize for Music: for his opera Vanessa (1956–57) and the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1962).

Knoxville, 1915-1947), a setting for soprano and orchestra of a prose text by James Agee, was also well-rested.

Nearly all of Barber's compositions had been recorded at the time of his death.

Early years and education

Barber was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the son of Marguerite McLeod (née Beatty) and Samuel Le Roy Barber. He was born into a wealthy, educated, socioeconomic, and wealthy American family. His father was a physician and his mother, a pianist of English-Scottish-Irish descent whose family had been living in the United States since the American Revolutionary War, was a musician of the American Revolutionary War. Louise Homer, his maternal aunt, was a leading contralto at the Metropolitan Opera; Sidney Homer, uncle, Sidney Homer, was a composer of American art songs. Louise Homer is said to have inspired Barber's voice. Barber was introduced to a number of top performers and songs through his aunt. Barber was mentored by Sidney Homer for more than 25 years and influenced his compositional aesthetics in a major way.

Barber became incredibly interested in music at a young age, and it was evident that he had a natural gift and ability. He started playing piano at the age of six and created Sadness, a 23-measure solo piano work in C minor. Despite Barber's passion for music, his family wanted him to be a typical American boy. They encouraged his son to play football, in particular. Barber, on the other hand, was no way a normal child, and he wrote to his mother at the age of nine: he was still in no way a good boy, and he wrote to his mother:

Barber converted his first operetta, The Rose Tree, to a libretto by the family's cook at the age of 10. He began playing organs at a local church at the age of 12. He began a four-year apprenticeship at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he spent ten years developing his skills as a triple prodigy in composition, voice, and piano. During his undergraduate years at Curtis, he simultaneously attended and graduated from West Chester High School (now West Chester Henderson High School), during which time he designed his school's alma mater, which is now in use today. Following his graduation from high school in 1928, he began an adult education at Curtis, where he graduated in 1934. He studied piano with George Frederick Boyle and Isabelle Vengerova, a piano with Rosario Scalero, conducting with Fritz Reiner, as well as Emilio de Gogorza at Curtis. Gian Carlo Menotti, a fellow Curtis schoolmate, became his partner in life as well as in their shared occupation. During his last year at Curtis, he became a favorite of the conservatory's founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok. Barber was introduced to his lifelong publishers, the Schirmer family, by Mrs. Bok. He continued studying in conducting and singing with John Braun in Vienna after graduating from Curtis in the Spring of 1934. He was awarded the Rome Prize immediately after, which enabled him to continue studying at the American Academy in Rome from 1935 to 1937. In 1946, he was given a Guggenheim Fellowship and then continued to work privately with George Szell.

Barber produced a flurry of hits from his youth, launching him into the classical music world's spotlight. Barber's earlier compositions, which extends to the "childhood" period of his composition, according to Walter Simmons, which extends to 1942. Some of the signature features of this period in his compositional career are tonal harmony, unresolved dissonance, moderate chromaticism, and largely diatonic, lyrical melodies. He received the Joseph H. Bearns Prize from Columbia University for his violin sonata, which has since been lost or destroyed by the composer. He received the Bearns Prize for his first large-scale orchestral work, an overture to The School for Scandal, which was established in 1931 when he was 21 years old. In a Philadelphia Orchestra performance under conductor Alexander Smallens' direction, it premiered two years later.

Barber had a brief career as a professional baritone, appearing on the NBC Music Guild concert series and landing a weekly deal on NBC radio in 1935. Barber's "recording of his own setting of Arnold's "Dover Beach" was praised by musicologist Barbara Heyman, who "intelligently sung by a naturally beautiful voice." In the vast legacy of songs that occupy two-thirds of his output, a first-hand experience as a performer and an intuitive empathy with the voice will come to an end.

Barber's first orchestral work to be noticed abroad was his Symphony in One Movement, a collection of composition in Rome that he wrote while studying composition. The work was premiered by the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome under Bernardino Molinari's baton, and was soon after programmed by symphony orchestras in New York City and Cleveland. The work was the first symphonic composition by an American to appear at the Salzburg Festival, where it was first performed in 1937.

Barber's Adagio for Strings was performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini's direction in 1938, as well as his first Essay on Orchestra. The Adagio had been arranged from Barber's String Quartet's slow progress, Op. 62. 11. Toscanini had rarely performed music by American composers before (an exception was Howard Hanson's Second Symphony, which he directed in 1933). Toscanini remarked, "Semplice bella" at the conclusion of the first rehearsal of the piece (simple and stunning). Barber taught composition at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia from 1939-1942.

