【赛谬尔·巴伯】（Samuel Barber,1910-1981）
　1910年3月9日生于宾夕法尼亚州西切斯特(West Chester)的一个具有良好音乐环境的家庭。十来岁时,巴伯曾在当地教堂中任管风琴师,并就学于西切斯特中学。1926年,巴伯中学毕业,但早在1924年,他已同时就学于费城柯蒂斯音乐学校,在这里,他学习钢琴、作曲、歌唱和指挥。1928年,巴伯因一首小提琴奏鸣曲而首次获得哥伦比亚大学巴恩斯奖,这使他得以首次出国旅行,访问了意大利等欧洲国家。1933年,巴伯以他的第一部由较大型乐队演奏的序曲《造谣学校》再次荣获巴恩斯奖,1935年又获得了美国的罗马奖,1935与1936年两次获普利策旅行奖金。1935至1936年间,他又一次赴欧洲旅行。
　　当巴伯逗留在马焦雷湖(Lake Maggiore)时,他拜见了指挥家托斯卡尼尼。此后,他来到罗马,在"美国研究院"从事作曲。在这段时期,巴伯写出足以证实他有旺盛的创作天才的作品,其中以《第一交响曲》最为著称。这是一部单乐章交响曲,由罗马奥古斯特奥乐队于1936年12月13日首演,次年又在奥地利萨尔茨堡音乐节上演出,这是该音乐节第一次演奏美国人的作品。此后,巴伯又分别于1936年和1937年写出了《弦乐柔板》和《第一乐队散文》,这两部作品在1938年被著名意大利指挥家托斯卡尼尼(A。Toscanini, 1867-1957)选中,成为他指挥美国全国广播公司交响乐队演出的最初两部美国作品。
　　1938年,巴伯离开战云密布的欧洲,回到美国,在柯蒂斯音乐学校教授作曲与配器,并继续从事音乐创作,写出了《第二乐队散文》和合唱作品《秒表与军械图》等作品。1943年4月,巴伯应征入伍,在美国空军中服役。他应约为空军写了《第二交响曲》。巴伯在战争年代创作的作品还有《小提琴协奏曲》(1939-1940年)、《摩羯宫协奏曲》(1944年)和《大提琴协奏曲》(1945年,曾获1947年纽约音乐评论界奖)等。
　　战争结束后巴伯隐退在纽约州基梭(Kisco)山的寓所(他把这一寓所称之为"摩羯宫"),和他的同学、歌剧作家梅诺蒂(G。C。Menotti,1911- )同住。巴伯在这里写出了芭蕾舞剧《米狄亚》(原名《蛇蝎心肠》),还写了《bE调钢琴奏鸣曲》。
　　五十年代以后,巴伯把他的创作重心移到了歌剧与声乐作品上,而此后所写的器乐作品只有《钢琴协奏曲》(1962年)闻名于世,勋伯格认为这部协奏曲与普罗科菲耶夫的钢琴作品相提并论,该曲还获得了普利策奖。巴伯的第一部歌剧《万涅萨》完成于1957年,歌剧脚本是梅诺蒂写的。巴伯的另一部歌剧《安东尼与克莉奥佩特拉》(1965-1966年)是应大都会歌剧院之约而写的,脚本源出于莎士比亚的同名剧作。
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Adagio for Strings, op. 11
by
Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings amply demonstrates two principles: Some of the greatest ideas are essentially quite simple, and not everything popular is junk.

He originally wrote it as the second movement of a string quartet in 1936, but within two years arranged it for string orchestra. In this form, it became not only his most popular work, but also an unofficial American anthem of mourning, played after the deaths of Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy.

The two versions, string quartet and string orchestra, make their own separate effect. The string quartet version, as you would expect, is intimate and occurs in the context of other movements. Not surprising for an artist with wide literary interests, Barber found initial inspiration in a passage from Vergil's Georgics describing how a rivulet gradually becomes a large river. Although the idea doesn't limit the Adagio's emotional meaning, you can see how it influences the overall shape of the work--a long arch beginning quietly, gradually building to an overwhelming climax, and winding down to a quiet end. Barber constructs the long-lined, spiralling theme from musical sequence--that is, a group of notes is repeated slightly higher (as in this case) or lower. Sequence is the most elementary form of variation, and most composers learn to use it sparingly. Barber builds an entire piece from it.

Composers like Aaron Copland, William Schuman, Roy Harris, and Ned Rorem--not all of them sympathetic to Barber's music in general--look at this work and shake their heads, wondering how he pulled it off. They fall back on phrases like "finely felt," "poetic," "nothing phoney," "a love affair." There's no real complication to the Adagio, no technique or unusual turn of harmony that holds the secret of its success. One cannot even pick one passage over another, any more than you can say one point makes the beauty of an arch. This is a masterpiece.

-- copied from http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/barber/adagio.html