Barber, Samuel
Barber, Samuel
Barber, Samuel, outstanding American composer of superlative gifts; b. West Chester, Pa., March 9, 1910; d. N.Y., Jan. 23, 1981. He was the nephew of Louise Homer and her husband Sidney Homer, who encouraged him in his musical inclination. At the age of six, he began piano lessons, and later had some cello lessons. He was only ten when he tried his hand at composing a short opera, The Rose Tree. During his high school years, he gained practical experience as organist at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Even before graduating from high school at age 16, he entered the first class at the newly organized Curtis Inst. of Music in Philadelphia when he was 14, where he was a pupil of Boyle and Vengerova (piano), Scalero (composition), and Reiner (conducting). He also took voice lessons with Emilio de Gogarza and gave recitals as a baritone at the Curtis Inst., where he graduated in 1932. He then went to Vienna to pursue vocal training with John Braun, and also appeared in public as a singer there. In the meantime, his interest in composing grew apace. In 1928 his Violin Sonata won the Beams Prize of Columbia Univ. It was followed by such enduring scores as his Dover Beach for Voice and String Quartet (1931), the Serenade for String Quartet (1932), and the Cello Sonata (1932). In 1933 he won the Beams Prize again for his overture to The School for Scandal, which was favorably received at its premiere by the Philadelphia Orch. on Aug. 30 of that year. Then followed the successful premiere of his Music for a Scene from Shelley by the N.Y. Phil, on March 24, 1935, under Werner Janssen’s direction. Thanks to a Pultizer Traveling Scholarship and a Rome Prize, Barber pursued composition at the American Academy in Rome in 1935 and 1936. During his sojourn there, he wrote his First Sym., which was premiered under Molinari’s direction on Dec. 13, 1936. He also wrote his String Quartet in 1936. Rodzinski conducted Barber’s First Sym. at the Salzburg Festival on July 25, 1937, the first score by an American composer to be played there. Toscanini conducted the premiere of Barber’s (first) Essay for Orch. with the NBC Sym. Orch. in N.Y. on Nov. 5, 1938. On the same program, he also conducted the Adagio for Strings, a transcription of the second movement of the String Quartet, which was destined to become Barber’s most celebrated work, an epitome of his lyrical and Romantic bent. From 1939 to 1942 he taught composition at the Curtis Inst. His most notable work of this period was his Violin Concerto, which was first performed by Albert Spalding with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orch. on Feb. 7, 1941. With his friend Gian Carlo Menotti, he purchased a house (“Capricorn”) in Mount Kisco, N.Y., which was to remain the center of his activities until 1974. In 1943 he was conscripted into the U.S. Army and was assigned to the Army Air Force. During his military service, he composed his Second Sym., which included an electronic instrument producing sound in imitation of radio signals. Koussevitzky conducted its premiere with the Boston Sym. Orch. on March 3, 1944. After his discharge from military service in 1945, Barber revised the score; it was first performed by the Philadelphia Orch. on Jan. 21, 1948. Still dissatisfied with the work, he destroyed the MS except for the second movement, which he revised as Night Flight, which was first performed by Szell and the Cleveland Orch. on Oct. 8, 1964. Barber had better luck with his Cello Concerto (1945), which was introduced by Raya Garbousova with Koussevitzy conducting the Boston Sym. Orch. on April 5, 1946. In 1947 it won the N.Y. Music Critics’ Circle Award. For Martha Graham, he composed the ballet Medea (N.Y., May 10, 1946), which was revised as The Cave of the Heart (N.Y., Feb. 27, 1947). He made an orch. suite from the ballet (Philadelphia, Dec. 5, 1947) and the orch. piece, Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance (N.Y., Feb. 2, 1956). One of Barber’s most distinguished scores, Knox-ville: Summer of 1915 for High Voice and Orch., after James Agee, was first performed by Eleanor Steber with Koussevitzky conducting the Boston Sym. Orch. on April 9, 1948. His remarkable Piano Sonata, premiered by Horowitz in Havana on Dec. 9, 1949, amply utilized contemporary resources, including 12-tone writing. In 1953 he composed the one-act opera A Hand of Bridge, scored for four Soloists and Chamber Orch. The work was not performed until June 17, 1959, when it was mounted in Spoleto, Italy, without much impact. In the meantime, Barber composed his finest opera, Vanessa (1956–57), to a libretto by Menotti. It was successfuly premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. on Jan. 15, 1958, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music. It was followed by his strikingly brilliant Piano Concerto, which was first performed by John Browning with Leinsdorf conducting the Boston Sym. Orch. at N.Y.’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 24, 1962. Barber was awarded his second Pulitzer Prize in Music for this work. A commission from the Metropolitan Opera spurred Barber on to compose his most ambitious work for the stage, the three-act opera Antony and Cleopatra. With Zeffirelli as librettist, producer, director, and designer, it was premiered at the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House in N.Y. on Sept. 16, 1966. Unfortunately, the work found few admirers. Barber revised the score with a revamped libretto by Menotti, and the new version was given a more favorable reception at its first performance by N.Y.’s Opera Theater of the Juilliard School on Feb. 6, 1975.