Barber served in 1942, the first World War II in the United States, where he remained in service until 1945. He was hired to write several pieces for the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), including his Cello Concerto for Raya Garbousova and his Second Symphony, which he later regretted. The symphony was originally named Symphony Dedicated to the Air Forces and was premiered by Serge Koussevitsky and the BSO in early 1944. Barber revised the symphony in 1947, and it was later published by G. Schirmer in 1950 and the New Symphony Orchestra of London's following year, conducted by Barber himself. Barber destroyed the score in 1964, according to several sources. Hans Heinsheimer was an eyewitness who accompanied Barber to the library's library, where they gathered all the library's recordings, and Barber "took up all the beautifully and expensively copied materials with his own hands." Nevertheless, doubt has been cast on this tale, according to Heinsheimer, who, as an executive at G. Schirmer, would not have allowed Barber to "rip apart the music that his company had invested money on releasing." The score was later rebuilt from the instrument parts and released in a Vox Box "Stradivari Classics" recording by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Schenck in 1988.

Barber and Menotti purchased ‘Capricorn', a home north of Manhattan in suburban Mount Kisco, New York, in 1943. Barber had his most productive years as a composer during the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, when the home served as their artistic retreat up until 1972. He wrote ballet suite Medea (1946) for Martha Graham and the symphonic work Knoxville in 1915: Eleanor Steber, the opera singer who premiered the work with the BSO in 1948. He was nominated by the United States State Department in 1946 to appear alongside other leading American composers such as Leonard Bernstein at the first Prague Spring International Music Festival. He had a major critical success with his Piano Sonata, which was premiered by Vladimir Horowitz and commissioned by Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers to commemorate the League of Composers' 25th anniversary. The work, which was widely known in concerts by Horowitz and other top pianists, earned a long place in the performance canon.

Barber conducted his own works with many symphony orchestras around the world for performances and recordings, including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. He studied with Nikolai Malko in 1951 to prepare for the recording of his Second Symphony, Cello Concerto, and the Medea ballet suite. He was elected Vice President of the International Music Council in 1952. When Barber approached Kimball about needing a singer to perform his song cycle Hermit Songs, he introduced her to soprano Leontyne Price, who was a Barber friend. Barber, who was captivated by her voice, invited her to premiere the work at the Library of Congress, with Barber accompanying on the piano. Price appeared at the premiere of Barber's cantata Prayers of Kierkegaard with the BSO in 1954, and he's likely to become closely associated with performances of his music for the next two decades.

In 1958, Barber became the first opera Vanessa, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in January 1958 with a cast including opera singers Eleanor Steber, Rosalind Elias, Regina Resnik, Nicolai Gedda, and Giorgio Tozzi. The Met transferred the opera to the Salzburg Festival later this year, making it the first American opera to be performed at the festival. Both Vanessa and Barber's second opera A Hand of Bridge were written by Menotti. In 1959, this second work appeared at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoletto, Italy, with a cast including Patricia Neway and William Lewis.

Barber, 1962, became the first American composer to attend Moscow's biennial Congress of Soviet Composers. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his Piano Concerto, one of three works by him for the opening of Lincoln Center and appeared with pianist John Browning at the opening of Philharmonic Hall in September 1962. Andromache's Farewell, a piece for soprano and orchestra conceived by the New York Philharmonic and soprano Martina Arroyo with Thomas Schippers conducting in April 1963, was his second work for Lincoln Center's opening. Antony and Cleopatra, his third and final opera, premiered at the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House in 1966 with Leontyne Price and Justino Diaz in the title roles. Critics generally dismissed this work, although Barber claimed it contained some of his finest performances, and he spent the decade after its premiere revising the opera.

Barber's third opera Antony and Cleopatra (1966), a harsh rejection, had a negative effect on his creative growth. He began to divide his time between his New York home and a chalet in Santa Christina, Italy, where he spent long stretches in solitude. Tensions between Menotti and Barber grew, leading to Menotti to insist that the couple halt their romantic union and offer 'Capricorn' in 1970. Capricorn was sold in 1972, but the two men remained close friends after their marital involvement ended.

Barber continued to write music into his twenties in the 1990s until he was almost 70 years old. He successfully converted his Adagio for Strings (1936) to a choral work, Agnus Dei, which was set to the Latin liturgical mass text on the Lamb of God in 1967. Choirs around the world have performed and recorded their performances. Leontyne Price, 1969, appeared in Barber's song cycle Despite and Still, which emphasized textual aspects of loneliness, loneliness, and lost love; both topics were present in Menotti's personal life at the time of his work's creation. This work used a more modern dissonant harmonic language with vivid textual images characterized by tonal uncertainty and a regular use of chromaticism, conflicting triads, tritones, and whole-tone segments. When The Lovers premiered in 1971, audiences and commentators were highly appreciated. The Third Essay for Orchestra (1978), his last major work, was The Third Essay for Orchestra (1978).

