Adagio for Strings

Last updated

Adagio for Strings
by Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber.jpg
Samuel Barber, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1944
Key B♭ minor
Year1936 (1936)
Based onBarber's String Quartet
DurationAbout 8 minutes
Scoring String orchestra
Premiere
DateNovember 5, 1938 (1938-11-05) [1]
LocationNBC Studio 8H, New York City
Conductor Arturo Toscanini
Performers NBC Symphony Orchestra
Audio sample
30-second sample of 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.

Contents

Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year that he wrote the quartet. It was performed for the first time on November 5, 1938, by Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a radio broadcast from NBC Studio 8H. Toscanini also conducted the piece on his South American tour with the NBC Symphony in 1940.

Its reception has generally been positive, with Alexander J. Morin writing that Adagio for Strings is "full of pathos and cathartic passion" and that it "rarely leaves a dry eye". [2] The music is the setting for Barber's 1967 choral arrangement of Agnus Dei . It has been called "America's semi-official music for mourning." Adagio for Strings has been featured in many TV and movie soundtracks.

History

Barber's Adagio for Strings was originally the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11, composed in 1936 while he was spending a summer in Europe with Gian Carlo Menotti, an Italian composer and Barber's partner since their student years at the Curtis Institute of Music. [3] Barber was inspired by Virgil's didactic poem Georgics . In the quartet, the Adagio follows a violently contrasting first movement (Molto allegro e appassionato) and is succeeded by a third movement that opens with a brief reprise of the music from the first movement (marked Molto allegro (come prima) – Presto). [4]

In January 1938, Barber sent an orchestrated version of the Adagio for Strings to Arturo Toscanini. The conductor returned the score without comment, which annoyed Barber. Toscanini sent word through Menotti that he was planning to perform the piece and had returned it simply because he had already memorized it. [5] It was reported that Toscanini did not look at the music again until the day before the premiere. [6] On November 5, 1938, a selected audience was invited to Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center to watch Toscanini conduct the first performance; it was broadcast on radio and also recorded. Initially, the critical reception was mixed. The New York Times ' Olin Downes praised the piece, but he was reproached by other critics who claimed that he overrated it. [7]

Toscanini conducted Adagio for Strings in South America and Europe, the first performances of the work on both continents. Over April 16–19, 1942, the piece had public performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy at Carnegie Hall. Like the original 1938 performance, these were broadcast on radio and recorded.

Composition

Adagio for Strings begins softly with a B♭ played by the first violins.

Adagio for Strings

The lower strings come in two beats after the violins, which, as Johanna Keller from The New York Times put it, creates "an uneasy, shifting suspension as the melody begins a stepwise motion, like the hesitant climbing of stairs". [3] NPR Music said that "with a tense melodic line and taut harmonies, the composition is considered by many to be the most popular of all 20th-century orchestral works." [5] Thomas Larson remarked that the piece "evokes a deep sadness in those who hear it". [8] Many recordings of the piece have a duration of about eight minutes. [9] According to music theorist Matthew BaileyShea, the Adagio "features a deliberately archaic sound, with Renaissance-like polyphony and simple tertian harmonies" underlying a "chant-like melody". The work is in "the key of B♭ minor (with some modal inflections)". [10]

The Adagio is an example of arch form and builds on a melody that first ascends and then descends in stepwise fashion. Barber subtly manipulates the pulse throughout the work by varying the primary 4
2 time signature with isolated measures of 5
2, 6
2, and 3
2. [6] After four climactic chords and a long pause, the piece presents the opening theme again and fades away on an unresolved dominant chord.

