Composer Profile: Samuel Barber

Samuel Barber was born March 9, 1910, to a wealthy family in West Chester, PA. As the only son of a doctor and a pianist, he was well educated, well-kempt, and well-to-do. Never in his life did he live the common life or experience first-hand the term "starving artist." But then again, he was a child prodigy, and a bit precocious at that. As early as seven years old, Samuel displayed talent as a composer. When he was only ten, he wrote his first operetta, The Rose Tree. The libretto (which is a fancy word for the lyrics of a large work) was written by the family chef: high class art, to be sure. At the age of nine, he composed a somewhat prophetic letter to his mother. Taken from his wiki, I quote it here for the humor and insight into the mind of this obviously quite intelligent child:

"Dear Mother: I have written to tell you my worrying secret. Now don't cry when you read it because it is neither yours nor my fault. I suppose I will have to tell it now, without any nonsense. To begin with I was not meant to be an athlete. I was meant to be a composer, and will be I'm sure. I'll ask you one more thing .-Don't ask me to try to forget this unpleasant thing and go play football.-Please-Sometimes I've been worrying about this so much that it makes me mad (not very)."

Samuel Barber had ample exposure to the arts. His aunt, Louise Homer, was a famous contralto who sang regularly at the Metropolitan opera. Her husband (and Barber's uncle), Sidney Homer, was a well known American song composer. Later in his life, Barber credited these individuals for exposing him to aesthetic beauty and forming his tastes. Modern scholars believe the Homer family kept Barber from being influenced by popular, common music.

In any case, it is undeniable his talent developed early in life. Barber occupied a seat as an organist by age 12, and at age 14 began studying voice, piano, and composition at the Curtis Institute of Music. He finally graduated, ten years later, in 1934. The Institute's founder, Mary Curtis Bok, played an influential role in gaining Barber wide acceptance.

Barber's transition from student to professional was near instant. The School for Scandal, his first published large-scale orchestral work, was premiered in 1931. He was building national recognition before he'd even finished school. By 1938 his symphony, Essay (no. 1), and Adagio for Strings had all been broadcast by the NBC Symphony orchestra. Barber's Adagio, incidentally, is the work for which he is most remembered. It is often used in film scores, even to this day.Though primarily remembered today as a composer, he was an accomplished pianist and vocalist as well-in fact, one of his early works, DoverBeach, an extended piece for string quartet and baritone, was premiered with Barber himself singing! Quite a few years later, Leontyne Price premiered Barber's Hermit Songs with Barber at the piano. To be sure, no one told Barber he played the piano like a composer!

One of Barber's greatest contributions to American music is his collection of short songs. He wrote several well-known and commonly used cycles: Hermit Songs (1953), texts taken from the notes of monks in the margins of copies of holy documents, contains commentaries on the sacred and the profane. Despite and Still (1968-9) are of a more advanced nature, reflecting the aging nature of this composer. Several other unnamed cycles of 2, 3, and 4 songs round out his body of art song.

Barber's two operas, Vanessa and Antony and Cleopatra were both very well written and receive acclaim to this day. The premiere of Cleopatra was difficult, due largely to nonmusical factors such as unfriendly management and less than optimal stage design. Musically, however (taking into account Barber's subsequent revisions), this opera is beautiful, and ought be done more often.

The comparative failure of his second opera drove Barber to be more reclusive in his old age. He stayed much more often at his large home called Capricorn, which he shared for much of his life with fellow composer Gian Carlo Menotti. He continued to write good, albeit smaller-scale, music for most of his life. In the 1970's he began a battle with cancer that eventually took his life in 1981. Barber left behind a large body of composed music, much of which is still in use today.

Sources:

Barbara Heyman: 'Barber, Samuel (Osmond)', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 5 October 2007),

Nathan Broder: 'Samuel Barber', Guild Music Online (Accessed 5 October 2007)

Samuel Barber's Wiki

Paul Wittke: 'Samuel Barber: an Improvisatory Portrait', Schirmer. (Accessed 5 October 2007),