Product Description
Contents: Bessie Bobtail * Church Bell at Night * The Crucifixion * The Daisies * Depart (Departure) * Desire for Hermitage * Despite and Still * Green Lowland of Pianos * The Heavenly Banquet * I Hear an Army * In the Wilderness * A Last Song * Le Clocher Chante * The Monk and His Cat * Monks and Raisins * My Lizard * Nocturne * Now Have Fed and Eaten Rose * A Nun Takes the Veil * Nuvoletta * O Boundless, Boun Evening * The Praises of God * Promiscuity * Puisque Tout Passe * Queen's Face Summery Coin * Rain Has Fallen * Sea-Snatch * The Secrets of the Old * Sleep Now * Solitary Hotel * St. Ita's Vision * St.Patrick's Purgatory * Sure on This Shining Night * Tombeau Dans Un Parc * Un Cygne (A Swan) * With Rue My Heart Laden. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent collection of American art songs
Samuel Barber is a fantastic composer, and these songs do not disappoint.If you're interested in some fascinating, beautiful and unexpected American art songs, this is a grand place to start.Not only is the vocal line great, and poetry highly evocative and appropriate, the piano part is beautifully done.I actually bought this to accompany, not to sing, and the accompaniment is complex and quite satisfying for the pianist.Essentially, with these works, the pianist and vocalist are in much more of a partnership than a "soloist/accompanist" relationship.Good stuff.

Samuel Barber
This is a wonderful book with many interesting stars. Barber's compositions have extremely difficult rythym patterns so it is a hard collection to work with. However, they are extremely beautiful and have a nice mix of French and English works.

Barber in the Works
I love singing Samuel Barber works, so this collection is perfect for my vocal library.great for anyone looking for some contemporary vocal solo works.Don't let the difficulty daunt you, they are totally worth learning.

Best Modern Art Song Composer
Samuel Barber balances the voice with the piano perfectly, and creates art songs as interesting as the dramatic most opera. Most composers just make the pianist fill in what the singer can't do, but Barber actually makes both parts interesting without each other. Not many composers can do this well. He also uses very interesting poetry in his works, which makes it even better. Some day Barber will be looked upon in the same way that Bach, or Brahms are upon. ... Read more

Product Description
Samuel Barber (1910-1981) was one of the most important and honored American composers of the twentieth century. Writing in a great variety of musical forms--symphonies, concertos, operas, vocal music, chamber music--he infused his works with poetic lyricism and gave tonal language and forms new vitality. His rich legacy includes such famous compositions as the Adagio for Strings, the orchestral song Knoxville: Summer of 1915, three concertos, and his two operas, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Vanessa and Antony and Cleopatra, a commissioned work that opened the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. Generously documented by letters, sketchbooks, original musical manuscripts, and interviews with friends, colleagues and performers with whom he worked, this is the first book to cover Barber's entire career and all of his compositions. The biographical material on Barber is closely interspersed with a discussion of his music, displaying Barber's creative processes at work from his early student compostions to his mature masterpieces. Heyman also provides the social context in which this major composer grew: his education, how he built his career, the evolving musical tastes of American audiences, his relationship to musical giants like Serge Koussevitzky, and the role of radio in the promotion of his music. A testament to the significance of the new Romanticism, Samuel Barber stands as a model biography of an important American musical figure. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

More than you want to know?
Based on primary material, this book covers the life and work of Mr Barber, though with more emphasis on the "life" than analysis of the "work." Not exactly a pageturner, but interesting.

Servicable biography of this great American composer
Being a fan of (some of) Barber's music, I was interested in finding out more about him. I suspect an academic will find this book satisfying - it goes through his works in scholarly detail - but I found it uncompelling. I think the main problem is that Barber was not a particularly interesting guy - you will find no juicy tidbits here. Where this could have been interesting is delving into his personal life - but it doesn't venture there. I was disappointed. By the way my favourite Barber works are adagio for strings (of course), violin concerto, and the school for scandal overture.

Well Done
Well, I thought the book was a respectable mix of biographical information and analysis, not too much of one or the other.It is organized (roughly) by opus number, meaning one can find virtually all the information about a specific work condensed in a particular section--with the overall outline being chronological.This structuring is easy and accessible.

Theory hogs, like me, may want a few more examples--but if so, we're just being greedy.The author's analyses of the works are well-done, cursory without being useless.She neither fawns over her subject, nor butchers him.Perhaps a bit more biographical information would be nice--Barber's love life is always touched upon at tangents, never explained.But maybe such information is simply not to be found.

The esoteric nature of the subject precludes me from recommending it generally--but for anyone with the slightest interest in Mr. Barber, this is certainly one of the best resources out there.

