''Capricorn'' Concerto, Op. 21, is a composition for

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Proba ...

, completed on September 8, 1944. A typical performance lasts approximately 14 minutes.

History

The concerto was written when Barber was still serving in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

but when he was granted time and freedom to compose. Hence the piece was composed in and named after the house "Capricorn" in

Mount Kisco Mount Kisco is a village and town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The town of Mount Kisco is coterminous with the village. The population was 10,959 at the 2020 United States census over 10,877 at the 2010 census. It serves as a ...

, acquired by Barber and

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept h ...

in 1943 and so-named for the maximum sunshine it got during the winter. It is therefore "a nostalgic piece that expresses Barber’s desire to return to a situation where he could compose without the constant interruption of military requirements", and was the last piece Barber wrote before his discharge from military duty. The work was composed for Daniel Saidenberg but it is not certain whether or not it was also under the aegis of the

Office of War Information The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...

—the Army unit to which Barber was assigned. It was premiered by the Saidenberg Little Symphony—the resident orchestra at the

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...

from 1948 to 1957 —at The Town Hall on October 8, 1944.

Structure

The ''Capricorn'' Concerto is designed like a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

concerto grosso The concerto grosso (; Italian for ''big concert(o)'', plural ''concerti grossi'' ) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the '' concertino'') and full orchestra (the ''ripieno'', ''tut ...

and is scored for three of the solo instruments used in

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

Brandenburg Concerto The ''Brandenburg Concertos'' by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 1046–1051), are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, MacDonogh, Giles. ''Frederick the Great: A Life in Dee ...

No. 2—flute, oboe and trumpet—and an orchestra of strings. (Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 has a fourth solo part, for violin.) The piece is a departure from Barber's previous language, being neither

atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a s ...

nor

polytonal Polytonality (also polyharmony) is the musical use of more than one key simultaneously. Bitonality is the use of only two different keys at the same time. Polyvalence or polyvalency is the use of more than one harmonic function, from the same key, a ...

, but written in a contemporary tonal style. Rhythmically nervous with frequent shifts of tempi, it may be characterized as neo-classical and was strongly influenced by

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

. The work has three

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

: #Allegro ma non troppo #Allegretto #Allegro con brio The first movement is built in two main sections, preceded by a sixteen-bar introduction and concluding with a twelve-bar coda. Four motives presented in the introduction serve as thematic material throughout the movement.

Discography

* Samuel Barber: ''Capricorn'' Concerto.

Julius Baker Julius Baker (September 23, 1915 – August 6, 2003) was one of the foremost American orchestral flute players. During the course of five decades he concertized with several of America's premier orchestral ensembles including the Chicago Sympho ...

(flute);

Mitch Miller Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...

(oboe); Harry Freistadt (trumpet); Saidenberg Little Symphony; Daniel Saidenberg, cond. (With

William Schuman William Howard Schuman (August 4, 1910February 15, 1992) was an American composer and arts administrator. Life Schuman was born into a Jewish family in Manhattan, New York City, son of Samuel and Rachel Schuman. He was named after the 27th U.S. ...

: Symphony No. 5. Concert Hall String Symphony; Edgar Schenkman, cond.) LP recording, mono, 12 in. Gold Label Series. Concert Hall CHS-1078. New York: Concert Hall,

950s The 950s decade ran from January 1, 950, to December 31, 959. Significant people * Abd al-Rahman III caliph of Córdoba * Al-Muti caliph of Baghdad * Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah of Fatimid dynasty * Pope John XII * Pope Agapetus II Pope Agapetu ...

''Capricorn'' Concerto reissued on CD ''Samuel Barber: Premiere Recordings'' (Also with ''The School for Scandal'' Overture, Op. 5; Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 6; Symphony no 1, Op. 9; Essay for Orchestra no 1, Op. 12; ''Dover Beach'', Op. 3; Adagio for Strings). Pearl CD 49. * Samuel Barber: ''Capricorn'' Concerto, Essay No. 1 for Orchestra. Louise DiTullio (flute);

Allan Vogel Allan Vogel is an American oboist and educator. He was the former Principal Oboe of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Education Vogel studied piano and voice at the New York High School for Music and Art, but eventually changed his focus to obo ...

(oboe);

Anthony Plog Anthony Plog (born November 13, 1947) is an American conductor, composer and trumpet player. Life Plog was born in Glendale, California, United States. He is a fellow of the Music Academy of the West where he attended in 1968. From 2006 to 2007, ...

(trumpet,); Pacific Symphony Orchestra; Keith Clark, cond. Pacific Symphony American Music Series. LP recording. Andante AD 72406. North Hollywood, Calif.: Andante, 1983. * Barber: Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, ''Capricorn'' Concerto. Jacob Berg (flute); Peter Bowman (oboe); Susan Slaughter (trumpet); St. Louis Symphony Orchestra;

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

, cond. CD recording. RCA Victor Red Seal 68283. * Barber: ''Capricorn'' Concerto, Adagio for Strings, Serenade for Strings. (With works by

Arthur Foote Arthur William Foote (March 5, 1853 in Salem, Massachusetts – April 8, 1937 in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American classical composer, and a member of the "Boston Six." The other five were George Whitefield Chadwick, Amy Beach, Edward Mac ...

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

, and

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...

.) János Bálint (flute),

Reinhold Friedrich Reinhold Friedrich (born 14 July 1958) is a German trumpeter and university lecturer in Karlsruhe. Career Born in Weingarten, Friedrich was from 1983 to 1999 Solo trumpeter at the Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt. In 1986 he was awarded a pr ...

(trumpet), Lajos Lencsés (oboe); Budapest Strings; Károly Botvay, cond. CD recording. Capriccio Records 0505. * ''Music For The Theatre Vol 2''. Samuel Barber: ''Capricorn'' Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Trumpet and Strings, op. 21. Omar Zoboli (oboe), Isabelle Schnöller (flute), Reinhold Friedrich (trumpet);

Kammerorchester Basel The chamber orchestra Kammerorchester Basel (also: Kammerorchesterbasel) was founded in Basel, Switzerland, in 1984. In the tradition of Paul Sacher's ''Basler Kammerorchester'', its focus is on both early music and contemporary classical music. ...

;

Christopher Hogwood Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer, and musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on historically info ...

, cond. (With music by Aaron Copland.) CD recording. Arte Nova 506930. .p. Arte Nova, 2006. * ''Howard Hanson Conducts Barber, Piston, Griffes, Et Al''. Samuel Barber ''Capricorn'' Concerto. Walter Piston ''The Incredible Flutist''; Charles Tomlinson Griffes ''Poem for Flute and Orchestra''; plus works by William McCauley, Kent Kennan, and William Bergsma. Robert Sprenkle (oboe),

Sidney Mear Sidney Mear (June 23, 1918 – March 13, 2016) was an American trumpeter and professor at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He studied with Herbert L. Clarke and Bohumir Kryl as a child in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and with Pattee Eve ...

(trumpet), Joseph Mariano (flute); Mercury Living Presence #:434307. *Naxos recordings

References

* * Footnotes

History

Structure

Discography

References

Further reading