Description

An exploration of the social effect of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, the Pietá of audio, and its enigmatic musician--in celebration of the centenary of his birth. "When the National desire endures a disastrous problem, Barber's Adagio plays about the radio."--Alex Ross, writer of The Remainder is NoiseIn the very first book ever to discover Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, audio and literary critic Thomas Larson tells the tale of the prodigal musician and his seminal masterpiece: from its structure in 1936, when Barber was only twenty six, to its orchestral initial 2 yrs later, directed by the truly amazing Arturo Toscanini, and its intriguing history as America's luxurious hymn for mourning our lifeless. Older Americans understand Adagio in the memorials and funerals for Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy, Albert Einstein, and Grace Kelly. Newer Americans remember the job whilst the anti-war concept of the film Platoon.