MUSC 1008 Research Essay: A Deep Dive into Barber's Adagio for Strings

This essay examines Samuel Barber's 'Adagio for Strings,' focusing on its historical context and musical characteristics. The essay begins by discussing the composer, Samuel Barber, the composition date, and the first performance of the piece. It highlights the positive reception of the music and Barber's background. The essay then delves into the musical aspects, including the tempo, instrumentation, and emotional impact of the piece. It also includes the student's personal likes and dislikes of the music. The essay concludes by mentioning Barber's other works and his objective in composing the piece. The essay follows the guidelines provided, including the required sections and length. It also provides the necessary citations and references as required in the assignment brief.

Running head: MUSIC
Music
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MUSIC 2
Barber- Adagio for Strings
According to Karlsson, (2016), the composer of Adagio for strings is Samuel Barber. Barber
composed the quartet in 1936. However, the first time performed the orchestra was 5th November
1938. At this time, Artur Toscani was conducting NBC Symphony Orchestra through a radio
broadcast. The broadcast was happening in a New York studio. Many people attended this show
including foreigners. The audience in the show praised the music with many of them saying that
is full cathartic and pathos passion.
Samuel Barber is an American origin. He was born on 9th March 1910. While spending his
summer holiday with his friend Gian Carlo Menotti he got interested in composing songs. His
friend was an Italian composer and a fellow student: Samuel composed opera orchestra and
choral songs. What made Samuel famous was the music Adagio for strings that he composed in
1936. He won many awards because of the orchestra music.
Samuel used various musical instruments to compose his songs. The tools include bass, guitar,
piano, jazz, band, and folk instruments. The characters in adagio for strings are Samul’s uncle
and aunt. He dedicated the song to these two people Sidney Homer and Louis. However, many
TVs and radio stations played music from there onwards. When it comes to speed, adagio begins
with a low pitch as it rises slowly. From the musical terms, adagio means the action of playing
the music slowly and with a lot of ease. The music Adagio for the string is calm and have an
average speed of 65 BPM according to Pollack, (2018).
On the other hand, there are various aspects that I like and dislike. Beginning with the likes, the
intensity of the music increases as the music proceed. Such an element gives the listener a better
way to understand the melody. Secondly, there is a repetition of phrases thus stressing the
importance of the expressions in the music. However, when it comes to dislikes, the music has a
brief period of silence towards the end; the action makes the listener think that the music is over
only to realize after some time that the song is continuing. Another dislike is that the duration of
the music is too short. For instance, its only ten minutes. The music ends at the climax point.
Adagio for strings is a large work because Samuel produced other music and won many awards.
For example, he produced violin concerto in 1941 and piano concerto in 1962. These are two
known movements that won many awards.
Even though I have not heard the song before, many televisions and radio stations play this song.
Samuel Barber was an experienced singer objective he was trying to accomplish in this song was
to show people aspects of a quality song. For instance, the music begins softly together with the
smooth sounds of the violin. However, after the violins, there are soft beats that follow to make it
attractive. The music brings the feeling of the cool melody that the music should have every
time. The dynamics of the music is like butterfly’s wings, which moves with a soft sound.

MUSIC 3
References
Karlsson, K. A. (2016). Samuel Barber, Uvertyr till skandalskolan.
Pollack, H. (2018). Samuel Barber: Absolute Beauty. H. Paul Moon, director. Zen Violence
Films LLC,(2017), 130 minutes. DVD and streaming. Journal of the Society for
American Music, 12(4), 532-534.