Barber: Capricorn Concerto, Op. 21

Introduction

Capricorn Concerto, Op. 21, is a composition for flute, oboe, trumpet and strings by Samuel Barber, completed on September 8, 1944. A typical performance lasts approximately 14 minutes.

History

The concerto was written when Barber was still serving in the U.S. Army but when he was granted time and freedom to compose. Hence the piece was composed in and named after the house "Capricorn" in Mount Kisco, acquired by Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti in 1943 and so-named for the maximum sunshine it got during the winter (Heyman 1992, 239). It is therefore "a nostalgic piece that expresses Barber’s desire to return to a situation where he could compose without the constant interruption of military requirements", and was the last piece Barber wrote before his discharge from military duty (Wright 2010, 23, 135). The work was composed for Daniel Saidenberg but it is not certain whether or not it was also under the aegis of the Office of War Information — the Army unit to which Barber was assigned (Wright 2010, 160). It was premiered by the Saidenberg Little Symphony—the resident orchestra at the 92nd Street Y from 1948 to 1957 (Kozinn 1997)—at The Town Hall on October 8, 1944.

Structure

The Capricorn Concerto is designed like a Baroque concerto grosso and is scored for three of the solo instruments used in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2—flute, oboe and trumpet—and an orchestra of strings. (Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 has a fourth solo part, for violin.) The piece is a departure from Barber's previous language, being neither atonal nor polytonal, but written in a contemporary tonal style. Rhythmically nervous with frequent shifts of tempi, it may be characterized as neo-classical and was strongly influenced by Stravinsky (Heyman 1992, 243).

The work has three movements:

1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Allegretto
3. Allegro con brio

The first movement is built in two main sections, preceded by a sixteen-bar introduction and concluding with a twelve-bar coda. Four motives presented in the introduction serve as thematic material throughout the movement (Wright 2010, 149–50).