Adagio for Strings - Samuel Barber (Extended Analysis Project Step 5)

By thoroughly analyzing the opening section of Adagio for Strings, I've come to realize that the piece itself is extremely unique and unlike anything we have discussed or analyzed in class up to this point. It's unique for a number of reasons, all concerning the structure and progression of the chords throughout the piece.

• The piece opens with a slightly unusual chord: a lone B flat. Traditionally, a strong, complete triad establishes the start of the music instead of this one-note chord, which begins almost every single cadence throughout the piece. This aspect emphasizes the uniqueness of the piece because most pieces from the 17th century began with a bang, the opposite of what occurs in Adagio.
• On the topic of 17th century trends, Adagio is unique, as mentioned in a previous blog post, because of the lack of movement within the harmony parts. The melody belongs to a single voice throughout the piece; in the section that I analyzed, this voice was the first violin. In terms of a melodic line, the theme moves step-wise throughout each phrase and has a relatively small range, consisting of notes from C4 to G5. As for the rest of the parts, violin two, viola, cello, and bass, whole notes and half notes are used religiously to emphasize the single melody as well as the chord changes. 
• Unlike a lot of traditional music, Barber utilizes frequent seventh chords to create tension and dissonance between the parts. 
• The first and most commonly used seventh chord is the iv7 consisting of notes E flat, G flat, B flat, and D flat. This chord appears in the first, third, sixth, seventh, eighth, and tenth measures, and is used with a suspension in 4 out of those 6 times. In the first/second and eighth/ninth measures, the B flat in the first violin part is held one beat over the next chord, V, and resolves down to an A natural on the second beat of the second measure. The seventh chord that appears in measures three and ten is also a suspension, with the E flat from the plain iv chord resolving down to a D flat to create the iv7. This chord could be interpreted in a different way as well; it could be treated as a VI chord with the D flat added for dissonance. This second interpretation is likely how it would be heard without the use of the score. 
• The other three seventh chords that are used in this section of Adagio are ii^o7, III7, and VII7, and I believe that they are present simply to create tension and dissonance between the parts. These chords appear in measures four, seven, and eleven. 
• These many unique aspects make the piece extremely 20th century, and continue to make it popular amongst musicians and classical music lovers to this day. Personally, I love this piece because of the massive amounts of tension that Barber so cleverly and smoothly resolves. It's easy to experience the intense depression that Barber embodied in this piece because of the dissonance and minor resolutions.