Samuel Barber : the composer and his music
Samuel Barber (1910-1981) is one of the most admired and honored American composers of the twentieth century. An unabashed Romantic, largely independent of worldwide trends and the avant-garde, he infused his works with poetic lyricism and gave tonal language and forms new vitality. He left a rich legacy in virtually every genre, including the famous Adagio for Strings, Knoxville: Summer of 1915, three concertos, many songs, and two operas--the Pulitzer Prize-winning Vanessa and Antony and Cleopatra, the commissioned work that opened the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in 1966. Generously documented by letters, sketchbooks, autograph 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; it interweaves the events of his life with discussion of the music, displaying the genesis, shaping, and reworking of his artworks into their final stages. Heyman provides the social context in which a major composer grew; how he learned his craft and built his career; the evolving musical tastes of American audiences; his relationship to musical giants like Arturo Toscanini and Serge Koussevitsky; and the role of radio in the promotion of his music. Myths are dispelled about the depression of Barber's late years, his heroes are revealed, and his spiritual quests and personal demons are illuminated. A testament to the significance of the new Romanticism, Samuel Barber stands as a model biography of an important musical figure
Print Book, English, 1992
Oxford University Press, New York, 1992