Samuel Barber was thrust into the limelight of American classical music with a flurry of successful compositions beginning in his twenties, including the overture The School for Scandal and the ever-popular Adagio for Strings. Yet, despite the great critical acclaim these works garnered, Barber was no stranger to failure. Though his talent as a composer for the voice would suggest that he would also be an inevitable success as a composer for the stage, Barber’s attempt at dramatic works was met with mediocre success at best. Most disappointing was his grand opera Anthony and Cleopatra, composed in 1966 for the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House. The opera was so harshly criticized that the sensitive Barber, for the remainder of his career, plunged further and further into isolation, melancholia, and alcoholism. It was against this steady decline that he composed his Three Songs, op. 45.
Written in 1972, opus 45 is a wonderful example of Barber’s skill at composing for the voice and in setting the English language to music. The texts he chose to set, though in English, were actually translations of poetry in other languages. The first, “Now Have I Fed and Eaten Up the Rose,” is a translation by James Joyce of a 19th century German poem by Gottfried Keller. In a bleak A minor, a persistent descending motif dominates the piano accompaniment while the voice, taking on the role of the hopeless poet, wearily intones Joyce’s translation. The middle song, “A Green Lowland of Pianos,” from a Polish text by Jerzy Harasymowicz, however, is more cheerful with a lilting melodic line embellished by a playful accompaniment. Lastly, “O Boundless, Boundless Evening,” based on a German poem by Georg Heym, is an ethereal creation, reflecting the dusky hues of the landscape painted by the text.Joseph DuBose
Classical Music | Baritone
Samuel Barber
A green lowland of pianos, from Three Songs, Op.45 Play
Recorded on 07/11/2011, uploaded on 09/26/2011
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Samuel Barber was thrust into the limelight of American classical music with a flurry of successful compositions beginning in his twenties, including the overture The School for Scandal and the ever-popular Adagio for Strings. Yet, despite the great critical acclaim these works garnered, Barber was no stranger to failure. Though his talent as a composer for the voice would suggest that he would also be an inevitable success as a composer for the stage, Barber’s attempt at dramatic works was met with mediocre success at best. Most disappointing was his grand opera Anthony and Cleopatra, composed in 1966 for the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House. The opera was so harshly criticized that the sensitive Barber, for the remainder of his career, plunged further and further into isolation, melancholia, and alcoholism. It was against this steady decline that he composed his Three Songs, op. 45.
Written in 1972, opus 45 is a wonderful example of Barber’s skill at composing for the voice and in setting the English language to music. The texts he chose to set, though in English, were actually translations of poetry in other languages. The first, “Now Have I Fed and Eaten Up the Rose,” is a translation by James Joyce of a 19th century German poem by Gottfried Keller. In a bleak A minor, a persistent descending motif dominates the piano accompaniment while the voice, taking on the role of the hopeless poet, wearily intones Joyce’s translation. The middle song, “A Green Lowland of Pianos,” from a Polish text by Jerzy Harasymowicz, however, is more cheerful with a lilting melodic line embellished by a playful accompaniment. Lastly, “O Boundless, Boundless Evening,” based on a German poem by Georg Heym, is an ethereal creation, reflecting the dusky hues of the landscape painted by the text. Joseph DuBose
More music by Samuel Barber
Excursions Op 20 No 3
Canzone
Sea-Snatch, from Hermit Songs, Op. 29
Adagio, from String Quartet No. 2
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Canzone)
String Quartet, Op. 11
A green lowland of pianos, from Three Songs, Op.45
Excursions, Op. 20
Sonata in e-flat minor, Op. 26
At Saint Patrick's Purgatory, from Hermit Songs, Op. 29
Performances by same musician(s)
Mon cadavre est doux comme un gant, from Fiançailles pour rire
Le grillon, from Histoires naturelles
Histoires naturelles
Le pintade, from Histoires naturelles
Le martin-pêcheur, from Histoires naturelles
Now have I fed and eaten up the rose, from Three Songs, Op.45
Levommi il mio pensier in parte ov'era, from Tre sonetti del Petrarca
O boundless, boundless evening, from Three Songs, Op.45
Quel rosignuol che sì soave piagne, from Tre sonetti del Petrarca
La vita fugge e non s'arresta un'ora, from Tre sonetti del Petrarca
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