And what do we say of Samuel?Reactionary, fuddy-duddy?Snobbish European turning his back on his American home, or a manwho simply recognizes good music when he hears it?Or, like Brahms, a fusion of past and present who only appears conservative when compared with the silly extremists?I lean towards the latter.

Barber enjoyed Brahms, and there's a similarity stapling the two together here.Both took a rich harmonic and modern language, Brahms with his soup of pivot chords and chromatic thirds, Barber with his polychords, changing meters, and quartal implications, reinvigorating ideas and forms that some describe as depleted.And both were, in some sense, fearless.Now of course neither was immune to public opinion--the failure of Anthony and Cleopatra cracked off a bit of Barber's heart--but nevertheless, we find two men who by and large did not care to defend their artistic choices.Barber wrote music of lyrical melodic line when the flavor de jure was prickly textures or avant-garde nonsense.

I have no opinion on whether or not that was the right decision; but I bestow the highest respect on Barber's intense drive for perfection.71 years he lived, and left behind a paucity--but a paucity of perfection.The concertos are jewels!The songs are staples (or should be)!Barber forced and tempered his creations: many works were revised after the first performance--and, which is to be respected all the more--usually made shorter by it.Excess notes deleted, and tight statements left behind.

This book honors that aspect of him well, and I'm glad to have gotten to know him through it.

FANTASTIC book!!!
I'm currently researching Barber for my Masters Thesis.This is the best book available currently on Barber.The variety of information and sources she offers is excellent.In addition to the biographical information, Heyman presents each of his pieces in reference to certain time periods of his life and goes on to discuss these pieces in depth.An incredibly valuable resource for me and anyone interested in Samuel Barber.

A great biography!
I read this book with the same excitement that I would a... thriller.It is exciting to find out so much about a manwhose music is among America's best!Barbara Heyman has captured thespirit of Samuel Barber's life and compiled it into a readableorganized format.Be sure to read all of the footnotes/endnotes.They contain some of the most wonderful tidbits of information.Authoritative writing! ... Read more

Product Description
An exploration of the cultural impact of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, the Pietá of music, and its enigmatic composer—in celebration of the centenary of his birth."Whenever the American dream suffers a catastrophic setback, Barber’s Adagio plays on the radio.”—Alex Ross, author of The Rest is Noise

In the first book ever to explore Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, music and literary critic Thomas Larson tells the story of the prodigal composer and his seminal masterpiece: from its composition in 1936, when Barber was just twenty-six, to its orchestral premiere two years later, led by the great Arturo Toscanini, and its fascinating history as America’s secular hymn for grieving our dead. Older Americans know Adagio from the funerals and memorials for Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy, Albert Einstein, and Grace Kelly. Younger Americans recall the work as the antiwar theme of the movie Platoon. Still others treasure the piece in its choral version under the name Agnus Dei. More recently, mourners heard Adagio played as a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Barber’s Adagio is truly the saddest music ever written, enrapturing listeners with its lyric beauty as few laments have.

The Adagio’s sonorous intensity also speaks of the turbulent inner life of its composer, Samuel Barber (1910-1981), a melancholic who, in later years, descended into alcoholism and severe depression. Part biography, part cultural history, part memoir, The Saddest Music ever Written captures the deep emotion Barber’s great elegy has stirred throughout the world during its seventy-five-year history, becoming an icon of our national soul. 12 black-and-white illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Part biography and part tribute/analysis of the quintessential American dirge
"The Saddest Music Ever Written, The Story of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings" is part biography and part tribute/analysis of the quintessential American dirge. Familiar to multiple generations, Barber's Adagio for Strings has been performed following the deaths of President Roosevelt, Kennedy, and former movie star Grace Kelly. It was also part of the theme music for the movie "Platoon," grieving the reality of the war in Vietnam. More recently, it was performed in Great Britain to acknowledge the tragedy of the twin towers' destruction of 9-11-2001. The Adagio for Strings, written in 1936, when the composer was in his twenties, is described as "The Pieta of music. It captures the sorrow and pity tragic death: listening to it, we are Mother Mary come alive - holding the lifeless Christ on our laps, one arm bracing the slumped head, the other offering him to the ages. The Adagio is a sound shrine to music's power to evoke emotion. Its elegiac descent is among the most moving expressions of grief in any art....No sadder music have ever been written (p.7)." In "The Saddest Music Ever Written...," Larson asks, "What is its sorrow about (p. 14)?" He concludes there are perhaps three possible answers: "It is about Barber's melancholia and depression; it is about the aloneness we feel when a loved one is lost or dies,...and it is about our alienation from ourselves as Americans: (p. 14)' or about the death of part or parts of the American dream. Much in Larson's analysis delves deeply into the composer's personal life history and also into his own family and life history. It is as though the experience of the "Adagio" is a common thread of deep, universal, yet intensely personal significance. Surely this book is testament to the importance of music in expression of emotions, specifically grief. As the author states, quoting Chekhov, "'The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them (p. 131).'" He continues on, "What is it about ourselves that we aren't grieving that makes this music so fresh? What is the Americanness of its sorrow? How is it that Barber's dirge became a dual-sided coin, the suicide of Vietnam and the patriotism of 9/11 - the ambivalence digging the well of our national depression deeper and deeper (p. 131)?" The author's partial conclusion comes after many digressions and comparisons to similar works by other composers: "Despite its commercial uses and despite Menotti's and Barber's fears, the Adagio's true legacy is that even in consort with an emotionally and technologically evolving culture, it somehow is outlasting its appropriators......the piece will survive because its memorial value will survive: on a hot, overpopulated planet, fighting over scarce resources, we will need time for and places in which to grieve our catastrophes...(p. 227)." "The Saddest Music Ever Written, the Story of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings" is a full and moving testament to this seminal work.
... Read more

