American pianist and composer (born 1910)

Samuel Barber

Samuel Osmond Barber II was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-20th century. Principally influenced by nine years' composition studies with Rosario Scalero at the Curtis Institute and more than 25 years' study with his uncle, the composer Sidney Homer, Barber's music usually eschewed the experimental trends of musical modernism in favor of traditional 19th-century harmonic language and formal structure embracing lyricism and emotional expression. However, he adopted elements of modernism after 1940 in some of his compositions, such as an increased use of dissonance and chromaticism in the Cello Concerto (1945) and Medea's Dance of Vengeance (1955); and the use of tonal ambiguity and a narrow use of serialism in his Piano Sonata (1949), Prayers of Kierkegaard (1954), and Nocturne (1959).

Born

1910

March 9

Died

1981

Era

1910s

Country

—

About

Samuel, in brief

Samuel Osmond Barber II was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-20th century. Principally influenced by nine years' composition studies with Rosario Scalero at the Curtis Institute and more than 25 years' study with his uncle, the composer Sidney Homer, Barber's music usually eschewed the experimental trends of musical modernism in favor of traditional 19th-century harmonic language and formal structure embracing lyricism and emotional expression. However, he adopted elements of modernism after 1940 in some of his compositions, such as an increased use of dissonance and chromaticism in the Cello Concerto (1945) and Medea's Dance of Vengeance (1955); and the use of tonal ambiguity and a narrow use of serialism in his Piano Sonata (1949), Prayers of Kierkegaard (1954), and Nocturne (1959).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

  1. 1910 Born
  2. 1981 Died

Also on March 9

What else happened on this day, through history

See all of March 9 →

The world in 1910

When Samuel arrived

Read the year 1910 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on March 9

Brent Burns 1985– Canadian ice hockey player Bryan Bickell 1986– Canadian ice hockey player Clint Dempsey 1983– American soccer player Daniel Hudson 1987– American baseball player Jackie Jensen 1927– American baseball player (died 1982) Josef Mysliveček 1737–1781 Czech composer (born 1737) Suga 1993– South Korean rapper, songwriter and record producer YG 1990– American rapper Yuri Gagarin 1934–1968 Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (born 1934)

See everything on March 9 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1910

Alicia Markova 1910–2004 English ballerina and choreographer (died 2004) António de Spínola 1910–1996 Portuguese general and politician, 14th President of Portugal (died 1996) Barbara Castle 1910–2002 Baroness Castle of Blackburn, English politician, First Secretary of State (born 1910) Bluey 1910–1939 Australian cattle dog, second-oldest recorded dog (died 1939) Bonnie Parker 1910–1934 American criminal (born 1910) Carmine Coppola 1910–1991 American composer and conductor (born 1910) Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg 1910–2012 Polish-Israeli rabbi and author (born 1910) Cyril Cusack 1910–1993 South African-born Irish actor (died 1993) Douglas Bader 1910–1982 English fighter pilot in World War II (died 1982)

Read about the year 1910 →

Keep going

More to explore

Samuel's birthday March 9 Samuel's zodiac Pisces When Samuel arrived 1910