Agnus Dei (Barber)

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Agnus Dei
by Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1944
KeyB-flat minor
Year1967 (1967)
TextAgnus Dei
LanguageLatin
Based onAdagio for Strings
ScoringChoir SSAATTBB, optional piano or organ

Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is a

Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, for mixed chorus with optional organ or piano accompaniment. The music, in B-flat minor
, has a duration of about eight minutes.

History

Barber's Adagio for Strings began as the second movement of his String Quartet,

G. Schirmer.[3][4]

Music

Graham Olson describes the composition for AllMusic. After reflecting the history and pointing out the Adagio's associations with mourning, nostalgia, love and passion, qualified as "sentimental Romanticism", he writes about the choral setting: "Barber brought to the surface the work's sense of spirituality." He observes similarities to works of the Renaissance by Palestrina and Gabrieli.[2] Violinist Phillip Ying says about the quartet movement: "The score looks so clear, like a counterpoint exercise, and the power of it is in the economy of means."[1]

Agnus Dei is in

general break. After the silence, a slow succession of chords, repeating "dona nobis pacem" in homophony in very low register, modulates to distant keys such as C major and F major. After another silence, a kind of recapitulation begins with the soprano and tenor singing the melody in unison on "Agnus Dei ... dona nobis pacem", while alto and bass counter with "miserere nobis". In the final line, the alto broadens the beginning of the melody to a last "dona nobis pacem", marked "mf molto espr. sost." (medium strength, very expressive and sustained), while the other parts end on a very soft "miserere nobis", marked "morendo" (dying).[5]

The piece lasts about eight minutes.[2] The accompaniment is optional and only for support.

Recordings

The

Corydon Singers recorded the piece in 1986, together with Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and motets by Aaron Copland.[6] The New College Choir, Oxford, recorded it in 1996.[7] In 2000, the choir of Ormond College included it in a recording of Barber's choral music.[8] In 2003, it concluded a collection of The Best Of Barber, sung by the Robert Shaw Festival Singers.[9] Welsh classical crossover singer Katherine Jenkins included it on her 2008 album Sacred Arias.[10] In 2015, the Rotterdam Symphony Chorus made a live recording of Agnus Dei during a concert tour with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b Keller, Johanna (7 March 2010). "An Adagio for Strings, and for the Ages". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  2. ^ a b c Olson, Graham. Agnus Dei, for chorus (arr. from 2nd mvt. of String Quartet), Op. 11 at
    AllMusic
    . Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  3. ^ "Samuel Barber: Agnus Dei".
    G. Schirmer
    . 2010.
  4. ^ Heyman, Barbara B (1992). Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music.
    ISBN 978-0-19-509058-1
    .
  5. ^ Agnus Dei / Samuel Barber,
    G. Schirmer, 1992[full citation needed
    ]
  6. ^ Bernstein: Chichester Psalms; Copland: In the Beginning; Barber: Agnus Dei at
    AllMusic
    . Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  7. ^ "Agnus Dei, New College Choir, Oxford". Gramophone. 1997. Retrieved 23 March 2012.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ "Samuel Barber (1910–1981) / Choral Music". Gramophone. 2006. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  9. ^ "The Best Of Barber – Adagio For Strings, Agnus Dei, etc". arkivmusic.com. 2003. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  10. AllMusic
  11. ^ Live performance on YouTube, Rotterdam Symphony Chorus and Laurenscantorij, 2015, St. John's Cathedral ('s-Hertogenbosch)

External links
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