The American composer Samuel Barber was a major figure in contemporary classical music. Although the strong melodic emphasis of his music reflects the romantic tradition, his rhythmic and harmonic structures marked his style as a 20th-century composer.
Samuel Barber was born on March 9, 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the son of pianist Marguerite McLeod (née Beatty) and physician Samuel Le Roy Barber.
He composed his first work, Sadness, a 23-measure solo piano piece in C minor. when he was seven.
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| Childhood home of Samuel Barber in West Chester, Pennsylvania |
He composed his first work, Sadness, a 23-measure solo piano piece in C minor. when he was seven.
At the age of 10, Samuel Barber wrote a short opera entitled The Rose.
At the age of 12, Barber was holding down a part-time $100-a-month organist’s post at Westminster Church in West Chester.
At 14 he became one of the first pupils at the new Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Barber had a brief career as a professional baritone in the 1930s, performing on the NBC Music Guild concert series and earning a weekly contract on NBC radio.
At the age of 12, Barber was holding down a part-time $100-a-month organist’s post at Westminster Church in West Chester.
At 14 he became one of the first pupils at the new Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
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| Samuel Barber, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1944 |
Barber had a brief career as a professional baritone in the 1930s, performing on the NBC Music Guild concert series and earning a weekly contract on NBC radio.
Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings was premiered the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the conductor Arturo Toscanini in 1938. It was an immediate hit and remains his best-known score. The work endures in part due to its appearance in two well-known film soundtracks - Platoon and The Elephant Man.
Barber won the Pulitzer Prize for Music twice: in 1958 for the opera Vanessa and in 1963 for the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.
When Barber's third opera Antony and Cleopatra officially opened the New Metropolitan Opera House in September 1966, the critical mauling the work received – mostly to do with Franco Zeffirelli’s over elaborate staging rather than the music itself – virtually finished him. Barber spent many years in isolation after its harsh rejection and suffered from depression, as well as being beset by alcoholism.
When Barber's third opera Antony and Cleopatra officially opened the New Metropolitan Opera House in September 1966, the critical mauling the work received – mostly to do with Franco Zeffirelli’s over elaborate staging rather than the music itself – virtually finished him. Barber spent many years in isolation after its harsh rejection and suffered from depression, as well as being beset by alcoholism.
Barber died of cancer in 1981 in New York City at the age of 70. He was buried in Oaklands Cemetery in his hometown of West Chester.
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