Samuel Barber

Born March 9, 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania

Died January 23, 1981

Nationality: American

Style/Period: Romantic/Modern

About the composer:

Samuel Barber was one of the greatest American composers. Even though he lived well into the 20^th Century, much of his music is in the style of the Romantic period.  He played the piano very well and had a beautiful baritone voice. He loved to sing, and wrote dozens of songs, many of which he performed in recitals while accompanying himself at the piano. Barber became a conductor, but continued to write music throughout his life.  Some was for string quartet, some for piano, some for singers, and some was for orchestra.  One of his most famous works is the Adagio for Strings. It has been performed and recorded by many orchestras. It became more famous around the world when it was played on radio and television stations at the time of President Kennedy’s death.

About the music:

Adagio for Strings (7-10 min)

This was originally a movement of a string quartet, but it was rewritten for a large orchestra of many, many stringed instruments to give it a richer, fuller sound.  Listen to the lovely blending of sounds or voices in the strings.

Suggested activities:

Find out what ‘adagio’ means.

Discover the names of the stringed instruments in an orchestra and look for pictures of each one.