Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber, (born March 9, 1910, West Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S. - died January 23, 1981, New York, New York), American composer who is considered one of the most expressive representatives of the lyric and Romantic trends in 20th-century classical music.
Barber studied the piano from an early age and soon began to compose. In 1924 he entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where, in addition to piano and composition, he studied singing and conducting. After graduation in 1934, Barber devoted himself entirely to composition. His style was distinctive and modern but not experimental. He established his reputation with his overture to The School for Scandal (1933), based on Richard Sheridan’s comedy by that name, and with Music for a Scene from Shelley (1935), inspired by the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound.
Although many of Barber’s works make literary allusions, his music is not programmatic in the strict sense. Significant in this respect are the three Essays for Orchestra (1938, 1942, and 1978), which are intended as musical counterparts of the literary form. Structural considerations govern Barber’s instrumental writing; there is great astringency in harmony, but the basic tonality remains secure; the rhythmic lines are very strong, without loss of coherence.
Barber studied the piano from an early age and soon began to compose. In 1924 he entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where, in addition to piano and composition, he studied singing and conducting. After graduation in 1934, Barber devoted himself entirely to composition. His style was distinctive and modern but not experimental. He established his reputation with his overture to The School for Scandal (1933), based on Richard Sheridan’s comedy by that name, and with Music for a Scene from Shelley (1935), inspired by the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound.
Although many of Barber’s works make literary allusions, his music is not programmatic in the strict sense. Significant in this respect are the three Essays for Orchestra (1938, 1942, and 1978), which are intended as musical counterparts of the literary form. Structural considerations govern Barber’s instrumental writing; there is great astringency in harmony, but the basic tonality remains secure; the rhythmic lines are very strong, without loss of coherence.
AGNUS DEI - lyrics
Agnus Dei,
Qui tollis peccata mundi,
Miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei,
Qui tollis peccata mundi,
Miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei,
Qui tollis peccata mundi,
Dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God,
thou taskest away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God,
thou taskest away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God,
thou taskest away the sins of the world,
grant us peace.
Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is a choral composition in one movement by Samuel Barber, his own arrangement of his Adagio for Strings (1936). In 1967, he set the Latin words of the liturgical Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, for mixed chorus with optional organ or piano accompaniment. The music, in B-flat minor, has a duration of about eight minutes.
History: Barber's Adagio for Strings began as the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11, composed in 1936. At the request of Arturo Toscanini, he arranged it for string orchestra, and in January 1938 sent that version to the conductor, who premiered it in New York with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. In setting it to the liturgical Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, Barber changed the music only a little. As with the other arrangements of Adagio for Strings, it was published by G. Schirmer.
Music: Graham Olson describes the composition for Allmusic. After reflecting the history and pointing out the Adagio's associations with mourning, nostalgia, love and passion, qualified as "sentimental Romanticism", he writes about the choral setting: "Barber brought to the surface the work's sense of spirituality." He observes similarities to works of the Renaissance by Palestrina and Gabrieli. Violinist Phillip Ying says about the quartet movement: "The score looks so clear, like a counterpoint exercise, and the power of it is in the economy of means."
Agnus Dei is in B-flat minor, marked "molto adagio" (very slow) and "molto espressivo" (very expressive) and in the beginning "pp" (pianissimo, very soft). The initial time is 4/2, but some measures are expanded to 5/2 and 6/2 throughout the piece of 69 measures. The music is set for soprano, alto, tenor and bass (SATB); all four parts are sometimes divided; measures 12 to 14 call for a solo soprano. Soprano and alto are divided in two parts, tenor and bass occasionally even in three. The music is dominated by a melody, first presented by the soprano, which begins on a long note and then undulates in even rhythm and diatonic steps, a melisma of two measures on the words "Agnus Dei". The other voices enter half a measure later on a chord, move to a different chord in measure 2 and sustain it throughout the measure, while the soprano holds its first note through measure one and moves only after the supporting chord has changed to a tension. A similar pattern follows in measures 5 to 8 on the words "qui tollis peccata mundi" (who takes the sins of the world), moving down on "peccata mundi". The repetition of the call "Agnus Dei" is set as variation of the beginning, intensified by upward leaps of fifths and octaves, and by the solo soprano reaching the highest note of the piece, C-flat. Then the alto takes over the melody, marked "più f[orte] sempre espressivo" (somewhat stronger and always expressive), while the soprano sings "miserere nobis" (have mercy on us) for the first time on a counter-melody. In measure 28, the bass takes over the melody, marked "p cresc. molto espressivo" (soft but growing, very expressive), while the three upper undivided voices sing "dona nobis pacem" (give us peace) the first time. In measure 35, the tenor takes over the melody, all parts are marked "with increasing intensity", soon the soprano gets the melody, interrupted by the alto moving in octaves, then finally the soprano leads to the climax on the words "dona nobis pacem", ending in long chords, fortissimo, in extremely high register for all parts, followed by a long general break. After the silence, a slow succession of chords, repeating "dona nobis pacem" in homophony in very low register, modulates to distant keys such as C major and F major. After another silence, a kind of recapitulation begins with the soprano and tenor singing the melody in unison on "Agnus Dei ... dona nobis pacem", while alto and bass counter with "miserere nobis". In the final line, the alto broadens the beginning of the melody to a last "dona nobis pacem", marked "mf molto espr. sost." (medium strength, very expressive and sustained), while the other parts end on a very soft "miserere nobis", marked "morendo" (dying).
The piece lasts about eight minutes. The accompaniment is optional and only for support.
Recordings: The Corydon Singers recorded the piece in 1986, together with Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and motets by Aaron Copland. The New College Choir, Oxford, recorded it in 1996. In 2000, the choir of Ormond College included it in a recording of Barber's choral music. In 2003, it concluded a collection of The Best Of Barber, sung by the Robert Shaw Festival Singers. Welsh contemporary classical singer Katherine Jenkins sang a version of the piece that was included in her popular albums Sacred Arias and Music From the Movies. In 2015, the Rotterdam Symphony Chorus made a live recording of Agnus Dei during a concert tour with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
In 1936 Barber composed his String Quartet. Its slow movement, arranged for string orchestra, was performed under the title Adagio for Strings by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in 1938 and acquired extraordinary popularity in the United States and Europe.
Barber’s Symphony No. 1 (1936; rev. 1942) is in the Romantic tradition. In the Symphony No. 2 (1944; rev. 1947), commissioned by the U.S. Army Air Forces (which he had joined in 1943), Barber introduced an electronic instrument imitating radio signals for air navigation, an effect replaced in the revised version by an E-flat clarinet.
Barber also wrote a Violin Concerto (1941) and a Cello Concerto (1946). His Piano Sonata (1949) is a monument of 20th-century American piano music. His other compositions include Dover Beach, for voice and string quartet (1931); three vocal works with orchestra, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1948), Prayers of Kierkegaard (1954), and Andromache’s Farewell (1962); and Medea (1947). His opera Vanessa, with libretto by longtime partner Gian Carlo Menotti and produced by the Metropolitan Opera Association, New York City, in 1958, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
Barber’s Piano Concerto (1962) brought him new international success and another Pulitzer Prize. His opera Antony and Cleopatra inaugurated the new auditorium of the Metropolitan Opera Association at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1966. After a period of creative inactivity, Barber resumed composing for orchestra. The Lovers and Fadograph of a Yestern Scene were first performed in 1971, and Third Essay for Orchestra had its premiere in 1980.
Barber’s Symphony No. 1 (1936; rev. 1942) is in the Romantic tradition. In the Symphony No. 2 (1944; rev. 1947), commissioned by the U.S. Army Air Forces (which he had joined in 1943), Barber introduced an electronic instrument imitating radio signals for air navigation, an effect replaced in the revised version by an E-flat clarinet.
Barber also wrote a Violin Concerto (1941) and a Cello Concerto (1946). His Piano Sonata (1949) is a monument of 20th-century American piano music. His other compositions include Dover Beach, for voice and string quartet (1931); three vocal works with orchestra, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1948), Prayers of Kierkegaard (1954), and Andromache’s Farewell (1962); and Medea (1947). His opera Vanessa, with libretto by longtime partner Gian Carlo Menotti and produced by the Metropolitan Opera Association, New York City, in 1958, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
Barber’s Piano Concerto (1962) brought him new international success and another Pulitzer Prize. His opera Antony and Cleopatra inaugurated the new auditorium of the Metropolitan Opera Association at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1966. After a period of creative inactivity, Barber resumed composing for orchestra. The Lovers and Fadograph of a Yestern Scene were first performed in 1971, and Third Essay for Orchestra had its premiere in 1980.
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