PROGR AM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
page 16
SAMUEL BARBER born: March 9, 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania died: January 23, 1981, in New York City
Overture to The School for Scandal Opus 5 (1931) premiere: August 30, 1933 in Philadelphia
approx. duration: 8 minutes
Samuel Barber was a 21-year-old student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia when he composed his Overture to The School for Scandal. The title refers to Irish author Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1777 comic play. Barber noted that the Overture was not intended as a curtain raiser for performances of Sheridan’s work. Rather, Barber composed the piece “as a musical reflection of the play’s spirit.” In April of 1933, Barber’s The School for Scandal Overture won Columbia University’s Joseph H. Bearns Prize. That August 30, the work received its premiere as part of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s final 1933 summer concert at the Robin Hood Dell, conducted by Alexander Smallens. The Overture was well received by an audience of almost eight thousand. In the spring of 1938, both the New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra included Barber’s The School for Scandal Overture as part of New York concerts. On November 5 in New York, Arturo Toscanini conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the world premieres of Barber’s Adagio for Strings and First Essay for Orchestra. That concert, broadcast nationwide, solidified Barber’s reputation as one of America’s most gifted young composers. Although composed at the very outset of Samuel Barber’s career, The School for Scandal Overture features the melodic inspiration, colorful orchestration, and unerring sense of momentum that remained hallmarks of the American composer’s work. These qualities have assured The School for Scandal Overture’s continued presence in the concert repertoire.
(Program Notes continued on page 18)