Born in West Chester, PA, March 9, 1910
Died in New York, Jan 23, 1981
- Barber was a musical prodigy. He wrote his first opera at age 10 (his family’s cook wrote the libretto). He entered the recently-founded Curtis Institute of Music when he was 14.
- Barber met his partner Gian Carlo Menotti while he was a student at Curtis.
- Barber also taught at Curtis from 1939-1942.
- During his lifetime, Barber was one of the United States’ most-performed composers, both at home and abroad. His many honors included:
- Commissions for Martha Graham, for the 25th anniversary of the League of Composers, and for the opening of Lincoln Center.
- He won two Pulitzer prizes; in 1958 and 1963.
- He inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1958, and won the Gold Medal for Music at the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1976.1
Short biography from NPR
Sources
- Barbara B. Heyman, “Barber, Samuel,” Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press (2001), accessed September 9, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000001994.