Agnus Dei (Barber)

Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is a oral composition in one

movement by Samuel Barber, his own arrangement of his Adagio Agnus Dei
for Strings (1936). In 1967, he set the Latin words of the liturgical by Samuel Barber
Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, for mixed orus with optional
organ or piano accompaniment. e music, in B-flat minor, has a
duration of about eight minutes.

Contents
History
Music
Recordings
References
External links

History Samuel Barber, photographed by

Carl Van Vechten, 1944
Barber's Adagio for Strings began as the second movement of his
Key B-flat minor
String artet, Op. 11, composed in 1936. At the request of Arturo
Toscanini, he arranged it for string orestra, and in January 1938 Year 1967
sent that version to the conductor, who premiered it in New York Text Agnus Dei
with the NBC Symphony Orestra.[1] In seing it to the liturgical
Language Latin
Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, Barber anged the music only a
lile.[2] As with the other arrangements of Adagio for Strings, it Based on Adagio for Strings
was published by G. Sirmer.[3][4] Scoring Choir SSAATTBB,
optional piano or organ
Music
Graham Olson describes the composition for AllMusic. Aer reflecting the history and pointing out the
Adagio's associations with mourning, nostalgia, love and passion, qualified as "sentimental Romanticism",
he writes about the oral seing: "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: "e score looks so clear, like a counterpoint exercise, and the power of it is
in the economy of means."[1]

Agnus Dei is in B-flat minor, marked "molto adagio" (very slow) and "molto espressivo" (very expressive)
and in the beginning "pp" (pianissimo, very so). e initial time is 4/2, but some measures are expanded
to 5/2 and 6/2 throughout the piece of 69 measures. e music is set for soprano, alto, tenor and bass
(SATB); all four parts are sometimes divided; measures 12 to 14 call for a solo soprano. Soprano and alto
are divided in two parts, tenor and bass occasionally even in three. e music is dominated by a melody,
first presented by the soprano, whi begins on a long note and then undulates in even rhythm and
diatonic steps, a melisma of two measures on the words "Agnus Dei". e other voices enter half a
measure later on a ord, move to a different ord in measure 2 and sustain it throughout the measure,
while the soprano holds its first note through measure one and moves only aer the supporting ord has
anged to a tension. A similar paern follows in measures 5 to 8 on the words "qui tollis peccata mundi"
(who takes away the sins of the world), moving down on "peccata mundi". e repetition of the call
"Agnus Dei" is set as variation of the beginning, intensified by upward leaps of fihs and octaves, and by
the solo soprano reaing the highest note of the piece, C-flat. en the alto takes over the melody, marked
"più f[orte] sempre espressivo" (somewhat stronger and always expressive), while the soprano sings
"miserere nobis" (have mercy on us) for the first time on a counter-melody. In measure 28, the bass takes
over the melody, marked "p cresc. molto espressivo" (so but growing, very expressive), while the three
upper undivided voices sing "dona nobis pacem" (give us peace) the first time. In measure 35, the tenor
takes over the melody, all parts are marked "with increasing intensity", soon the soprano gets the melody,
interrupted by the alto moving in octaves, then finally the soprano leads to the climax on the words "dona
nobis pacem", ending in long ords, fortissimo, in extremely high register for all parts, followed by a long
general break. Aer the silence, a slow succession of ords, repeating "dona nobis pacem" in homophony
in very low register, modulates to distant keys su as C major and F major. Aer 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 so "miserere nobis", marked
"morendo" (dying).[5]

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

Recordings
e Corydon Singers recorded the piece in 1986, together with Bernstein's Chiester Psalms and motets
by Aaron Copland.[6] e New College Choir, Oxford, recorded it in 1996.[7] In 2000, the oir of Ormond
College included it in a recording of Barber's oral music.[8] In 2003, it concluded a collection of e 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. In 2015, the Roerdam Symphony Chorus made a live
recording of Agnus Dei during a concert tour with the BBC Symphony Orestra.[10]

References
1. Keller, Johanna (7 March 2010). "An Adagio for Strings, and for the Ages" (https://www.nyti
mes.com/2010/03/07/arts/music/07barber.html?ref=arts). The New York Times. Retrieved
7 March 2010.
2. Olson, Graham (2012). "Agnus Dei, for chorus (arr. from 2nd mvt. of String Quartet), Op. 11"
(http://www.allmusic.com/work/agnus-dei-for-chorus-arr-from-2nd-mvt-of-string-quartet-op-1
1-c43240/description). AllMusic. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
3. "Samuel Barber: Agnus Dei" (http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2420&State_287
4=2&workId_2874=24241). G. Schirmer. 2010.
4. Heyman, Barbara B (1992). Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music (https://archive.o
rg/details/samuelbarbercomp0000heym). Oxford University Press.
ISBN 978-0-19-509058-1.
5. Agnus Dei / Samuel Barber, G. Schirmer, 1992
6. "Bernstein: Chichester Psalms; Copland: In the Beginning; Barber: Agnus Dei" (http://www.a
llmusic.com/album/bernstein-chichester-psalms-copland-in-the-beginning-barber-agnus-dei-
w4221). AllMusic. 1986. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
7. "Agnus Dei, New College Choir, Oxford" (http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/January%
201997/87/749906/Agnus+Dei+New+College+Choir,+Oxford+Capricorn++Edward+Higginb
 ottom.). Gramophone. 1997. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
8. "Samuel Barber (1910–1981) / Choral Music" (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classr
ev/2006/Nov06/Barber_Choral_Music_8559053.htm). Gramophone. 2006. Retrieved
23 March 2012.
9. "The Best Of Barber – Adagio For Strings, Agnus Dei, etc" (http://www.arkivmusic.com/class
ical/album.jsp?album_id=78449). arkivmusic.com. 2003. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
10. Live performance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVowLNuV4Zk) on YouTube,
Rotterdam Symphony Chorus and Laurenscantorij, 2015, St. John's Cathedral ('s-
Hertogenbosch)

External links
Agnus Dei (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkObnNQCMtM) on YouTube, Barber's own
choral setting performed a cappella by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, conducted
by Richard Marlow

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