Barber was hospitalized on and off between 1978 and 1981 while undergoing cancer treatment. He died of the disease on January 23, 1981, at his 907 Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan, at the age of 70. He was buried in the Oaklands Cemetery three days later at the First Presbyterian Church of West Chester. Canzone for oboe and string orchestra (1981), his last work, was released after his death. Barber completed the second movement of what was supposed to be a fully developed oboe concerto at first.

Source

Early career (1928–1941)

Barber wrote a flurry of hit compositions during his youth, catapulting him into the forefront of classical music history. Barber's earlier works, which extends to the "childhood" period of his composition, according to Walter Simmons. Among the key characteristics of his compositional career are tonal harmony, unresolved dissonance, moderate chromaticism, and mainly diatonic, lyrical melodies. He received the Joseph H. Bearns Prize from Columbia University for his violin sonata, which has since been lost or destroyed by the composer. He received the Bearns Prize for his second large-scale orchestral piece, an homage to The School for Scandal, which was established in 1931 when he was 21 years old. It premiered successfully two years later in a Philadelphia Orchestra performance under conductor Alexander Smallens' direction.

Barber's early career in his career as a professional baritone, appearing on the NBC Music Guild's concert series and landing a weekly deal on NBC radio in 1935. Barber's "recording of his own setting of Arnold's "Dover Beach" was praised, according to musicologist Barbara Heyman, "intelligently sung by a naturally beautiful voice." In the massive legacy of songs that occupy only two-thirds of his output, a first-hand experience as a singer and an intuitive empathy with the voice will come to an end."

Barber's first orchestral work to be noticed internationally was his Symphony in One Movement, which he wrote while studying composition in Rome. The work was premiered by the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome under Bernardino Molinari's baton, in December 1936, and was shortly followed by symphony orchestras in New York City and Cleveland. The work was the first symphonic composition created by an American to appear at the Salzburg Festival in 1937, where it was first performed in 1937.

Barber's Adagio for Strings was performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1938, when Barber was 28 years old, as well as his first Essay on Orchestra. The Adagio had been arranged from Barber's String Quartet's stumbling march, Op. 76. 11. Toscanini had never performed music by American composers before (an exception was Howard Hanson's Second Symphony, which he directed in 1933). Toscanini remarked, "simple and beautiful" at the first rehearsal of the piece. Barber taught composition at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia from 1939-1942.

Barber joined the Army Air Corps in 1942, where he remained in service until 1945. He was hired to write several works for the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), including his Cello Concerto for Raya Garbousova and his Second Symphony, which he later regretted. The symphony, which was originally built in 1943, was named Symphony Dedicated to the Air Forces and was premiered by Serge Koussevitsky and the BSO in early 1944. Barber restored the symphony in 1947, but it was later published by G. Schirmer in 1950 and then by the New Symphony Orchestra of London in London's next year, conducted by Barber himself. Barber destroyed the score in 1964, according to various sources. Hans Heinsheimer accompanied Barber to the publisher's office, where they gathered all the library's recordings, and Barber "took up all the expensive and costly copies with his own hands." This is inferred on the fact that Heinsheimer, as an executive at G. Schirmer, would not have allowed Barber into the Schirmer offices to hear him "rip apart the music that his company invested money on publishing." The score was later restored from the instrument parts and released in a Vox Box "Stradivari Classics" recording by Andrew Schenck in 1988.

Barber and Menotti purchased 'Capricorn', a home north of Manhattan in suburban Mount Kisco, New York, in 1943. The home served as a cultural retreat until 1972, and Barber's most prolific years as a composer came here during the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s. He composed ballet suite Medea (1946) for Martha Graham and the Knoxville symphonic works: Eleanor Steber's first appearance in 1915 with soprano and orchestra. He was nominated by the US State Department in 1946 to be a participant of the American delegation to the first Prague Spring International Music Festival, where his music was on display alongside other well-known American composers, such as Leonard Bernstein. With his Piano Sonata, created by Vladimir Horowitz and commissioned by Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers to commemorate the League of Composers' 25th anniversary, he achieved a major critical success in 1949. The work, which has been widely distributed in concerts by Horowitz and other leading pianists, has earned a long-running place in the performance canon.