Music critic Olin Downes wrote that the piece is very simple at climaxes but reasoned that the simple chords create significance for the piece. Downes went on to say: "That is because we have here honest music, by an honest musician, not striving for pretentious effect, not behaving as a writer would who, having a clear, short, popular word handy for his purpose, got the dictionary and fished out a long one." [7] [11] [12]

Critical reception

Alexander J. Morin, author of Classical Music: The Listener's Companion (2001), said that the piece was "full of pathos and cathartic passion" and that it "rarely leaves a dry eye". [2] Reviewing the premiere performance in 1938, Olin Downes noted that with the piece, Barber "achieved something as perfect in mass and detail as his craftsmanship permits". [11]

In an edition of A Conductor's Analysis of Selected Works, John William Mueller devoted over 20 pages to Adagio for Strings. [13] Wayne Clifford Wentzel, author of Samuel Barber: A Research and Information Guide (Composer Resource Manuals), said that it was a piece usually selected for a closing act because it was moderately famous. Roy Brewer, writer for AllMusic, said that it was one of the most recognizable pieces of American concert music. [14] The musicologist Bill McGlaughlin compares its role in American music to the role that Edward Elgar's "Nimrod" holds for the British. [15]

As part of a musical retrospective in 2000, NPR named Adagio for Strings one of the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century, calling it "standard repertoire for today's orchestras, and Barber's best-known work". [16] [17] In 2019, NPR revisited the piece, with writer Anastasia Tsioulcas suggesting it arrived at "the right moment, when America was still hurting from the Great Depression and Europe was sliding into war." She continued by noting how young people reinterprets "America's semi-official music for mourning" as an expression of joy, using the example of Dutch DJ Tiësto's remix of Adagio for Strings as a dance music anthem, [18] which caught the attention of the 2004 Olympics Organizers in Athens (ATHOC) and is included on Parade of the Athletes , Tiësto's retrospective mix of his live set performed during the opening ceremony. [19]

In 2004, listeners of the BBC Radio's Today program voted Adagio for Strings the "saddest classical" work ever, ahead of "Dido's Lament" from Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell, the Adagietto from Gustav Mahler's 5th symphony, Metamorphosen by Richard Strauss, and Gloomy Sunday as sung by Billie Holiday. [20] [21]

Arrangements

G. Schirmer has published several alternate arrangements for Adagio for Strings. They include: [6]

Strickland, while assistant organist at St Bartholomew's Church in New York, had been impressed by Toscanini's recording of the work and had submitted his own arrangement for organ to Schirmers. After he made contact with Barber at a musical soirée in 1939, he learned that his transcription had received a lukewarm response from the composer. Strickland, subsequently appointed wartime director of music at the Army's Fort Myer in Virginia, became a champion of Barber's new compositions. He continued to correspond with the composer.

In 1945 Barber wrote to Strickland, expressing his dissatisfaction with previously proposed organ arrangements; he encouraged Strickland to discuss and prepare his own version for publication.

Schirmers have had several organ arrangements submitted of my Adagio for Strings and many inquiries as to whether it exists for organ. I have always turned them down, as, although I know little about the organ, I am sure your arrangement would be best. Have you got the one you did before, if not, would you be willing to make it anew? If so, will you ever be in N.Y. on leave, so I could discuss it with you and hear it? If it is done at all, I should like it done as well as possible, and this by you. They would pay you a flat fee for the arrangement, although I don't suppose it will be very much. However, that is their affair. Let me know what you think about it. [6]

Strickland, having kept the piece, sent his organ arrangement to G. Schirmer. The company published it in 1949. [6]

Notable usage

The recording of the world premiere in 1938, with Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra, was selected in 2005 for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the United States Library of Congress. [23] Since the 1938 recording, the Adagio for Strings has frequently been heard throughout the world, particularly in times of mourning. It was one of the few American pieces to be played in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. [14] Barber voiced misgivings with the piece's ubiquity, saying in a 1978 interview, "They always play that piece. I wish they'd play some of my other pieces." [24]

Notable invocations or performances of the piece include:

Adagio for Strings can also be heard on many film and television soundtracks, including The Elephant Man (1980), Platoon (1986), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and Outlander . [3] [38] [39] More comedic or lighthearted uses of it have appeared in the film Amélie (2001) and on episodes of the sitcoms Seinfeld , The Simpsons , American Dad! , and South Park . [24]

Adaptations

The group eRa included Adagio for Strings in their 2009 album Classics . [40] English rock group Muse interpolated Adagio for Strings on their songs Plug In Baby and Interlude.