Product Description
Samuel Barber is one of America's most popular classical composers. His widely beloved works include Adagio for Strings and Knoxville: Summer of 1915. The main source for Samuel Barber Remembered: A Centenary Tribute is a panoply of vivid and eminently readable interviews by Peter Dickinson for a BBC Radio 3 documentary in 1981. The interviewees include Barber's friends, fellow composers, and performers, notably Gian Carlo Menotti, Aaron Copland, William Schuman, Virgil Thomson, soprano Leontyne Price, and pianist John Browning. The book also includes three of the very few interviews extant with Barber himself. Dickinson contributes substantial chapters on Barber's early life and on Barber's reception in England. The book has a foreword by the distinguished composer and admirer of Barber, John Corigliano. . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fascinating read
This is a well organized book, interesting and informative. It is interesting to get the views of other composers (some admiring, some obviously a trifle jealous) publishers (concerned with sales and accessibility), singers & etc.and, of course, the interviews with Barber himself are pure gold. Highly recommended! ... Read more

Product Description

The second title in the Amadeus Press Parallel Lives series, this volume examines the lives and work of two giants of 20th century music. Both composers influenced countless others, and their works are performed often in today's concert and opera houses.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A golden opportunity botched
Anyone interested in Barber's life and/or music should seek out the amazing bio by Barbara Heyman, Samuel Barber - The Composer and his Music (Oxford U. Press). As a lifelong student of the career & music of Barber, I was upset to read this recent book. It contains numerous inaccuracies, half-truths, ambiguities, and similarly misleading statements. And was there ANY attempt at editing the ms? The text is likewise marred byerrors in usage, punctuation, even vocabulary. The Britten section has the same problems. And while the recorded music samples on the attached cd are most welcome, they do not fairly represent the composers, either - it's all from the "middle period" of each man and don't properly represent either composer's stylistic breadth. The concept of a brief book introducing these composers to the lay listener, with listening excerpts provided in the package, is a fine one, which makes me doubly sad that this project is such a disappointment. P.S. Having heard from the author, I now understand why some of the above-mentioned faults exist - and must say I'm shocked that a publisher I once respected, Amadeus, would let something like this happen.It's a disservice to the author as well as the public and the subjects of the book.

A welcome addition to Barber research!!
I was so pleased to find that this book had just come out!I'm researching Barber for a Masters Thesis project and enjoyed the information presented-some that has not been discussed in the handful of books about him.Very interesting to see the similarities between him and Britten.The CD that comes with it is also nice.Well-written and a good read!

But what is on the CD you ask...
Since nearly half of the book is dedicated to the discussion and dissection of Benjamin Britton's and Samuel Barber's compositions, here listed is the music on the accompanying Naxos CD: 1) Britten: Passacaglia (from Peter Grimes); 2) Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (complete); 3) Britten: The Turn of the Screw (Act II: Variation XV, scene 8); 4) Barber: Adagio for Strings; 5) Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915; and 6) Barber: Second Essay for Orchestra. I will offer a review of the book itself after I read it as it just arrived in my mailbox today (July 26, 2005). ... Read more

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ADAGIO FOR STRINGSPiano SoloSeries: Piano SoloPublisher: G. Schirmer, Inc.Editor: L RosenComposer: Samuel Barber ... Read more

