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ADAGIO FOR STRINGS
Samuel Barber

SAMUEL BARBER

Born March 9, 1910, in West Chester, PA.

Died January 23, 1981, in New York City, NY

Adagio for Strings

Last performed by the Wichita Symphony on November 19 and 20, 2005. Andrew Sewell conducted.

It was a remarkable opportunity. With the encouragement of family and friends, Samuel Barber sent off two scores for the consideration of Arturo Toscanini, who was the leading conductor and musical tastemaker of the day in America. A staunch conservative noted for his interpretations of Beethoven and Italian opera, Toscanini rarely paid attention to contemporary music, let alone works by American composers. Barber nervously took his chance and sent two recently completed works, an Essay for orchestra and an Adagio for strings.

With disappointment, Barber received the scores back from Toscanini, who offered no comments, criticisms, or suggestions. Imagine the turn of events when Barber learned through his partner and fellow composer, Gian-Carlo Menotti, that Toscanini had agreed to perform not one but both works!

As the orchestra tuned and the audience assembled in Studio 8H (now the home of Saturday Night Live) in the Radio City Building at Rockefeller Center, millions more across the nation settled in next to their radios on Saturday, November 5, 1938, for the regularly scheduled broadcast of the Symphony of the National Broadcasting Company conducted by Toscanini. The orchestra, comprised of many leading orchestral musicians of the day, was created a year earlier by RCA’s chief executive David Sarnoff to serve the public’s “best interests” for experiencing cultural programming. These radio broadcasts played an important role in shaping America’s interests in classical music well into the 1960s, when the orchestra operated as the Symphony of the Air.

In his review of the concert, music critic Olin Downes wrote glowingly about the Adagio in the New York Times, indicating that the work was “the product of a musically creative nature…who leaves nothing undone to achieve something as perfect in mass and detail as his craftsmanship permits.” The broadcast, remembered years later by cellist Alfred Wallenstein as one of Toscanini’s greatest performances, launched Barber’s career in the public eye. Barber became one of the foremost American composers of the mid-20th century with subsequent works.

Adagio for Strings began life as the slow movement of a string quartet. Vacationing with Menotti during the summer of 1936 by idyllic Lake Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut near Salzburg, Austria, Barber worked on his string quartet, completing the slow movement on September 19, 1936. He announced its completion in a letter and called the movement “a knockout.” Recognizing the music’s potential, he subsequently arranged it for an entire string orchestra and sent the score to Toscanini in 1938.

Barber had taken an interest in early music, and the Adagio for Strings reflects the inspiration from those studies. In its simplicity, the music resembles Gregorian chant and employs Renaissance techniques for polyphonic writing.

The music is marked “Molto Adagio espr. Cantando” (very slow and singing expressively). The violins take the melody at the outset in a passage that one writer describes as “like a hesitant climbing of stairs.” The melody takes on the form of an arch, reaching a high point before falling back on a descending scale. The violins repeat the phrase, striving to achieve a higher pinnacle. The other strings quietly accompany with long, sustained tones. The music seems to hover, unrestricted by metrical bar lines. Occasionally, Barber changes the music’s meter to achieve the free-flowing, chant-like effect.

Eventually, the violas take up the melody. The violins and violas sing a mournful duet with dissonances resolving between the lines. The accompaniment remains sustained but occasionally injects an upward leap that contributes to the longer ascending arch. It becomes the cellos’ turn to take up the melody, and as the upper strings press higher with louder dynamics, the Intensity of the music increases. The music reaches its apogee with the entire string orchestra crying out in fortissimo. An abrupt, elongated pause interrupted by very soft chords follows this poignant outburst. The opening melody returns with the violins and violas in unison an octave apart. The music fades away on an unresolved harmony. It is perhaps the ultimate unanswered question.

Consider the work for a moment in the context of its time. During the summer of 1936, tensions were already high with the saber-rattling coming from Nazi Germany. With the Great Depression a recent memory, would that initial radio audience have understood this music to reflect profound loss?

Toscanini included the Adagio for Strings on tours of England and later South America, where it became the first work ever heard composed by a North American composer. These performances established the work’s popularity, and the work ignited discussion and debate about what defined American music. For some, Barber’s music was considered reactionary and not in step with the modern trends of the time. Barber never conformed to modernist tendencies and remains viewed today as a post-romantic composer. While Barber enjoyed many successes throughout his career and almost always received premieres by noted soloists and ensembles, the Adagio for Strings, sometimes to Barber’s discontent, remained his most popular work.

For the public today, Barber’s Adagio for Strings is among the most familiar and frequently performed works by an American composer. Its somber mood lends itself to remembrance, and it is known as America’s “national funeral music.” It was performed at the funeral of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1945 and again for John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963. Performances continue for funerals and Memorial Day remembrances. Arrangements by others of Adagio exist for woodwind choir, clarinet choir, piano, and organ. Barber made a beautiful arrangement in 1967 for a capella choir set to the text of the Latin Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).

The Adagio acquired life in television and film, where it served as a notable catharsis in the 1986 Academy Award-winning film, Platoon, and heard on The Simpsons and South Park. The work became a vehicle for “techno-trance” arrangements by William Orbit (2000), DJ Tiesto (2003), and others. These uses might have Barber rolling over in his grave, but you can pull them up on YouTube and make your own judgment.

The Adagio for Strings lasts between seven and eight minutes.

