Samuel Barber
Overture to The School for Scandal, Op. 5
Samuel Barber was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1910 and died in New York City in 1981. He composed the Overture to “The School for Scandal” in 1932, and it was first performed the following year by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Alexander Smallens conducting. The work is scored for 3 flutes, piccolo, 3 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, celeste, and strings.
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Samuel Barber belonged to that bright young generation of American composers that included Aaron Copland, Walter Piston, William Schuman and others. At one time it was thought that this group might one day constitute an “American School” of composition, but they had surprisingly little influence. The generation of composers that followed them was more interested in the Viennese serialists and ultimately became more or less amalgamated into the emerging international style.
After Copland, it is Barber whose music that retains the most currency today. Most listeners will be familiar with the Adagio for Strings, but Barber left a great deal of music that rewards exploration. Although his music may at times contain dissonance, polytonality, even serialism, it is tonal at its core and rooted in the traditional harmony of the triad. Moreover, as a singer himself, Barber wrote the most lyrical music of any of the aforementioned.
The young Barber studied voice, piano and composition at the Curtis Institute in his native Philadelphia. It was there, while still a 21 year-old student, that Barber composed the Overture to The School for Scandal. The work was not written as incidental music for Sheridan’s comedy of the same name, nor as a musical representation of the story. It is more of a testament to the play’s wit and high spirits. The music itself is a testament to Barber’s remarkable mastery of his craft.
The outburst of trills and off-beat rhythms in the Overture’s opening gesture have been likened to “a derisive burst of orchestral laughter.” The whispering, conspiratorial string figure that follows is the primary theme of the piece, and it soon inspires a lively romp for the whole orchestra. A solo oboe’s tender melody introduces a middle section of direct lyricism and harmonic richness. After the previous material returns, Barber winds it all up with a raucous ending full of his own generous wit and high spirits.