Product Description
Includes A Nun Takes the Veil, Bessie Bobtail, Despite and Still, Hermit Songs, I hear an Army, Melodies Passageres, Monks and Raisins, Nocturne, Nuvoletta, Rain Has Fallen, Sleep Now, Sure on This Shining Night, The Daisies, The Queen's Face on the Summery coin, The Secrets of the Old, Three Songs, With Rue My Heart is Laden ... Read more

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Contents: At St. Patrick's Purgatory * Church Bell at Night * Church Bell at Night * St. Ita's Vision * The Heavenly Banquet * The Crucifixion * Sea-Snatch * Promiscuity * The Monk and His Cat * The Praises of God * The Desire for Hermitage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I love, Love, LOVE it!
I cannot gush enough about this stunning cycle of Barber songs! I fell in love with it hearing Barbara Bonney sing it on Sallie Chisum Remembers Billy the Kid. I had learned "The Crucifixion" in my lessons, and was enthralled with the sensitivity and edginess of that piece.

After hearing the other pieces, I began to understand why only the one song is in the The First Book of Soprano Solos (Book/CD): (Includes 2 CDs) (First Book of Solos). These songs are DIFFICULT! The rhythms are amazingly fast on a couple of the songs (Sea-Snatch), and the modern melody lines are atonal at points, with many challenging intervals.

However, for the willing vocalist, these will provide a wonderful challenge, and will make for an amazing recital portion. ... Read more

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For oboe with piano reduction. ... Read more

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Piano Concerto, Op. 38 ... Read more

Product Description
Contains: A Nun Takes the Veil, Bessie Bobtail, Despite and Still, Hermit Songs, I hear an Army, Melodies Passageres, Monks and Raisins, Nocturne, Nuvoletta, Rain Has Fallen, Sleep Now, Sure on This Shining Night, The Daisies, The Queen's Face on the Summery coin, The Secrets of the Old, Three Songs, With Rue My Heart is Laden ... Read more

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Two Pianos, Four Hands. 2 Copies needed to perform. ... Read more

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For voice and orchestra. ... Read more

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This is a very successful and popular suite of pieces with regional American idioms by Barber.There are four pieces with a variety of characters. ... Read more

Product Description
Contents: Excursions, Op. 20 * Sonata For Piano, Op. 26 * Souvenirs, Op. 28 * Nocturne, Op. 33 * Ballade, Op. 46 * Interlude I, Op. Post. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Bargain Barber
The complete piano works of Barber at a bargain price.What more do you want? ... Read more

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Sonata ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Clean, Crisp Layout for the Master Work
Samuel Barber's only sonata for the piano (sometimes also listed as the "Sonata in e flat minor") is a masterful work of the twentieth century.The four movements are each quite different in style, form, and texture: the first movement is in sonata form while the fourth movement is a four-voice fugue; the second movement is polytonal in parts and almost carnival-like in its short B section, whereas the third and first movements are more romantic, and the fourth is filled with syncopated rhythms and suspensions that make strong references to the jazz music of the era.

The purchaser should probably be forewarned: this is a highly virtuosic work (especially the fourth movement), requiring a very well-developed technique, and because it is relatively dissonant and not always written in a specific key area, it can be very difficult to learn.Needless to say however, it is worth the effort.This is a masterpiece of the 20th century, and an important part of the standard piano repertoire.

The Schirmer edition of this work, listed here, is a clear, easy-to-read score.I have been disappointed with some Schirmer scores in the past, but this one is truly worth every penny.There are no note mistakes in the score, the pages are thankfully spared the clutter of unnecessary ossias and alternate fingerings, and the complex rhythms are presented in a comprehensible way, with appropriate spacings.This is a very good edition of an excellent sonata. ... Read more

Product Description
This work offers an annotated reference guide to the life and works of this important American composer.Wentzel opens the book by discussing Barber's life (1910-1981) and achievements.He then offers a chronology placing Barber's works in the context of his time.The book proceeds with an annotated bibliography focussing on biographical and critical works on Barber, and also includes select discographical information.This is an important resource for the study of the 20th century music of America. ... Read more

Product Description
Hennessee provides a biographical overview of the life of Samuel Barber, one of America's foremost composers, as well as comprehensive bibliographical information about his complete oeuvre. The volume consists of four main sections: a brief biography, a complete list of works and performances, a discography, and an annotated bibliography. A complete index of personal and corporate names and titles concludes the volume. ... Read more

Product Description
Collection of seven works by the American master, including: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11, Chorale Prelude on "Silent Night" from Die Natali, Op. 37, Suite for Carillon, Wondrous Love, Op. 34, and three previously unpublished works. With historical notes on each piece. ... Read more