Agnus Dei

Samuel Barber

We have used Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings a number of times for our Music of the Week. It is a widely recognized piece that ranks among the 100 most important American compositions of the 20th century, gaining additional popularity through its use for multiple TV and movie soundtracks.

What most audiences do not know is that in 1967, almost 30 years after writing the Adagio as the second movement of his String Quartet, Barber adapted the score for voices with words from the Christian liturgy called the Agnus Dei.

Adding the Latin words of the Agnus Dei demonstrated that Barber’s composition not only qualifies as “America’s semi-official music for mourning” but carries a deeper spirituality that may rank it among the great pieces of Renaissance-style polyphonic music comparable to such works as Allegri’s Miserere.

As usual, the British vocal ensemble VOCES8 provides an impeccable performance with state-of-the-art recording standards.