Samuel Barber

Samuel Osborne Barber was born on March 9, 1910, in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

He began composing at the age of seven and later studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia before becoming a fellow of the American Academy in Rome in 1935. The following year, he wrote his String Quartet in B minor, whose second movement he later arranged — at the suggestion of Arturo Toscanini — for string orchestra under the title Adagio for Strings, and later for choir as Agnus Dei. This movement went on to achieve great popularity.

The widespread acclaim of the Adagio has somewhat overshadowed the rest of his work. None of his other pieces achieved quite the same level of fame, though many are still regularly performed and recorded. Nevertheless, Barber is regarded as one of the most gifted American composers of the 20th century.

He steered clear of the experimental trends followed by many of his contemporaries, favoring more traditional harmonies and forms. His music is melodic and often described as neo-Romantic, although some of his later works — notably the Third Essay for Orchestra and Medea's Dance of Vengeance — display a masterful use of percussive effects, modernist gestures, and neo-Stravinskian brilliance.