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| Samuel Barber |
Agnus Dei
(Lamb of God) is a choral composition in one movement by Samuel Barber, his own
arrangement of his Adagio for Strings (1936). In 1967, he set the Latin words
of the liturgical Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, for mixed chorus with optional
organ or piano accompaniment. The music, in B-flat minor, has a duration of
about eight minutes.
Barber's Adagio for Strings began as the second
movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11, composed in 1936. At the request of Arturo
Toscanini, he arranged it for string orchestra, and in January 1938 sent that
version to the conductor, who premiered it in New York with the NBC Symphony Orchestra.
In setting it to the liturgical Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, Barber changed
the music only a little. As with the other arrangements of Adagio for
Strings, it was published by G. Schirmer. (Wikipedia)