Notes by Don Reinhold ©2022

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ADAGIO FOR STRINGS
Samuel Barber

SAMUEL BARBER

Born March 9, 1910, in West Chester, PA.

Died January 23, 1981, in New York City, NY

Adagio for Strings

Last performed by the Wichita Symphony on November 19 and 20, 2005. Andrew Sewell conducted.

It was a remarkable opportunity. With the encouragement of family and friends, Samuel Barber sent off two scores for the consideration of Arturo Toscanini, who was the leading conductor and musical tastemaker of the day in America. A staunch conservative noted for his interpretations of Beethoven and Italian opera, Toscanini rarely paid attention to contemporary music, let alone works by American composers. Barber nervously took his chance and sent two recently completed works, an Essay for orchestra and an Adagio for strings.

With disappointment, Barber received the scores back from Toscanini, who offered no comments, criticisms, or suggestions. Imagine the turn of events when Barber learned through his partner and fellow composer, Gian-Carlo Menotti, that Toscanini had agreed to perform not one but both works!

As the orchestra tuned and the audience assembled in Studio 8H (now the home of Saturday Night Live) in the Radio City Building at Rockefeller Center, millions more across the nation settled in next to their radios on Saturday, November 5, 1938, for the regularly scheduled broadcast of the Symphony of the National Broadcasting Company conducted by Toscanini. The orchestra, comprised of many leading orchestral musicians of the day, was created a year earlier by RCA’s chief executive David Sarnoff to serve the public’s “best interests” for experiencing cultural programming. These radio broadcasts played an important role in shaping America’s interests in classical music well into the 1960s, when the orchestra operated as the Symphony of the Air.

In his review of the concert, music critic Olin Downes wrote glowingly about the Adagio in the New York Times, indicating that the work was “the product of a musically creative nature…who leaves nothing undone to achieve something as perfect in mass and detail as his craftsmanship permits.” The broadcast, remembered years later by cellist Alfred Wallenstein as one of Toscanini’s greatest performances, launched Barber’s career in the public eye. Barber became one of the foremost American composers of the mid-20th century with subsequent works.

Adagio for Strings began life as the slow movement of a string quartet. Vacationing with Menotti during the summer of 1936 by idyllic Lake Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut near Salzburg, Austria, Barber worked on his string quartet, completing the slow movement on September 19, 1936. He announced its completion in a letter and called the movement “a knockout.” Recognizing the music’s potential, he subsequently arranged it for an entire string orchestra and sent the score to Toscanini in 1938.

Barber had taken an interest in early music, and the Adagio for Strings reflects the inspiration from those studies. In its simplicity, the music resembles Gregorian chant and employs Renaissance techniques for polyphonic writing.

The music is marked “Molto Adagio espr. Cantando” (very slow and singing expressively). The violins take the melody at the outset in a passage that one writer describes as “like a hesitant climbing of stairs.” The melody takes on the form of an arch, reaching a high point before falling back on a descending scale. The violins repeat the phrase, striving to achieve a higher pinnacle. The other strings quietly accompany with long, sustained tones. The music seems to hover, unrestricted by metrical bar lines. Occasionally, Barber changes the music’s meter to achieve the free-flowing, chant-like effect.

Eventually, the violas take up the melody. The violins and violas sing a mournful duet with dissonances resolving between the lines. The accompaniment remains sustained but occasionally injects an upward leap that contributes to the longer ascending arch. It becomes the cellos’ turn to take up the melody, and as the upper strings press higher with louder dynamics, the Intensity of the music increases. The music reaches its apogee with the entire string orchestra crying out in fortissimo. An abrupt, elongated pause interrupted by very soft chords follows this poignant outburst. The opening melody returns with the violins and violas in unison an octave apart. The music fades away on an unresolved harmony. It is perhaps the ultimate unanswered question.

Consider the work for a moment in the context of its time. During the summer of 1936, tensions were already high with the saber-rattling coming from Nazi Germany. With the Great Depression a recent memory, would that initial radio audience have understood this music to reflect profound loss?

Toscanini included the Adagio for Strings on tours of England and later South America, where it became the first work ever heard composed by a North American composer. These performances established the work’s popularity, and the work ignited discussion and debate about what defined American music. For some, Barber’s music was considered reactionary and not in step with the modern trends of the time. Barber never conformed to modernist tendencies and remains viewed today as a post-romantic composer. While Barber enjoyed many successes throughout his career and almost always received premieres by noted soloists and ensembles, the Adagio for Strings, sometimes to Barber’s discontent, remained his most popular work.

For the public today, Barber’s Adagio for Strings is among the most familiar and frequently performed works by an American composer. Its somber mood lends itself to remembrance, and it is known as America’s “national funeral music.” It was performed at the funeral of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1945 and again for John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963. Performances continue for funerals and Memorial Day remembrances. Arrangements by others of Adagio exist for woodwind choir, clarinet choir, piano, and organ. Barber made a beautiful arrangement in 1967 for a capella choir set to the text of the Latin Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).

The Adagio acquired life in television and film, where it served as a notable catharsis in the 1986 Academy Award-winning film, Platoon, and heard on The Simpsons and South Park. The work became a vehicle for “techno-trance” arrangements by William Orbit (2000), DJ Tiesto (2003), and others. These uses might have Barber rolling over in his grave, but you can pull them up on YouTube and make your own judgment.

The Adagio for Strings lasts between seven and eight minutes.

Notes by Don Reinhold ©2022

WSO Season Tickets