- Written in 1931, Barber’s Overture to The School for Scandal was his first published large-scale orchestral work.
- “The School for Scandal” was a “comedy of manners” written in the 18th century by the Anglo-Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
- Many view Overture to The School for Scandal as the starting point of Barber’s professional success. The concert overture was written while Barber was still a student at Curtis and earned him his second Joseph H. Bearns Prize in Music.1
Sources
- Barbara B. Heyman, “Barber, Samuel,” Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press (2024), accessed May 27, 2026, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000001994.
Cut IDs
40062 45122 45194