Sammuel Barber Adagio For Strings Analysis

Adagio for Strings? One of the most deep and heart-felt emotional pieces written in the 1930s many would say. For many listeners, Sammuel Barber's expertly crafted, deeply felt scores, helped fill an emotional void left by the onslought of modernism. Barber, in his youth was sort of a prodigy. By age 10 he wrote a short opera entitled 'The Rode Tree'. By age 14 he was one fo the first students to attend New Curtis Institute of Music. By the age of 28 he had written Adagio for Strings. Beginning with a soft single note- a B flat, played by two violins. Then moving to the deeper strings harmonizing behind the violins. From the very beginning of this piece you can feel the immense suspense building. And throughout this whole 8 minute perfepormance
Although fame and fortune did come very quickly to Barber, he was never extremely comfortable in the public spotlight as he dealt with a great amount of self doubt, insecurities, depression and even alcoholism. One could only assume that this problem could have and should have gotten better the older and richer Barber grew. Sadly, similar to his piece Adagio for Strings, the suspense only grew as time went on. But the piece represents and almost taught and brought about resiliency in it's purest form, as did Barber. Because one thing was certain even in the midst of Barber's low points, as hard as it was for him to continue in the public eye and deal with all his issues he had at that time, he would not stop trying to make amazing music. This piece amazes many due to the simple fact that even without lyrics you can almost instantly become lost in the harmony because the low strings almost instantly compliment the high strings in this piece. However the form of this piece is different due to it's irregular tempo. After building up to the climax there are four loud chords then the melody reverts back to the same one from the