Violin Concerto, Op. 14
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)

THE STORY

Samuel Barber is one of the most respected American composers of the twentieth century. With early works such as the Adagio for Strings (1936) and his Symphony in One Movement (1936), Barber emerged on the American music scene as a composer of immense promise. Rather than embracing the staunch modernism of his colleagues who found great inspiration in Stravinsky’s propulsive rhythm and Schoenberg’s atonal experimentation, Barber adopted an exquisite lyricism and emotional depth, earning him a reputation as a “neoromantic” composer.

Barber composed his Violin Concerto, Op. 14 on a commission from Samuel Fels, a board member of Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, from which Barber received his degree in 1934. With the cash advance from the commission, Barber retreated to the mountains of Switzerland, where he finished the first two movements—his trip was cut short as Europe was on the brink of war. Upon returning to the United States, Barber showed the first two movements to Fels. He in turn gave them to violinist Iso Briselli, who had agreed to premiere the concerto. However, Briselli was not happy with the work, desiring a concerto of showstopping virtuosity rather than one of the lyrical depth that characterized Barber’s drafts. Even Barber’s inclusion of a rousing and virtuosic final movement was not enough to keep Briselli on board; he gave up the rights to perform the work on grounds of creative difference. However, there were plenty who saw the value of Barber’s romantic sensibilities—the concerto was premiered on February 7, 1941 by The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy with well-respected violinist Albert Spalding as soloist; it remains a staple of the violin repertory.

Omitting the customary orchestral introduction found in concerto forms, Barber begins at once with an elegant violin passage, setting the tone for the rest of the work. The clarinet introduces the mysterious, yet buoyant second theme that recurs in various guises throughout the movement. The andante second movement retains the expressivity of the first, yet with an increased solemnity. In the brief yet invigorating third movement, after several introductory timpani strikes, the violin is unleashed to race the orchestra to the end of the work.

LISTEN FOR

• The tremendous length of the solo violin’s opening phrase—a seemingly endless melody that is in fact composed of several small motives seamlessly linked together and repeated 
• The brilliant return of the first theme in the middle of the first movement, played this time by the orchestra rather than solo violin and preceded by a brass fanfare that states the lilting second theme in a major key
• The dramatic shift between major and minor mode in the second movement’s first solo violin section—by making subtle melodic changes like this, Barber drastically alters the tone of the movement
• The contrasting nature of the last movement compared to the first two—the incessant movement, chromatic inflections, and virtuosic figuration can perhaps be heard as Barber’s response to Briselli‘s suggestion that the first two movements were too lyrical and easy to play

INSTRUMENTATION

Solo violin; two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, percussion, piano, strings