The work is popular in the electronic dance music genre, notably in trance. [41] Artists, including DJs who have covered it include William Orbit, [42] Ferry Corsten, [43] and Tiësto (eponymously titled single). [44]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Barber</span> American composer (1910–1981)

Samuel Osmond Barber II was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-20th century. Principally influenced by nine years' composition studies with Rosario Scalero at the Curtis Institute and more than 25 years' study with his uncle, the composer Sidney Homer, Barber's music usually eschewed the experimental trends of musical modernism in favor of traditional 19th-century harmonic language and formal structure embracing lyricism and emotional expression. However, he adopted elements of modernism after 1940 in some of his compositions, such as an increased use of dissonance and chromaticism in the Cello Concerto (1945) and Medea's Dance of Vengeance (1955); and the use of tonal ambiguity and a narrow use of serialism in his Piano Sonata (1949), Prayers of Kierkegaard (1954), and Nocturne (1959).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Barbirolli</span> British conductor and cellist (1899–1970)

Sir John Barbirolli was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 and conducted for the rest of his life. Earlier in his career he was Arturo Toscanini's successor as music director of the New York Philharmonic, serving from 1936 to 1943. He was also chief conductor of the Houston Symphony from 1961 to 1967, and was a guest conductor of many other orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, with all of which he made recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arturo Toscanini</span> Italian conductor (1867–1957)

Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his eidetic memory. He was at various times the music director of La Scala in Milan and the New York Philharmonic. Later in his career, he was appointed the first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937–1954), and this led to his becoming a household name, especially in the United States, through his radio and television broadcasts and many recordings of the operatic and symphonic repertoire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">String orchestra</span> Musical ensemble

A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first and second violin players, the viola, the cello, and usually, but not always, the double bass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Schuman</span> American composer and arts administrator (1910-1992)

William Howard Schuman was an American composer and arts administrator.

<i>Great Mass in C minor</i>, K. 427 Musical mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Great Mass in C minor, K. 427/417a, is the common name of the musical setting of the mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which is considered one of his greatest works. He composed it in Vienna in 1782 and 1783, after his marriage, when he moved to Vienna from Salzburg. The large-scale work, a missa solemnis, is scored for two soprano soloists, a tenor and a bass, double chorus and large orchestra. It remained unfinished, missing large portions of the Credo and the complete Agnus Dei.

<i>Glagolitic Mass</i> Choral composition by Leoš Janáček

The Glagolitic Mass is a composition for soloists, double chorus, organ and orchestra by Leoš Janáček. Janáček completed the work in 1926. It received its premiere by the Brno Arts Society, conducted by Jaroslav Kvapil, in Brno on 5 December 1927. Janáček revised the mass the next year.

The Piano Concerto, Op. 38, by Samuel Barber was commissioned by the music publishing company G. Schirmer in honor of the centenary of their founding. The premiere was on September 24, 1962, in the opening festivities of Philharmonic Hall, now David Geffen Hall, the first hall built at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, with John Browning as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.

Roman Festivals, P 157 is a tone poem in four movements for orchestra completed in 1928 by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. It is the last of his three tone poems about Rome, following Fountains of Rome (1916) and Pines of Rome (1924), which he referred to as a triptych. Each movement depicts a scene of celebration in ancient and contemporary Rome, specifically gladiators battling to the death, the Christian Jubilee, a harvest and hunt festival, and a festival in the Piazza Navona. Musically, the piece is the longest and most demanding of Respighi's Roman trilogy.

<i>Andante festivo</i> Concert piece for string quartet by Jean Sibelius (1922)

Andante festivo, JS 34a–b, is a single-movement chamber work for two violins, viola, and cello written in 1922 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. In 1938, the composer arranged the piece for string orchestra and timpani. On 1 January 1939, Sibelius conducted this version of Andante festivo during a live, worldwide broadcast, making it the only sound document of him interpreting his own music.