Barber's 1950s experiments with various symphony orchestras around the world for performances and recordings, including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. He trained with Nikolai Malko in 1951 to prepare for the recording of his second Symphony, Cello Concerto, and the Medea ballet suite. He was elected Vice President of the International Music Council in 1952. When Barber approached Kimball about a singer's appearance in his song cycle Hermit Songs, he introduced her to soprano Leontyne Price, who was a Barber's friend. Barber, who was moved by her voice, invited her to premiere the work at the Library of Congress, with Barber accompanying on the piano. Price appeared at the premiere of Barber's Cantata Prayers of Kierkegaard with the BSO in 1954, and he would continue to be closely associated with his music over the next two decades.

In 1958, Barber won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his first opera Vanessa, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in January 1958 with a cast including opera singers Eleanor Steber, Rosalind Elias, Regina Resnik, Nicolai Gedda, and Giorgio Tozzi. The Met brought the opera to the Salzburg Festival later this year, making it the first American opera to be performed at the festival. Both Vanessa and Barber's second opera A Hand of Bridge were written by Menotti. This new work appeared in Spoletto, Italy, at the Festival dei Due Mondi in 1959 with a cast that included Patricia Neway and William Lewis.

Barber, the first American composer to attend the biennial Congress of Soviet Composers in Moscow in 1962, became the first American composer to attend the biennial Congress of Soviet Composers. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his Piano Concerto, one of three works by him for the opening of Lincoln Center and appeared at the beginning of Philharmonic Hall with pianist John Browning in September 1962. Andromache's Farewell, a piece for soprano and orchestra conceived by the New York Philharmonic and soprano Martina Arroyo with Thomas Schippers conducting in April 1963, was his second work for the opening of Lincoln Center. Antony and Cleopatra, his third and final opera, premiered at the new Metropolitan Opera House in 1966 with Leontyne Price and Justino Diaz in the title roles. Critics dismissed this work as unremarkable, although Barber himself said it contained some of his best work, and the opera's revival took place ten years after its premiere.

Barber battled depression and alcoholism, which had a negative effect on his creative output, after the harsh rejection of his third opera Antony and Cleopatra (1966). He began to divide his time between his New York home and a ski chalet in Santa Christina, Italy, where he spent long stretches in solitude. Tensions between Menotti and Barber grew, prompting Menotti to insist that the couple separate romantic relations and offer 'Capricorn' in 1970. Capricorn was sold in 1972, but the two men remained friends after their romantic involvement ended.

Barber continued to write music until he was almost 70 years old during his turbulent later years. He successfully converted his Adagio for Strings (1936) to a choral work, Agnus Dei, which was set against the Lamb of God's Latin liturgical mass text. Choirs have performed and recorded the work around the world. Despite and Also, which emphasized textual elements of loneliness, loneliness, and lost love in 1969, Leontyne Price's first performance on Barber's song cycle Despite and Still, which emphasized textual aspects of loneliness, loneliness, and despair, were present in Menotti's own personal life at the time of his work's introduction. This work used a more modern dissonant harmonic language with vivid textual illustrations characterized by tonal ambiguity and a regular use of chromaticism, clashing triads, tritones, and whole-tone segments. When it premiered in performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Finn baritone Tom Krause, and Robert Page's Temple University Chorus, his cantata The Lovers was well received by audiences and critics in 1971. The Third Essay for Orchestra (1978) was his last major work.

When receiving cancer-related therapy, Barber was hospitalized on and off between 1978-1981. On January 23, 1981, he died of the disease at his 907 Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan at the age of 70. His funeral took place three days later at the First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, and he was buried in the Oaklands Cemetery. Canzone for oboe and string orchestra (1981), his final composition, was published after his death. Barber only completed the second movement of what was supposed to be a fully developed oboe concerto, originally intended to be a fully developed oboe concerto.

Mid career (1942–1966)

Barber joined the Army Air Corps in 1942, where he remained in service until 1945. When he was there, he was hired by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) to write several works, including his Cello Concerto for Raya Garbousova and his Second Symphony, a work that later regretted. The symphony, which was designed in 1943, was originally named Symphony Dedicated to the Air Forces and was premiered by Serge Koussevitsky and the BSO in early 1944. Barber restored the symphony in 1947 and it was later released by G. Schirmer in 1950 and the New Symphony Orchestra of London's following year, conducted by Barber himself. Barber destroyed the score in 1964, according to various reports. Hans Heinsheimer, an eyewitness, told Barber that he followed Barber to the publisher's office, where they gathered all the library's recordings, and Barber "took up all these beautifully and inexpensively copied materials with his own hands." On the other hand, Heinsheimer, as an executive at G. Schirmer, would not have allowed Barber into the Schirmer offices to hear him "rip apart the music that his company invested money in publishing." The score was later reconstructed from the instrument parts and released in a Vox Box "Stradivari Classics" recording by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Schenck in 1988.

