OVERTURE TO 'THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDEL', OP. 5
THIS IS THE OVERTURE TO THE COMEDY PLAY 'THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDEL'. THE OVERTURE WAS WRITTEN BY SAMUEL O. BARBER IN 1931 AND REFLECTS THE SPIRIT OF THE COMEDY. THE PLAY WAS WRITTEN BY RICHARD B. SHERIDAN IN 1777. PERFORMED BY THE 1985 LSU WIND ENSEMBLE
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Story behind the song
Samuel Barber's overture to The School for Scandal, Op. 5, was the composer's first composition for full orchestra. It was composed in 1931 while Barber was completing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The premiere was given on August 30, 1933 by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Alexander Smallens. It lasts around 8 min.
The title refers to the comedy The School for Scandal written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan and the overture was by Barber intended to reflect the spirit of the play.
The overture helped to establish Barber's national reputation and became in the 1950s a more regular part of the repertoire of American orchestras. It won the Joseph H. Bearns Prize of Columbia University in 1933.
An arrangement for concert band has been made by Frank M. Hudson. Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1777 play The School for Scandal is takes place in the jaded social circle of the aptly-named Lady Sneerwell. This comedy centers around the eccentricities and malicious gossip of Sheridan’s upper-class characters. In the score to his Overture to "The School for Scandal" Barber notes only that the piece was “suggested” by Sheridan’s play, and though there is no explicit program, the wit and fast-paced nature of the music certainly resonate with the nature of the play. Barber began work on this overture in 1931, while he was still a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. During summer break, Barber made an extended trip to Italy, most of which he spent staying with Giancarlo Menotti and his family. He wrote home to his parents that he had begun a “new piece for orchestra” and that work was going well. The premiere did not take place until two years later, when the Philadelphia Orchestra performed the work at one of its outdoor concerts at Robin Hood Dell. The Overture to "The School for Scandal" was a landmark in Barber’s career: it was not only his first completed orchestral work and his first work to be performed by a major orchestra, it also won the prestigious Bearns Prize for composition (the second of his student works to win this award).