<i>Agnus Dei</i> (Barber) Choral composition by Samuel Barber

Agnus Dei(Lamb of God) is a choral composition in one movement by Samuel Barber, his own arrangement of his Adagio for Strings (1936). In 1967, he set the Latin words of the liturgical Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, for mixed chorus with optional organ or piano accompaniment. The music, in B-flat minor, has a duration of about eight minutes.

The Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44, is a three-movement composition for orchestra written from 1935 to 1936 by the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. The Third Symphony is considered a transitional work in Rachmaninoff's output. In melodic outline and rhythm it is his most expressively Russian symphony, particularly in the dance rhythms of the finale. What was groundbreaking in this symphony was its greater economy of utterance compared to its two predecessors. This sparer style, first apparent in the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, enhances the emotional power of the work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Kimball Hadley</span> American composer and conductor

Henry Kimball Hadley was an American composer and conductor.

Arthur Weisberg was an American clarinetist, bassoonist, conductor, composer and author.

Laszlo Varga was a Hungarian-born American cellist who had a worldwide status as a soloist, recording artist, and authoritative cello teacher.

Samuel Barber's Symphony in One Movement (Op. 9) was completed 24 February 1936. It was premiered by Rome's Philharmonic Augusteo Orchestra under the baton of Bernardino Molinari on 13 December 1936. It lasts around 21 minutes. The title given in the printed score of the work is First Symphony (in One Movement), and the uniform title is Symphonies, no. 1, op. 9.

Samuel Barber's Essay for Orchestra, Op. 12, 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 Strings saw its first performance. It lasts around 8 minutes and is dedicated "To C.E." The essay is now known as the First Essay for Orchestra after Barber wrote his Second Essay for Orchestra in 1942. He also wrote a Third Essay in 1978.

The Symphony No. 2 in D-flat major, Opus 30, W45, "Romantic", was written by Howard Hanson on commission from Serge Koussevitzky for the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930, and published by Carl Fischer Music.

Symphony No. 2, Op. 19 is a three-movement work for orchestra by the American composer Samuel Barber. The 25-minute work was originally written in 1944. The work underwent many revisions and was finally published in 1950. The original manuscript was withdrawn by Barber in 1964. He ordered that G. Schirmer destroy the original manuscript and all scores in their library. The work remained unpublished for many years until 1984 when a set of parts turned up in a warehouse in England. Renewed interest in Barber's work led to a 1990 reprint of the 1950 edition.

The Third Essay for Orchestra, Op. 47, is a short orchestral work composed by Samuel Barber in 1978. The score is dedicated to Audrey Sheldon.

