Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" was written in 1936.   This piece was actually the second movement of a string quartet, and was  later rearranged for Orchestra.  You might have heard this piece in many movie soundtracks  such as Platoon, Lorenzo's Oil, and the Elephant Man; also it has been  played at the funerals of John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt.  "Adagio for Strings" is considered our nation's piece of mourning.
 

    This piece can be heard in many different settings.   Originally it was written as a second movement for a string quartet which  was completed in 1936.  Two years later Barber made an arrangement for orchestra,  which premiered in 1938 with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini.    Then again Barber arranged this piece for unaccompanied vocal choir to the words of Agnus Dei.   Many modern day artists are now sampling the melody  in their music.  Artists such as Sean Puffy Combs have used the Vocal Arrangement  in some of their songs.
 

    "Adagio For Strings" is a very somber piece of music based  on a simple thought.  It opens with a very slow lyrical line that becomes the main theme of the piece.   Barber uses this simple theme throughout the piece varying it in different registers.  First the melody is in the violins and then is repeated in the violas.  Each voice makes a statement of the melody in this piece.
 
 

    The melody of "Adagio for Strings" is very slow and repetitive.   There is no introduction as the melody is stated right away in the violins.    The melody is written in a stepwise with a leap no larger than an interval of a major third. and is only about 19 measures long.  The melody is then stated in the violas which  sounds fugal as they enter in the middle of the violin passage, the Cello voice is the last to enter with the melody.  Barber then uses fragments of the melody to build to the high point, which is written in the upper range of the Violin.  Finally there is a brief period of new chordal material before the melody  is stated once again in both the violin and viola which ends the song.
 
 

    "Adagio for Strings" would not be considered rhythmically challenging,  using quarter notes, whole and half notes.  It is the quarter note moving  line that seems to pull this piece along.  This piece starts out in 4/2 and  switches to 5/2 and then very quickly back to 4/2.  This happens many times throughout.  There are also sections written in 6/2 meter.
 
 

 This piece opens up in the key of A minor and follows a simple chord structure  until finally in measure 19 a tonic chord appears for the first time.  The  third beat of measure nineteen begins to develop some of the melody and modulates  to the key of D minor.  In measure 31 the original theme come back  in the tenor voice in the key of A minor, but it is not an exact answer of  the theme.  This happens once again and quickly the theme recapitulates to  D minor in the soprano voice.  I believe that it progresses in this key until  where the theme is repeated in the tenor voice while the piece is reaching  its pinnacle point in the soprano and alto voice.  The next measure starts  new material of quarter and whole note chords that go through many different  keys such as C major, A minor, Bb major, Eb major, Ab major, Db major, and  D major.  This brings us back to A minor and the restatement of the thematic  material.  Finally the piece ends on the dominate instead of the tonic, and  as it decrescendos it leaves the listener with a dark and melancholy mood.
 
 

While this piece is not difficult technically, it is challenging expressively.   It starts out pianissimo with a gradual swell to a piano in the violin theme then gradually it decrescendos back to a pianissimo at the end of the theme.   Most of the piece is marked at a  piano until measure 40 where it begins to intensify to the climax in the violin theme.  After a brief pause the entrance is marked pianissimo then another gradual swell in the theme stated in the violin and violas with a gradual dying away at the end.  Not only does the dynamics create tension, but also the long sustained chords under the melody create a feeling of suspense.
 

Not only has this piece been arranged for many different  types of musical settings, it has also been made into a ballet.  The American Ballet Theater choreographed a ballet to Barber,s "Adagio for Strings" arranged for orchestra.