TITLE: Mutations from Bach (1968)

COMPOSER: Samuel Barber (1910-1981)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Samuel Barber is from West Chester, Pennsylvania. He composed his first work at the age of seven and attempted his first opera at the age of ten. When he was only fourteen, he entered the Curtis Institute, where he studied voice, piano and composition. Fritz Reiner was one of Barber's conducting mentors.

Barber met Gian Menotti during his residence at the Curtis Institute. Both Barber and Menotti were personal friends and maintained a close professional relationship throughout their lifetimes. Menotti was the librettist for Barber's operas Vanessa (for which Barber won a Pulitzer) and A Hand of Bridge. In 1966, just prior to his composing the Mutations from Bach, he was commissioned to write the opera, Anthony and Cleopatra, which opened at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center.

Barber won two Pulitzers, the American Prix de Rome and was selected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Barber's Adagio for Strings has become one of his most famous works used in both concerts and films.

MOVEMENTS: One

• Four Settings plus a Restatement

PERFORMANCE TIME: 5' 30"

INSTRUMENTATION: 12 Instruments

• 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, 1 Tuba, 1 Timpani

EDITIONS: Available for Purchase

1. G. Schirmer Music Inc., 866 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022

COMPOSITION SKETCH AND MUSICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Mutations from Bach is a short sequence of transformations of the plain-song, Christe, du Lamm Gottes (Christ, Thou Lamb of God). It is first heard as harmonized by Joachim Decker (1604) from the beginning until the end of m.6. At the first key and meter change (4/2, m.7), it is then heard in the harmonization of J.S. Bach from Cantata, no. 23. At the next meter change (3/2), the plain-song is heard in canon at the twelfth which is similar to the Choral Prelude no. 21 from Bach's Orgelbuchlein. The final nineteen measures set the plain-song in the recitative section in Ach, gehe nicht voruber, from Bach's Cantata, no. 23. This is followed by a restatement of the old version of the chorale in the final five measures, which concludes the work.

Note by Samuel Barber

SELECTED RECORDINGS:

RELATED WEBSITES:

Barber Page - http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/barber/

Barber Biography - http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/01110.html