Adagio for Strings

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Adagio for Strings is a piece of classical music for string orchestra, arranged by the American composer Samuel Barber from his first string quartet. It is Barber's most popular piece.

1 Genesis
2 Analysis
3 Adagio for Strings in culture
4 Trivia
5 Audio
6 References

[edit] Genesis

Barber's Adagio for Strings originated as part of his String Quartet No. 1, Op. 11, composed in 1936. In the original it follows a violently contrasting first movement, and is succeeded by a brief reprise of this music.

Barber's own arrangement for string orchestra was given its first performance by Arturo Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on November 5th, 1938 in New York.

The composer also arranged the piece in 1967 for eight-part choir, as a setting of the Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God").

[edit] Analysis

The piece uses an arch form, employing and then inverting, expanding, and varying a stepwise ascending melody.

The long, flowing melodic line moves freely between the voices in the string choir; for example, the first section of the Adagio begins with the principal melodic cell played by first violins, but ends with its restatement by violas, transposed down a fifth. Violas continue with a variation on the melodic cell in the second section; the basses are silent for this and the next section. The expansive middle section begins with cellos playing the principal melodic cell in mezzo-soprano range; as the section builds, the string choir moves up the scale to their highest registers, culminating in a fort-fortissimo climax followed by sudden silence. A brief series of mournful chords serve as a coda to this portion of the piece, and reintroduces the basses. The last section is a restatement of the original theme, with an inversion of the second piece of the melodic cell, played by first violins and violas in unison; the piece ends with first violins slowly restating the first five notes of the melody in alto register, holding the last note over a brief silence and a fading accompaniment.

[edit] Adagio for Strings in culture

[edit] In popular music

The piece was used as a synth solo introduction to the song When A Blind Man Cries by Deep Purple on their live album Live at the Olympia '96.<ref>Deep Purple Classic Quotes</ref>

The piece was remixed into a popular dance hit by DJ Tiesto and Ferry Corsten, both under the same title.

The piece was recorded by William Orbit and included on Pieces in a Modern Style. This version was subsequently remixed by Ferry Corsten and ATB.

[edit] In films

The piece is heard in The Elephant Man; it is heard repeatedly in Amélie, Platoon and Lorenzo's Oil; and it also appears in the film Scarface.<ref>Samuel Barber at the Internet Movie Database is a list of movies that have included Adagio for Strings on their soundtracks, some as an integral part of the film score, others as incidental background noise.</ref>

[edit] In television

The piece can be heard in:

South Park episode "Up the Down Steroid" in Season 8.

Seinfeld episode, "Frank's Cooking Trauma".

The Simpsons episode, "Strong Arms Of The Ma" from Season 14.

Red Dwarf episode, "Only The Good..." from Season 8.

October 11, 2006 episode of The Daily Show.

[edit] Ballet

The ballet, Adagio for Strings, choreographed for American Ballet Theatre by John Meehan to Barber's music of the same title, had its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on 8 April 1980.<ref name=ballet>ADAGIO FOR STRINGS. American Ballet Theatre.</ref>

[edit] Computer Games

Agnus Dei, the choral version of Adagio for Strings, is heard both in the opening launch sequence and later in the third mission of the PC strategy game Homeworld<ref>Homeworld Background Story and Intro. Google Video. Retrieved on 2006-10-19.</ref>.

[edit] Trivia

In January of 1938 Barber sent the piece to Arturo Toscanini. The conductor returned the scores without comment, and Barber was annoyed and avoided the conductor. Consequently Toscanini sent a word through a friend that he was planning to perform the piece and returned it simply because he had already memorized it.<ref>http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6427815</ref>
Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire, Commander of UN forces in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, called the piece "the purest expression in music of the suffering, mutilation, rape and murder of 800,000 Rwandans." <ref name=Dallaire>Romeo A. Dallaire, Brent Beardsley (October 2004). Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. Carroll & Graf, 322. ISBN 0-7867-1487-5.</ref>
The piece was played at the funerals of US Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, as well as at those of Princess Grace and Rainier III, Prince of Monaco^{[citation needed]}.
In 2004, Barber's masterpiece was voted the "saddest classical" work ever by listeners of the BBC's Today programme, ahead of Dido's Lament from Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell, and the Adagietto from Gustav Mahler's 5th symphony^{[citation needed]}.
The version of the piece performed by London Symphony Orchestra was, for a time, the highest selling classical piece on iTunes. <ref name=iTunes>Big demand for classical downloads is music to ears of record industry. Guardian Unlimited.</ref>
The piece was played at the BBC's Last Night of the Proms shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, replacing the traditional exuberant finale. It was the first "Last Night" conducted by an American.<ref name=Proms>Last Night of the BBC Proms programme changed. BBC..</ref>
The "Adagio for Strings" was played at the televised prayer service held at Ground Zero about six weeks after 9/11.