Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music

By Barbara B. Heyman

Book Overview

Samuel Barber (1910-1981) was one of the most important and honored American composers of the twentieth century. Barber wrote in a great variety of musical forms--symphonies, concertos, operas, vocal music, chamber music--but is best known by such compositions as the Adagio for Strings, the orchestral song Knoxville: Summer of 1915, his piano and violin concertos, and his two operas Vanessa and Antony and Cleopatra the second of which opened the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. Covering Barber's career and all of his published and unpublished works, this is the only book based upon primary sources: his own letters and those written to or about him, his sketchbooks, his original musical manuscripts, and interviews with friends, colleagues, and performers who were directly involved with him. The biographical material on Barber is closely interspersed with a discussion of his music. Displaying Barber's creative processes at work from his early student compositions to his mature masterpieces, Heyman provides the social context in which a major composer such as Barber moved: his education, how he built his areer, the evolving musical tastes of American audiences, his relationship to musical giants like Serge Koussevitsky, and the role of radio in the promotion of his music. Samuel Barber stands as a model biography of an important American musical figure.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195066502
• ISBN13: 9780195066500
• Release Date: August 1992
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 608 Pages
• Weight: 2.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.6" x 1.7" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Well Done

Well, I thought the book was a respectable mix of biographical information and analysis, not too much of one or the other. It is organized (roughly) by opus number, meaning one can find virtually all the information about a specific work condensed in a particular section--with the overall outline being chronological. This structuring is easy and accessible. Theory hogs, like me, may want a few more examples--but if so, we're just being greedy. The author's analyses of the works are well-done, cursory without being useless. She neither fawns over her subject, nor butchers him. Perhaps a bit more biographical information would be nice--Barber's love life is always touched upon at tangents, never explained. But maybe such information is simply not to be found. The esoteric nature of the subject precludes me from recommending it generally--but for anyone with the slightest interest in Mr. Barber, this is certainly one of the best resources out there. And what do we say of Samuel? Reactionary, fuddy-duddy? Snobbish European turning his back on his American home, or a man who simply recognizes good music when he hears it? Or, like Brahms, a fusion of past and present who only appears conservative when compared with the silly extremists? I lean towards the latter. Barber enjoyed Brahms, and there's a similarity stapling the two together here. Both took a rich harmonic and modern language, Brahms with his soup of pivot chords and chromatic thirds, Barber with his polychords, changing meters, and quartal implications, reinvigorating ideas and forms that some describe as depleted. And both were, in some sense, fearless. Now of course neither was immune to public opinion--the failure of Anthony and Cleopatra cracked off a bit of Barber's heart--but nevertheless, we find two men who by and large did not care to defend their artistic choices. Barber wrote music of lyrical melodic line when the flavor de jure was prickly textures or avant-garde nonsense. I have no opinion on whether or not that was the right decision; but I bestow the highest respect on Barber's intense drive for perfection. 71 years he lived, and left behind a paucity--but a paucity of perfection. The concertos are jewels! The songs are staples (or should be)! Barber forced and tempered his creations: many works were revised after the first performance--and, which is to be respected all the more--usually made shorter by it. Excess notes deleted, and tight statements left behind. This book honors that aspect of him well, and I'm glad to have gotten to know him through it.

FANTASTIC book!!!

I'm currently researching Barber for my Masters Thesis. This is the best book available currently on Barber. The variety of information and sources she offers is excellent. In addition to the biographical information, Heyman presents each of his pieces in reference to certain time periods of his life and goes on to discuss these pieces in depth. An incredibly valuable resource for me and anyone interested in Samuel Barber.

A great biography!

I read this book with the same excitement that I would a... thriller. It is exciting to find out so much about a manwhose music is among America's best! Barbara Heyman has captured thespirit of Samuel Barber's life and compiled it into a readableorganized format. Be sure to read all of the footnotes/endnotes.They contain some of the most wonderful tidbits of information.Authoritative writing!

As close to a "definitive" study as we're ever likely to see

As a lifelong student of Barber and his music, I was thrilled at the depth and scope of this work. It contains many musical examples and, most tellingly, reveals what music Barber loved and was studying when he composed various works. And it doesn't pull any punches in its treatment of Barber's tendencies toward depression and alcoholism. I spoke to Barbara Heyman a few years ago and she said she was working on a companion volume but had no firm idea when it might be published. We can only hope it will be soon!

The authoritative biography on Barber

This is the authoritative biography of Barber. Heyman is a first rate scholar and has published an incredibly comprehensive work. It covers every detail of his life. It also corrects several inaccuracies of the previous coveted Nathan Broder publication. (Completion dates of several works that have been researched through his letters.)