Samuel Barber: String Quartet Op. 11: String Quartet: Score

Study Score No. 28-First performance: Pro-Arte Quartet; Villa Aurelia American Academy Rome Italy; 14 December 1936. Parts available: GS34173

Barber's setting of a text by Matthew Arnold arranged here for Voice and Piano. The lowest note is a B below Middle C and the highest note is an F (1 1/2 octives above Middle C). The composition originally set for Medium Voice and String Quartet displays Barber's exceptional skills as a songwriter and the piece is one that the composer recorded and performed himself on several occasions. The nature of the music is characteristic of Barber's greatest melodies combining apparently simple tonalities with underlying dissonances is a manner that captures the emotional timelessness of Arnold's poetry.The string parts for the quartet and voice arrangement are available(Catalogue No. GS341380)