During the final years of his life, Barber wrote only a handful of works. In 1945, 1947, and 1949 he held Guggenheim fellowships. He was elected to the National Inst. of Arts and Letters in 1941 and to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1958. Barber was one of the most distinguished American composers of the 20th century. He excelled primarily as a melodist, being remarkably sensitive in his handling of vocally shaped patterns. Although the harmonic structures of his music remained fundamentally tonal, he made free use of chromatic techniques, verging on atonality and polytonality, while his mastery of modern counterpoint enabled him to write canons and fugues in effective neo-Baroque sequences. His orchestration was opulent without being turgid, and his treatment of solo instruments was unfailingly congenial to their nature even though requiring a virtuoso technique.
Works
DRAMATIC: Opera: A Hand of Bridge (1953; Spoleto, June 17, 1959); Vanessa (1956–57; N.Y., Jan. 15, 1958, Mitropoulos conducting; rev. 1964); Antony and Cleopatra (N.Y., Sept. 16, 1966, Schippers conducting; rev. 1974; N.Y., Feb. 6, 1975, Conlon conducting). ballet:Medea or Serpent Heart (N.Y., May 10, 1946; rev. as The Cave of the Heart, N.Y., Feb. 27, 1947; as a ballet suite, Philadelphia, Dec. 5, 1947, Ormandy conducting; as Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance for Orch., 1953; N.Y., Feb. 2, 1956, Mitropoulos conducting); Souvenirs (1952; N.Y., Nov. 15, 1955; as a ballet suite, 1952; Chicago, Nov. 12, 1953, Reiner conducting; also for Solo Piano or Piano, 4-Hands). ORCH.: Serenade for Strings (1928; also for String Quartet); The School for Scandal, overture (1933; N.Y., March 24, 1935, Janssen conducting); 2 syms.: No. 1 (Rome, Dec. 13, 1936, Molinari conducting; rev. 1942) and No. 2 (Boston, March 3, 1944, Koussevitzky conducting; rev. version, Philadelphia, Jan. 21, 1948, Ormandy conducting; 2nd movement rev. as Night Flight, Cleveland, Oct. 8, 1964, Szell conducting); Adagio for Strings (arranged from the 2nd movement of the String Quartet, 1936; N.Y., Nov. 5, 1938, Tscanini conducting); (3) Essay(s): No. 1 (1937; N.Y., Nov. 5, 1938, Toscanini conducting), No. 2 (N.Y., April 16, 1942, Walter conducting), and No. 3 (N.Y., Sept. 14, 1978, Mehta conducting); Violin Concerto (1939; Philadelphia, Feb. 7, 1941, Spalding soloist, Ormandy conducting); Funeral March (1943); Commando March for Band (Atlantic City, May 23, 1943, composer conducting; also for Orch., Boston, Oct. 29, 1943, Koussevitzky conducting); Capricorn Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Trumpet, and Strings (N.Y., Oct. 8, 1944, Saidenberg conducting); Cello Concerto (1945; Boston, April 5, 1946, Garbousova soloist, Koussevitzky conducting); Horizon (c. 1945; Merrick, N.Y., Jan. 19, 1985); Adventure for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Harp, and Exotic Instruments (1954); Toccata festiva for Organ and Orch. (Philadelphia, Sept. 30, 1960, Callaway soloist, Ormandy conducting); Die natalie, choral preludes for Christmas (Boston, Dec. 22, 1960, Munch conducting); Piano Concerto (N.Y., Sept. 24, 1962, Browning soloist, Leinsdorf conducting); Fadograph of a Yestern Scene (Pittsburgh, Sept. 11, 1971, Steinberg conducting); Canzonetta for Oboe and Strings (orchestrated by C. Turner, 1977–78; N.Y., Dec. 17, 1981, H. Gomberg soloist, Mehta conducting). CHAMBER: Serenade for String Quartet (1928; Philadelphia, May 5, 1930, Swastika Quartet; also for String Orch.); Violin Sonata (Philadelphia, Dec. 10, 1928, Gilbert violinist, composer pianist; not extant); Cello Sonata (1932; N.Y., March 5, 1933, Cole cellist, composer pianist); String Quartet (Rome, Dec. 14, 1936, Pro Art Quartet; 2nd movement arranged as the Adagio for Strings, 1936); Commemorative March for Violin, Cello, and Piano (n.d.); Summer Music for Wind Quintet (1955; Detroit, March 20, 1956); Canzone (Elegy) for