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Samuel Barber (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981)

Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. He is one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century: music critic Donal Henahan stated that ...
Born: March 9, 1910, West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: January 23, 1981, New York City, New York, United States
Education: Curtis Institute of Music
Lived: Capricorn, Capricorn, Haines Road, west of Croton Lake Road, Mt Kisco, NY 10549, USA (41.23958, -73.73527)
107 S Church St, West Chester, PA 19382, USA (39.95792, -75.60441)
Buried: Oaklands Cemetery, West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA
Nationality: American
Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Music, more
Parents: Samuel Le Roy Barber, Marguerite McLeod Beatty

Samuel Barber was a composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. He is one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century: music critic Donal Henahan stated, "Probably no other American composer has ever enjoyed such early, such persistent and such long-lasting acclaim." He was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music, for his opera Vanessa and his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. At 14, he entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied piano with Isabelle Vengerova, composition with Rosario Scalero, and voice with Emilio de Gorgoza. He began composing seriously in his late teenage years. Around the same time, he met fellow Curtis schoolmate Gian Carlo Menotti, who became his partner in life as well as in their shared profession. Menotti supplied the libretto (text) for Barber's opera, Vanessa. Menotti also contributed the libretto for Barber's chamber opera A Hand of Bridge. Barber's Antony and Cleopatra was commissioned to open the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in 1966. In recent years, a revised version for which Menotti provided collaborative assistance has enjoyed some success.
Together from 1929 to 1981: 52 years.
Gian Carlo Menotti (July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007)
Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981)



Days of Love edited by Elisa Rolle
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
ISBN-10: 1500563323
Release Date: September 21, 2014
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In 1943, Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti purchased a house in Mount Kisco, New York.
Address: Capricorn, Haines Road, west of Croton Lake Road, Mt Kisco, NY 10549, USA (41.23958, -73.73527)
Type: Private Property
Place
Mount Kisco is a village and a town in Westchester County, New York. The Town of Mount Kisco is coterminous with the village. The population was 10,877 at the 2010 census. The Village of Mount Kisco was incorporated in 1875 and was partly in the towns of Bedford and New Castle. In 1978, the village chose to become a town in its own right and joined several villages in the state that have made same choice. According to the town’s official web site, Kisco is derived from an Indian word –either kiskamenahook meaning “settlement near a brook” or cisqua meaning “a muddy place.” Mount comes from the 623-foot hill northwest of town. The Mount Kisco Municipal Complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. Merestead, St. Mark’s Cemetery, and the United Methodist Church and Parsonage are also listed.
Life
Who: Samuel Osborne Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981)
For three years, 1939–42, Samuel Barber taught at the Curtis Institute, but in 1942 he joined the U.S. Army Air Forces, becoming its resident composer. In 1943, a gift from Bok enabled Barber and Menotti to buy a house in Mt. Kisco, New York, which they named Capricorn. They were regularly visited by a wide variety of artists and intellectuals, and their domestic happiness brought greater productivity for both composers. At the peak of his powers, Barber unveiled “Medea,” his ballet score for the Martha Graham Dance Company, in 1946; “Knoxville, Summer of 1915,” a song with orchestra, in 1947; and his lone piano sonata in 1949. (All are still in the world repertory; in 1953 Barber reworked his ballet score for orchestra and soprano, as “Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance,” Op. 23a.) His opera “Vanessa” (1958) received its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, won a Pulitzer Prize, and became the first American opera performed at Austria’s Salzburg Festival. He wrote three works for the opening of Lincoln Center, including the opera “Antony and Cleopatra,” his second commission for the Met. When the premiere of “Antony and Cleopatra” was hammered by the critics, Barber withdrew to a villa in Italy, where he battled depression. He and his lifelong partner, Menotti, separated and Capricorn, their home, was sold. Barber continued to compose in New York City but drank too much. Cared for by Menotti, he died of cancer and was buried in Oaklands Cemetery in the town of his birth, West Chester, Pennsylvania.



Queer Places, Vol. 1 edited by Elisa Rolle
ISBN-13: 978-1532901904
ISBN-10: 1532901909
Release Date: July 24, 2016
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Samuel Barber was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the son of Marguerite McLeod (née Beatty) and Samuel Le Roy Barber.
Address: 107 S Church St, West Chester, PA 19382, USA (39.95792, -75.60441)
Type: Private Property
National Register of Historic Places: West Chester State College Quadrangle Historic District (Bounded by S. High and S. Church Sts., College and Rosedale Aves.), 81000539, 1981
Place
West Chester is a borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania. The population was 18,461 at the 2010 census. West Chester University of Pennsylvania is located in the borough. Valley Forge, the Brandywine Battlefield, Marsh Creek State Park, and other historical attractions are nearby, as are Longwood Gardens, the Brandywine River Museum, and Christian C. Sanderson Museum. The area was originally known as Turk’s Head — after the inn of the same name located in what is now the center of the borough. West Chester has been the seat of government in Chester County since 1786, and the borough incorporated in 1799. In the heart of town is its courthouse, a classical revival building designed in the 1840s by Thomas U. Walter, one of the architects for the Capitol in Washington, D.C. In the XVIII century West Chester was a center of clockmaking. In the late XIX century the Hoopes, Bro. and Darlington company became a major wheelworks, first for wagons and later automobiles. In the early XX century, an important industry was the Sharples cream separator company. In the late XX century, Commodore International, one of the pioneers of home computers, giving its headquarters as West Chester, was located approximately a mile northeast of the borough.
Life
Who: Samuel Osborne Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981)
Samuel Barber was a composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. He is one of the most celebrated composers of the XX century: music critic Donal Henahan stated that "Probably no other American composer has ever enjoyed such early, such persistent and such long-lasting acclaim." Growing up with music in the house (his aunt was Metropolitan Opera star Louise Homer and his uncle, Sidney Homer, was a composer who had a lifelong impact on Barber’s style), Barber decided early on to become a composer, and wrote an operetta at age 10. Four years later he was admitted into the newly established Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 1928, while at conservatory, Barber met fellow composer and future life partner Gian Carlo Menotti. Well-trained and a favorite of the school’s founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, Barber began his professional career auspiciously with the publication of the delightful “School for Scandal Overture,” in 1931. He completed his well-regarded setting of Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach,” for soprano and string quartet, in the same year. He travelled in Europe, particularly Italy, and won a Rome Prize, which sent him to the American Academy for 1935–37. While there, he wrote his string quartet, arranging the second movement for string orchestra (the famous “Adagio for Strings.”) He also completed his “First Symphony.” Samuel Barber died of cancer in 1981 in New York City at the age of 70. He was buried in Oaklands Cemetery (120 W Market St # 1, West Chester, PA 19382). Samuel Barber’s will provided for a burial plot next to his own, reserved for Gian Carlo Menotti, Barber’s partner for most of his adult life. Further, the will said that if Menotti chose not to be buried in Oaklands Cemetery (he is buried near his last home in Scotland), a stone should be placed on the empty plot and inscribed with the words "To The Memory Of Two Friends."



Queer Places, Vol. 1 edited by Elisa Rolle
ISBN-13: 978-1532901904
ISBN-10: 1532901909
Release Date: July 24, 2016
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/6228297
Amazon (print): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1532901909/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1BU9K/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

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