The “Adagio for Strings” was written by American composer Samuel Barber when he was in his 20s. With a tense melodic line and taut harmonies, the composition is considered by many to be the most popular of all 20th-century orchestral works.
Played at the funerals of John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Princess Di, Princess Grace, and Rainier III Prince of Monaco; it has also moved millions – in the movies Platoon and Elephant Man.
BUT … what did Barber himself say?!
Apparently Barber found inspiration for the music from a description of a small stream growing in size to a full flowing river.
Some comments: “You never are in any doubt about what this piece is about, says music historian Barbara Heyman, “There’s a kind of sadness and poetry about it … It has a melodic gesture that reaches an arch, like a big sigh… and then exhales and fades off into nothingness.” (Indeed, the BBC’s Radio 4 listeners, ever fond of league tables and otherwise pointless rankings, voted it the “saddest classical work ever”)
“It’s so well known now that I suppose it’s a whisker away from becoming a musical cliché. But still a beautiful work” (Unknown source)
Samuel Barber-adagio-for-strings