Adagio from "Adagio for Strings"

Samuel Barber

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General Info

Year: 1938 / 1992
Duration: c. 8:00
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: G. Schirmer, Inc.
Cost: Score and Parts - $70.00 | Score Only - $5.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
B-flat Baritone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Adagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arguably his best known, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11.

Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year that he wrote the quartet. It was performed for the first time on November 5, 1938, by Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a radio broadcast from NBC Studio 8H. Toscanini also played the piece on his South American tour with the NBC Symphony in 1940.

Its reception was generally positive, with Alexander J. Morin writing that Adagio for Strings is "full of pathos and cathartic passion" and that it "rarely leaves a dry eye." The music is the setting for Barber's 1967 choral arrangement of Agnus Dei. Adagio for Strings has been featured in many TV shows and movies.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Los Alamos (N.M.) Community Winds (Ted Vives, conductor) – 2 March 2019
l'Orchestre à Vents Non Identifité (OVNI) (Montreal, Que.) - 13 December 2008

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adagio (arr. Linden) (1936/2006)
Adagio (arr. Warner) (1936/1997)
Adagio for Strings (arr. Wilkinson) (1936/2003)
Adagio for Young Concert Band (arr. Jennings) (1936/1991)
Adagio from "Adagio for Strings" (arr. Custer) (1936)
Andante and Tranquillo (arr. Saucedo) (1943/2009)
Commando March (1943)
Commando March (ed. Collinsworth) (1943/2009)
Commando March (arr. Curnow) (1943/1990)
Fantasy on a Theme by Samuel Barber (arr. Saucedo) (1931/2005)
First Essay (arr. Joseph Levey) (1937/1972)
Funeral March (1943)
Intermezzo (from “Vanessa") (arr. Beeler) (1962)
Knoxville, Summer of 1915 (tr. Singleton) (1949/2004)
Medea’s Dance of Vengeance, op 23a (arr. Hudson)
Mutations from Bach (1968)
Overture to “The School for Scandal” (arr. Hudson) (1941/1971
Second Essay (arr. Schneider) (2011)
Summer Music (1956)
Sure on This Shining Night (arr. Saucedo) (1938/2004)
Symphony in One Movement (tr. Duker) (1936/1970)

Resources

Adagio for Strings, Wikipedia Accessed 3 March 2019
Heyman, Barbara B. (1992). Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.