References

  1. ↑ Adagio for Strings by Cary O'Dell, Library of Congress, National Recording Registry
  2. 1 2 Morin, Alexander (2001). Classical Music: Third Ear: The Essential Listening Companion . Backbeat Books. p.  74. ISBN   0-87930-638-6.
  3. 1 2 3 Keller, Johanna (March 7, 2010). "An Adagio for Strings, and for the Ages". The New York Times . Retrieved March 7, 2010.
  4. ↑ Woodstra, Chris; Brennan, Gerald; Schrott, Allen (2005). All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music. Backbeat Books. p. 81. ISBN   0-87930-865-6.
  5. 1 2 "The Impact of Barber's Adagio for Strings". All Things Considered . NPR. November 4, 2006. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010. Retrieved November 13, 2011.(Audio clip)
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Heyman 1992 , pp.  167–180
  7. 1 2 Tick, Judith; Beaudoin, Paul, eds. (2008). Music in the USA: a documentary companion. Oxford University Press. pp. 470–474. ISBN   978-0-19-513987-7.
  8. 1 2 3 Larson, Thomas (2010). The Saddest Music Ever Written: The Story of Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings". Pegasus Books. ISBN   978-1-60598-115-4.
  9. ↑ "Adagio for Strings, Samuel Barber". Schirmer.com. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
  10. ↑ BaileyShea, Matthew (August 2012). "Agency and the Adagio: Mimetic Engagement in Barber's Op. 11 Quartet". Gamut. 5 (1): 7–38. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  11. 1 2 Braun, Gene; McLanathan, Richard (1991). The Arts. Great Contemporary Issues Series. Ayer Company. p. 132. ISBN   0-405-11153-3.
  12. ↑ Downes, Olin (1968). Olin Downes on music: a selection from his writings during the half-century 1906 to 1955. Greenwood Publishing Group. ASIN   B0006BYVRG.
  13. ↑ Mueller, John William (1992). A conductor's analysis of selected works. John William Mueller. pp. 187–210.
  14. 1 2 "Adagio for Strings (or string quartet; arr. from 2nd mvt. of String Quartet), Op. 11". Allmusic. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
  15. ↑ McGlaughlin, Bill. Edward Elgar: Part 2 of 5. Exploring Music . Originally aired April 6, 2004.
  16. ↑ "NPR 100: Barber's 'Adagio for Strings'". NPR. March 13, 2000. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  17. ↑ "The NPR 100". NPR. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  18. ↑ https://www.npr.org/2019/02/13/694388226/samuel-barber-adagio-for-strings-tiesto-william-orbit-american-anthem
  19. ↑ Tiesto — Parade of Athletes. How Tijs Verwest turned out to be the DJ of the 2004 Olympics
  20. ↑ "Today: search for the world's saddest music" . Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  21. ↑ "Saddest Music shortlist" . Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  22. 1 2 Parr, Freya (September 10, 2021). "Everything you need to know about the Last Night of the Proms". BBC Music Magazine .
  23. ↑ "The National Recording Registry 2005". Library of Congress . Retrieved April 27, 2007.
  24. 1 2 3 Wise, Brian (September 8, 2010). "WQXR Features Barber's Adagio: The Saddest Piece Ever?" . Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  25. 1 2 Lee, Douglas A. (2002). Masterworks of 20th Century Music: The Modern Repertory of the Symphony Orchestra . Routledge. ISBN   0-415-93846-5.
  26. ↑ Heyman 1992, p. 196.
  27. ↑ "The Saddest Song". pophistorydig.com. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  28. ↑ "Concert Program". New York Philharmonic. January 29, 1981. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  29. ↑ Barnes, Anthony (September 16, 2001). "Tradition yields to compassion". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on September 3, 2009. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  30. ↑ "Peter, Paul and Mary Soar Again with Symphony Orchestra". February 10, 2010. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  31. ↑ "In Photos: Canadian NDP Leader Jack Layton's procession, funeral".
  32. ↑ "Professional musicians joined with amateur performers last night in Trafalgar Square, London, to remember the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris".
  33. ↑ Van Den Steen, Stephanie (March 25, 2016). "Music Played after Brussels Attacks". La Libre. Video at Bottom, French Language. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  34. ↑ Adagio for Strings for Orlando Victims, in Central Park on YouTube
  35. ↑ Vigil Held for Victims of Manchester Attack in UK on YouTube
  36. ↑ "European Concert" from the Berliner Philharmonie by the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, Digital Concert Hall (subscription required)
  37. ↑ Co-Founder, Alec Meer; Meer, Alec (February 25, 2015). "Wot I Think: Homeworld Remastered Collection". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
  38. ↑ "Barber's Adagio is Not the Saddest Music in the World". NPR.
  39. ↑ "Why 'Outlander' used the saddest song ever to end the penultimate episode". Entertainment Weekly .
  40. ↑ "Era Classics – Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
  41. ↑ Sansone, Glen (February 14, 2000). "William Orbit". CMJ New Music Report . CMJ: 20.
  42. ↑ "Billboard Dance". Billboard . October 10, 2005. p. 87.
  43. ↑ Jacks, Kelso (January 31, 2000). "Record News". CMJ New Music Report . CMJ: 11.
  44. ↑ " Adagio for Strings " at Discogs (list of releases)

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.