Cello Concerto (Barber)

Samuel Barber's Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 22, completed on 27 November 1945,[1] was the second of his three concertos (the first being his Violin Concerto and the third his Piano Concerto). Barber was commissioned to write his cello concerto for Raya Garbousova, an expatriate Russian cellist, by Serge Koussevitzky on behalf of Garbusova and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Funds for the commission were supplied, however, by John Nicholas Brown, an amateur cellist and a trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.[2] The score is dedicated to John and Anne Brown.[3] Barber was still on active duty with the U. S. Army at the time he received the commission, and before beginning work asked Garbousova to play through her repertoire for him so that he could understand her particular performing style and the resources of the instrument.[4] Garbousova premiered it with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Symphony Hall, Boston, on 5 April 1946, followed by New York performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on 12 and 13 April.[1] The concerto won Barber the New York Music Critics' Circle Award in 1947.[5]

The work has remained obscure and performances are scarce, largely because of its extreme technical demands, but also because the heavy editing of the solo part by Garbousova hinders individual interpretation.[6]

The work has three movements:

  1. Allegro moderato
  2. Andante sostenuto
  3. Molto allegro e appassionato

The concerto is scored for solo cello and an orchestra consisting of 2 flutes, oboe, English horn, 2 clarinets (second doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 3 trumpets, timpani, snare drum, and strings.

References
  • Heyman, Barbara B. (1992). Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music. New York City and Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195090581.
  1. Heyman 1992, p. 252.
  2. Heyman 1992, p. 248.
  3. Barber, Samuel. 1952. Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 22. G. Schirmer's Edition of Study Scores of Orchestral Works and Chamber Music No. 61. New York City: G. Schirmer. p. 1.
  4. Heyman 1992, p. 249.
  5. Heyman 1992, p. 257.
  6. Davies, Daniel Edward. 1999. "An Analytical, Historical, and Pedagogical Overview of Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto, Dmitri Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1, and William Walton's Cello Concerto". DMA diss. Evanston: Northwestern University. p. 34.

Further reading
  • Dale, S. S. 1974. "Contemporary Cello Concerti XV: Samuel Barber". The Strad 84 (January): 529–35.
  • Taubman, Howard. 1959. "Music: Cello Concerto". The New York Times (January 31): 12.
  • Tobias, Paul. 1996. "Much-Maligned Masterpiece". The Strad 107, no. 1272 (April): 388–92.
  • Tobias, Paul. 1995. "The Rocky Road of an American Orchestral Masterpiece". Journal of the Conductors' Guild 16, no. 2 (Summer–Fall): 91–95.
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