BARBER, Samuel
b Westchester, Pennsylvania, 9 March 1910
d 23 January 1981, New York, NY aged seventy-one

He studied piano and conducting, and singing with his aunt who was a famous contralto; he later developed a good baritone voice. He began composing when still a child, and studied at the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, graduating in 1932. He won the Pulitzer Prize twice and the Prix de Rome. He was a great friend of Menotti. In 1945 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and became a doctor of music.
1929 (19)
Serenade for string orchestra or string quartet
1931 (21)
School for Scandal, overture
Dover Beach, for voice and string quartet
1932 (22)
Cello Sonata
1933 (23)
Music for a Scene from Shelley, for orchestra
1936 (26)
Symphony No 1, in one movement
String Quartet No 1
Adagio for Strings, arranged from String Quartet No 1
1937 (27)
First Essay for orchestra
1939 (29)
Violin Concerto
1940 (30)
A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map, for male chorus and orchestra
1942 (32)
Second Essay for Orchestra
1944 (34)
Symphony No 2 (revised 1947)
Capricorn Concerto, for flute, oboe, trumpet and strings
Excursions, for piano
1945 (35)
Cello Concerto
1946 (36)
Medea: the Cave of the Heart, ballet
1947 (37)
Knoxville: Summer of 1915, ballet suite for voice and orchestra
1948 (38)
Piano Sonata
String Quartet No 2
1953 (43)
Souvenirs, ballet suite
1954 (44)
Prayers of Kierkegaard, for soprano, chorus and orchestra
1956 (46)
Summer Music, for woodwind quintet
1958 (48)
Vanessa, opera (libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti, qv)
1959 (49)
A Hand of Bridge, opera, for four solo voices and chamber orchestra
1960 (50)
Toccata Festiva, for organ and orchestra
1961 (51)
Dies Natalis, choral preludes for Christmas on 'Silent Night'
1962 (52)
Piano Concerto
Andromache's Farewell, for soprano and orchestra
1966 (56)
Antony and Cleopatra, opera
1969 (59)
Despite and Still, song cycle
1971 (61)
The Lovers, for baritone, chorus and orchestra
1973 [63)
fp String Quartet