Barber and Menotti bought 'Capricorn', a house north of Manhattan in suburban Mount Kisco, New York, in 1943. The home served as their artistic retreat until 1972, and Barber spent his most fruitful years as a composer at this house in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s. Medea (1946) for Martha Graham and the symphonic work Knoxville, 1915 for soprano and orchestra for opera singer Eleanor Steber, who first appeared with the BSO in 1948. He was selected by the US State Department in 1946 to attend the first Prague Spring International Music Festival, where his music was on display with other well-known American composers, such as Leonard Bernstein. He had a major critical success in 1949 with his Piano Sonata, which was premiered by Vladimir Horowitz and commissioned by Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers to celebrate the League of Composers' 25th anniversary. The work, which has been widely distributed in concerts by Horowitz and other leading pianists, has earned a long place in the performance canon.

Barber began to perform and record his own works in the 1950s, including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. He trained with Nikolai Malko in 1951 to prepare for the recording of his Second Symphony, Cello Concerto, and the Medea ballet suite. He was elected Vice President of the International Music Council in 1952. When Barber approached Kimball about needing a singer to perform his song cycle Hermit Songs, he introduced her to soprano Leontyne Price, who was a Barber's friend. Barber, captivated by her voice, invited her to premiere her work at the Library of Congress, with Barber accompanying on the piano. Price appeared in Barber's Cantata Prayers of Kierkegaard's debut with the BSO in 1954, and he's likely to be closely associated with his performances over the next two decades.

Barber's first opera Vanessa, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in January 1958, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his first opera Vanessa, which included opera performers Eleanor Steber, Rosalind Elias, Regina Resnik, Nicolai Gedda, and Giorgio Tozzi. The Met brought the production to the Salzburg Festival later this year, making it the first American opera to be performed at the festival. Both Vanessa and Barber's second opera A Hand of Bridge were written by Menotti. This latest work premiered at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoletto, Italy, in 1959, with a cast that included Patricia Neway and William Lewis.

Barber was the first American composer to attend the biennial Congress of Soviet Composers in Moscow in 1962. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his second time in his Piano Concerto in the opening of Lincoln Center, and he performed it at the opening of Philharmonic Hall with pianist John Browning in September 1962. Andromache's Farewell, a piece for soprano and orchestra that premiered in April 1963 by the New York Philharmonic and soprano Martina Arroyo, was the second work commissioned for Lincoln Center's opening. Antony and Cleopatra, his third and final opera, premiered at the new Metropolitan Opera House in 1966 with Leontyne Price and Justino Diaz in the title roles. Critics dismissed this work, but Barber's own opinion was that it contained some of his best work, and he spent the decade after its premiere revising the opera.

Barber, who suffered with depression and alcoholism during his third opera Antony and Cleopatra (1966), was left sabotaged by his harsh rejection of his third opera Antony and Cleopatra (1966), which had a negative influence on his artistic output. He began to divide his time between his New York home and a chalet in Santa Christina, Italy, where he spent long stretches in solitude. Tensions between Menotti and Barber increased, causing Menotti to insist that the couple break their romantic union and sell "Capricorn" in 1970. Capricorn was sold in 1972, but the two guys remained close friends after their intimate association was ended.

Barber continued to write music into his later years as he was nearly 70 years old. Adagio for Strings (1936) was converted by him to a choral piece, Agnus Dei, according to the Latin liturgical mass text on the Lamb of God. Choirs around the world have largely performed and recorded the work. Leontyne Price performed the premiere of Barber's song cycle in 1969, Despite and Still, which stressed textural aspects of loneliness, loneliness, and lost love, are all topics that were present in Menotti's own personal life at the time of its creation. This work used a more modern dissonant harmonic language with vivid textual images characterized by tonal ambiguity and a frequent use of chromaticism, conflicting triads, tritones, and whole-tone segments. When the Philadelphia Orchestra, Finn baritone Tom Krause, and the Temple University Chorus directed by Robert Page premiered in 1971, his cantata The Lovers was well received by audiences and reviewers. He performed in The Third Essay for Orchestra (1978), his last major work.

During chemotherapy for cancer, Barber was hospitalized on and off from 1978 to 1981. He died of the disease at his 907 Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan on January 23, 1981 at the age of 70. He was buried in the Oaklands Cemetery three days later at the First Presbyterian Church of West Chester. Canzone for oboe and string orchestra (1981), his final composition, was published after his death. Barber began planning to perform a fully developed oboe concerto but only completed the second movement of that project.

Source