Date of composition: 1936-1938
Premiere: 5 November 1938 in New York with the strings of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arturo Toscanini
Duration: 8 minutes
Performances by the Berliner Philharmoniker:
first performed on 10 December 1945, conductor: John Bitter
Slowly, the strings insinuate themselves into the ear – not lamenting, but filled with restrained melancholy. After a good six minutes, the music breaks off, and only then does one realise the emotional heights that have been scaled. Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings is not overtly designed to overwhelm – and precisely for this reason, it has such profound impact. We do not know whether the composer actually intended this piece as heart-rending funeral music. Viewed objectively, it is simply the second movement of his String Quartet, op. 11. It was none other than conductor Arturo Toscanini – infamous for his iron-grip command over his orchestra – who commissioned Barber to create a version for string orchestra. In this arrangement, the Adagio became the epitome of orchestral mourning. A BBC survey crowned it the “saddest classical work ever,” ahead of the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. It was played at the funerals of luminaries such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, and Gracia Patricia of Monaco. In April 2021, it was performed at the Konzerthaus Berlin as part of a national ceremony commemorating the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact that the Adagio continues to move listeners, despite its almost eerie popularity, is a strong testament to its genuine substance and greatness.