Samuel Barber(1910-1981)
- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Composer ("Adagio for Strings", "Overture to 'The School for
Scandal'"). He was educated at the Curtis Institute, and studied with
Isabelle Vengerova, Emilio de Gogorza, Fritz Reiner, and Rosario
Scalero. He was awarded an honorary music degree from Harvard
University. He was a sergeant in the USAF during World War II. He
conducted and recorded his own compositions with orchestras in the USA
and in Europe. Joining ASCAP in 1939, his chief musical collaborator
was Gian Carlo Menotti. He received the American Prix de Rome in 1935, a
Guggenheim fellowship, and Pulitzer awards in 1935 and 1936, plus the
Bearns Prize for the "Overture to 'The School for Scandal'". His works
besides the above-mentioned include: "Serenade for Strings Quartet";
"Cello Sonata"; "Music for a Scene from Shelley"; "String Quartet No.
1"; "2 Essays for Orchestra"; "Three Reincarnations: A Stopwatch and an
Ordnance Map"; "Violin Concerto"; "Commando March"; "Capricorn
Concerto"; "4 Excursions for Piano"; "Cello Concerto" (NY Music Critics
Award, 1946); "Medea (ballet)"; "Nuvoletta"; "Knoxville: Summer of
1915"; "Piano Sonata"; "Souveniers (ballet)"; "Prayers of Kierkegaard
(cantata)"; "Hermit Songs" "Summer Music for Woodwind Quintet";
"Vanessa" (opera, Pulitzer Prize, 1958); "A Hand of Bridge"; "Toccata
Festiva"; "Nocturne"; "Adromache's Farewell"; "Piano Concerto No. 1"
(Pulitzer Prize, 1963, NY Music Critics Award, 1964); "Antony and
Cleopatra (opera)" (Metropolitan Opera Ford Foundation commission); and
two symphonies.
