Adagio for string orchestra

Barber began writing his string quartet in the summer of 1936, which he spent in Europe with his partner and classmate at the Curtis Institute of Music, Italian composer Giancarlo Menotti . The composer’s quartet was inspired by Virgil ’s poem Georgiki .

In the quartet, the second part, Molto adagio [attacca] , follows the passionate first part ( Molto allegro e appassionato ) and is replaced by the third ( Molto allegro (come prima) - Presto ), which begins with a brief reprise of the music from the first part. The quartet was originally intended for close friends of Barber and former classmates.

In January 1938, Barber sent an orchestral version of Adagio Arturo Toscanini , who returned the score without comment or mark, which annoyed the composer. But later he told Barber that he planned to perform the composition, and returned the score simply because he had already studied it. It is known that Toscanini again saw the Adagio score just a day before the premiere.

On November 5, 1938, a premiere was held at Studio 8H at the Rockefeller Center , to which a select audience was invited. In addition, the work was broadcast live and recorded on the broadcast. At the premiere, the work was met positively. For example, in a review of The New York Times, Olin Downs praised Adagio, while other critics believed that he overestimated Barber's work.

In April 1942, the work was also performed at the Carnegie Hall by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Eugene Ormandy ^[2] .

A recording from the premiere of 1938 in 2005 was placed for permanent storage in the National Register of Records ( en ) in the Library of Congress ^[3] . Since 1938, this recording has often been heard around the world; it was one of the few American musical works that was also reproduced in the Soviet Union during the Cold War ^[4] .

As Requiem

Adagio for a string orchestra is often performed at many social events, especially during mourning:

• Radio broadcast during the announcement of the death of Franklin Roosevelt ;
• Television broadcast during the announcement of the death of John F. Kennedy ;
• Performance at the funeral of Albert Einstein ;
• Performance at the funeral of Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly ;
• Broadcast on BBC Radio after the announcement of the death of Princess Diana ;
• The last night performance of the BBC Proms in 2001 in Albert Hall in memory of the victims of the September 11 attacks ^[5] ;
• Performance during the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver in memory of Georgian rider Nodar Kumaritashvili , who died on that day during a training race;
• Performance at the funeral of the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, Jack Leighton ^[6] ;
• Execution on Trafalgar Square on January 9, 2015 in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo ^[7] ;
• Execution during the memorial requiem evening dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army and the International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27, 2015) .

In popular culture

Adagio for strings can be heard in many movies and video games as a soundtrack ^[8] :

• Amelie ( 2001 )
• Quite Naturally ( 1974 )
• El Norte ( 1983 )
• Lorenzo Oil ( 1992 )
• Platoon ( 1986 )
• Simone ( 2002 )
• Reconstruction ( 2003 )
• Rocky Marciano ( 1999 )
• Healthcare ( 2007 )
• Against the Current ( 2003 )
• The Elephant Man ( 1980 )
• Homeworld , a space-based computer strategy, 1999 .

In addition, the work was repeatedly used in the works and remixes of other contemporary performers. Known treatments:

• Tiësto "Adagio for strings"
• Seventh Son & Ethan North "Adagio For Strings"
• Era "Adagio for Strings [ERA Version]"
• Escala "Adagio for Strings"
• Delerium "Eternal Odyssey"
• Sacred Spirit "Adagio (after Barber)"
• Splash & Nick Austin "Adagio For Strings"
• DJ Yvan "Adagio For Strings"
• William Orbit Adagio For Strings
• Skip Raiders "Another Day"
• Il Divo - “Dov'è L'Amore”
• Muse "Interlude" from Absolution album
• Mark Sixma "Adagio for Strings"
• Atomic Pulse "Unknown Strings"

• About the work on the website of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic