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Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Summer Music, Op. 31

Samuel Barber’s Summer Music, composed in 1953–56 for woodwind quintet, is one of the most evocative and atmospheric chamber works in the American repertoire.

Although cast as a single continuous movement, the piece unfolds in a series of contrasting sections that feel like shifting scenes in a warm, languid summer day. Barber, known for his lyrical voice and emotional clarity, uses the diverse colors of the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn to create a sound world that is both intimate and expansive.

At its core, Summer Music is about mood rather than narrative. Barber avoids strict formal patterns, instead allowing the music to drift organically, as if following the unhurried rhythm of a hot afternoon.

The opening is relaxed and unpressured, with long, arching lines that seem to hover in the air. The horn and bassoon often provide a mellow foundation, while the upper winds trade gentle, expressive phrases. Barber’s harmonic language — lush but never sentimental — gives the music a hazy, slightly nostalgic quality.

As the piece progresses, the texture becomes more animated. Barber introduces playful, quick-moving passages that suggest the sudden bursts of energy that punctuate an otherwise slow summer day. These livelier moments never feel disconnected from the whole; instead, they act as natural fluctuations in tempo and character, like a breeze stirring the stillness.

The final section returns to a more reflective mood. Themes reappear in transformed ways, creating a sense of gentle closure rather than dramatic resolution. The music fades with the same understated elegance that characterizes the entire work.

Barber’s Summer Music endures because it captures something universal: the quiet richness of time passing slowly.

The Fresno Philharmonic's performance of Summer Music, Op. 31 features:

  • Pam Martchev, Flute
  • Victoria Lee, Oboe
  • Peter Nevin, Clarinet
  • Lynn Hileman, Bassoon
  • Lauren Varley, Horn


Program Notes © 2026 Paul Hyde

Paul Hyde, a longtime arts journalist, is an English instructor at Tri-County Technical College in South Carolina. He writes regularly for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the S.C. Daily Gazette, Classical Voice North America, ArtsATL and other publications. Readers may write to him at phyde@tctc.edu.

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Summer Music, Op. 31

Samuel Barber’s Summer Music, composed in 1953–56 for woodwind quintet, is one of the most evocative and atmospheric chamber works in the American repertoire.

Although cast as a single continuous movement, the piece unfolds in a series of contrasting sections that feel like shifting scenes in a warm, languid summer day. Barber, known for his lyrical voice and emotional clarity, uses the diverse colors of the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn to create a sound world that is both intimate and expansive.

At its core, Summer Music is about mood rather than narrative. Barber avoids strict formal patterns, instead allowing the music to drift organically, as if following the unhurried rhythm of a hot afternoon.

The opening is relaxed and unpressured, with long, arching lines that seem to hover in the air. The horn and bassoon often provide a mellow foundation, while the upper winds trade gentle, expressive phrases. Barber’s harmonic language — lush but never sentimental — gives the music a hazy, slightly nostalgic quality.

As the piece progresses, the texture becomes more animated. Barber introduces playful, quick-moving passages that suggest the sudden bursts of energy that punctuate an otherwise slow summer day. These livelier moments never feel disconnected from the whole; instead, they act as natural fluctuations in tempo and character, like a breeze stirring the stillness.

The final section returns to a more reflective mood. Themes reappear in transformed ways, creating a sense of gentle closure rather than dramatic resolution. The music fades with the same understated elegance that characterizes the entire work.

Barber’s Summer Music endures because it captures something universal: the quiet richness of time passing slowly.

The Fresno Philharmonic's performance of Summer Music, Op. 31 features:

  • Pam Martchev, Flute
  • Victoria Lee, Oboe
  • Peter Nevin, Clarinet
  • Lynn Hileman, Bassoon
  • Lauren Varley, Horn


Program Notes © 2026 Paul Hyde

Paul Hyde, a longtime arts journalist, is an English instructor at Tri-County Technical College in South Carolina. He writes regularly for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the S.C. Daily Gazette, Classical Voice North America, ArtsATL and other publications. Readers may write to him at phyde@tctc.edu.