Flute or Violin and Piano (1962; transcription of the 2nd movement of the Piano Cocnerto): Mutations from Bach for 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, and Tuba or Timpani (1967; N.Y., Oct. 7, 1968). KEYBOARD: Piano: Interlude I (Adagio for Jeanne) (Philadelphia, May 12, 1932, composer pianist); (4) Excursions (1942–44; first complete perf., N.Y., Dec. 22, 1948, Behrend pianist); Sonata (Havana, Dec. 9, 1949, Horowitz pianist); Souvenirs (1952; also for Piano, 4-Hands, and as a ballet); Nocturne: Homage to John Field (San Diego, Oct. 1959, Browning pianist); Ballade (Fort Worth, Sept. 11, 1977). Organ: Wondrous Love: Variations on a Shape Note Hymn (Grosse Pointe, Mich., Oct. 19, 1958, Roeckelein organist). VOCAL: 10 Early Songs for Voice and Piano (1925–37; nos. 1-9 first perf., Rome, Jan. 5, 1936, composer singer and pianist); Dover Beach for Medium Voice and String Quartet (1931; N.Y., March 5, 1933, Bampton singer, N.Y. Art Quartet); The Virgin Martyrs for Women’s Voices (1935; CBS, May 1, 1939, composer conducting); Let Down the Bars, O Death for Chorus (1936); I Hear an Army for Voice and Piano (1936; Philadelphia, March 7, 1937; also for Voice and Orch., CBS, May 5, 1945, Tourel soloist, composer conducting); God’s Grandeur for Double Chorus (Shippensburg, Pa., Jan. 31, 1938); Sure on this Shining Night for Voice and Piano (1938; Philadelphia, April 4, 1941; also for Voice and Orch., CBS, May 5, 1945, Tourel soloist, composer conducting; also for Chorus and Piano); Nocturne for Voice and Orch. (1940; CBS, May 5, 1945, Tourel soloist, composer conducting; also for Voice and Piano, Philadelphia, April 4, 1941); A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map for Men’s Voices, Brass Ensemble, and Timpani (first perf. without brass, Philadelphia, April 23, 1940, composer conducting; first perf. with brass, N.Y., Dec. 17, 1945, Shaw conducting); Reincarnations for Chorus (1940); Monks and Raisins for Medium Voice and Piano (1943; also for Medium Voice and Orch., CBS, May 5, 1945, Tourel soloist, composer conducting); Knoxville: Summer of 1915 for Voice and Orch. (1947; Boston, April 9, 1948, Steber soloist, Koussevitzky conducting; rev. version for Voice and Chamber Orch., Washington, D.C., April 1, 1950); (5) Mélodies Passagères for Voice and Piano (1950; first complete perf., Paris, Feb. 1952, Bernac singer, Poulenc pianist); (10) Hermit Songs for Voice and Piano (1952–53; Washington, D.C., Oct. 30, 1953, Price singer, composer pianist); Prayers of Kierkegaard for Soprano, Chorus, and Orch. (Boston, Dec. 3, 1954, Price soloist, Munch conducting); Andromache’s Farewell for Soprano and Orch. (1962; N.Y., April 4, 1963, Arroyo soloist, Schippers conducting); Easter Chorale for Chorus, Brass Sextet, Timpani, and Organ ad libitum (Washington, D.C., May 7, 1964); Agnus Dei for Chorus and Piano or Organ ad libitum (1967; arranged from the 2nd movement of the String Quartet, 1936); Despite and Still, song cycle for High or Medium Voice and Piano (N.Y., April 27, 1969, Price singer, Garvey pianist); The Lovers for Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (Philadelphia, Sept. 22, 1971, Krause soloist, Or-mandy conducting).
Bibliography
N. Broder, S. B. (N.Y., 1954); R. Friedewald, A Formal and Stylistic Analysis of the Published Music of S. B. (diss., Univ. of Iowa, 1957); L. Wathen, Dissonance Treatment in the Instrumental Music of S. B. (diss., Northwestern Univ., 1960); S. Carter, The Piano Music of S. B. (diss., Tex. Tech. Univ., 1980); D. Hennessee, S. B.: A Bio- Bibliography (Westport, Conn., 1985); J. Kreiling, The Songs of S. B.: A Study in Literary Taste and Text-Setting (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1987); B. Heyman, S. B.: The Composer and His Music (Oxford, 1991); P. Wittke, S. B.: An Improvsatory Portrait (N.Y., 1994; includes works list by N. Ryan).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire