The Poets Last Song, Op. 18, No. 3

The nephew of contralto Louise Homer and her husband, the prolific song writer Sidney Homer, Barber had announced his vocation in a note written to his mother at the age of nine:. Young Sam studied piano at six, began composing at seven, served as a church organist while still in his teens, and developed his attractive baritone voice to the point where he entertained the thought of becoming a professional singer.

Enrolled in the newly-founded Curtis Institute of Music at fourteen, Barber studied piano with Isabelle Vengerova, composition with Rosario Scalero, singing with Emilio de Gogorza, and conducting with Fritz Reiner, and formed a life-long friendship with Gian Carlo Menotti, whom he met in in Philadelphia. Two years of training in Italy after winning the Prix de Rome and numerous European jaunts helped the emerging composer to shake off the conservative influences of Homer and Scalero and shape his own distinctive musical language.

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I am not a self-conscious composer. Throughout his catalogue of works, Barber adhered stubbornly to his own inner voice—a voice rich in subtlety and sumptuousness that relied deeply on melody, polyphony, and complex musical textures, all fused with an unerring instinct for graceful proportion and an unabashed affinity for Romantic thought and emotion. His symphonic catalogue abounds in exquisitely crafted, yet deeply emotive, works, among them the lyrical Music for a Scene from Shelley , Symphony No. His works for the stage include the Martha Graham ballet Medea , the chamber opera A Hand of Bridge , and his two full scale operas, Vanessa and Antony and Cleopatra Despite the fact that the Shakespeare work, which opened the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, was subjected to critical scorn, its failure was due less to Barber and far more to the overblown technical disaster created by stage designer Franco Zeffirelli.

In addition to his symphonic compositions, Barber showed a particular flair in writing for both the piano and the voice.

From the Brahmsian lyricism of his Interlude No. But perhaps it is as a songwriter that Barber is at his most Romantic and impassioned. Poetry was, Browning believes, as necessary to his existence as oxygen. In his impeccable choice of song texts, Barber was drawn to a wide variety of contemporary writers, prominent among them the Georgian School, the Irish bards, and the French Symbolists, who were, in fact, intimately connected with the linguistic experiments of the 20th century Irish master James Joyce, as well as to contemporary American voices like James Agee.

Surely Barber was not only speaking of the universal resonance of the work, but of its personal one as well. Especially in his last decade after the initial failure of Antony and Cleopatra , Barber had reason to feel his works neglected and his mission misunderstood. Composing became increasingly difficult for him, though he battled on, producing a trickle of important works, among them a piano Ballade ; The Lovers , for baritone, chorus, and orchestra; the Third Essay for Orchestra ; and the late songs from Opus 41 and Opus That he never lived, as John Browning laments, to see the current revival of tonalism and lyricism among those young composers who, having found serialism a cul-de-sac, now regard Barber as their prophet is, of course, a great tragedy.

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He was known for his trademark lyrical style, and he never abandoned that expressive voice. Unlike many of his fellow composers, who performed or taught to make a living, Barber was able to dedicate nearly all his time to composition. He was also fortunate in having virtuoso performers premiere almost all of his music. When he was six years old, Barber began improvising melodies at the piano, and by the time he was seven he was composing music.

Soon after entering high school, around age fourteen, Barber commuted every Friday to Philadelphia to study music at the newly founded Curtis Institute of Music. During his nine years of study at Curtis, Barber took on a trifecta of musical disciplines and distinguished himself in all three. Upon graduation from Curtis in , Barber gained an important and loyal patron: Mary Curtis Bok, founder of the Curtis Institute. Bok not only provided financial assistance to Barber in fact, she helped Barber and Menotti purchase Capricorn, their home in Mount Kisco, New York, in , she also actively promoted his career.

The result of this recognition was manifested in the many commissions offered to Barber from highly respected performers and ensembles, including the U. Army Air Forces—in which Barber served from to —which commissioned the Second Symphony ; Raya Garbousova, who commissioned the Cello Concerto ; and soprano Eleanor Steber, who commissioned the orchestral song Knoxville, Summer of At the peak of his career, Barber was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes. The first was in for the opera Vanessa, which had a libretto by Menotti and was staged by the Metropolitan Opera, featuring Eleanor Steber in the title role.

The second Pulitzer was given in , for the Piano Concerto, which was written for the inaugural week of Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center and premiered there by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with Erich Leinsdorf conducting and John Browning as the soloist. In , Barber was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera to write an opera for the grand opening of their new opera house at Lincoln Center.

He worked on Antony and Cleopatra , his second full-length opera, with librettist-producer Franco Zeffirelli. He was plagued with bouts of depression and alcoholism, as well as creative blocks that severely hampered his productivity. During the last year of his life, he was frequently hospitalized for treatment of cancer. He died on January 23, , and was buried next to his mother in the Barber family plot at the Oaklands Cemetery in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who dabbled with folk music, twelve-tone music, or serial music, Barber adhered to traditional European 19th-century models for most of his works.

Views Read Edit View history. This page was last edited on 20 December , at By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Same as The Soldier [4].

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Same as Hymn to Freedom [4]. The Gypsies , opera after Pushkin. The Nose , opera in three acts after Gogol. Shostakovich assembled a suite from The Nose , for tenor, baritone and orchestra as Op. Music to the silent film The New Babylon.

Songs (3) for voice & piano, Op. 18

Music to the comedy The Bedbug by Mayakovsky. Shostakovich assembled a suite from The Bedbug for orchestra as Op. Shostakovich made a reduction of the score for solo piano, including the vocal score of the final chorus as Op. The Golden Age , ballet in three acts. Shostakovich assembled a suite from The Golden Age for orchestra as Op. Music to the play The Gunshot by Bezymensky. Music to the film Alone Odna.

The poet's last song

The Bolt , ballet in three acts. Music to the play Rule, Britannia!



The first movement is an arrangement of Katerina's aria The foal runs after the filly from Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. Prologue to Orango , an unfinished opera. Some material incorporated from The Bolt. Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District , opera in four acts after Leskov. Shostakovich assembled a suite from the music for orchestra as Op.

The Big Lightning , unfinished comic opera. Music to the film Golden Mountains.

Works by opus number

Orchestration of Hypothetically Murdered as Op. Music to the play Hamlet by Shakespeare. A previously unknown work for viola and piano by Shostakovich was discovered in among documents belonging to Vadim Borisovsky in the Moscow State Archives. The manuscript dated 2 May bears the title Impromptu Op. Music to the film Counterplan. Music to the play The Human Comedy after Balzac.

Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. Sketches of what would be the fourth symphony. The Limpid Stream , ballet in three acts. Suite for orchestra from the music as Op. Sonata in D minor. Music to the film The Youth of Maxim. Music to the play Hail, Spain by Alexander Afinogenov. Music to the film The Return of Maxim.

Four Romances on Verses by Pushkin. Orchestration for bass and orchestra as Op. The Twelve Chairs , operetta. Music to the film The Vyborg Side. Music to the film Friends. Music to the film The Great Citizen , first part.