jmc's classics
It is September 11. on this day a lot of what is referred to as "patriotic music" is played. Some of the pieces are the Star Spangled Banner, God Bless America, My country Tis of thee and " I'm Proud to be an American" by Country Music star Lee Greenwood. Another is the Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber (1910-1981).
It is considered one of the saddest pieces of Classical Music. It is taken from the second movement of his String Quartet (Opus#11) it premiered in 1936 and the Adagio in its current form in 1938 with Arturo Toscanini conducting. There have been various other arrangements of this piece. It was played on the news at the announcement of the Death of President Roosevelt and that of President Kennedy. It lasts about eight minutes. It has been used in movies including The Elephant Man. It was played at the final night of The Proms in 2001 at Royal Albert Hall in London to commemorate the September 11 attacks. Samuel Barber was an American composer. This is his most famous piece. He also wrote operas and other orchestra music. He was a native of the Philadelphia area. he was a nephew of American contralto Louise Homer(1871-1947). An adagio is a slow piece of music. It has a slow tempo or beat There are many other famous adagios. The most famous is that of Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751). This is his Adagio for Strings. This piece also has organ in the piece. Everyone who is old enough remembers what they were doing on that day. I do. I remember the entire day and week. We must not forger 9-11!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2024
Categories |