Barber, S :: Canzone

Throughout his career, Barber occasionally developed personal attachments to certain melodies and would revisit them in different compositions; such is the case with Canzone (from Piano Concerto, 2nd movement). Canzone was originally a gift for Manfred Ibel, a German flautist whom Barber befriended in 1959. At the time, Barber gave it the title Elegy for Flute and Piano, though it was never published or catalogued as such. Two years later, Barber changed the title in his own records to Canzone for Manfred.

While composing Canzone for Manfred, Barber was commissioned by his publishing company, G. Schirmer, Inc., to compose a piano concerto to celebrate the company’s upcoming 100 year anniversary. Using Canzone as the basis for the second movement of the piano concerto, Barber completed the three-movement work two weeks before its premiere in 1962 and chose to retain the flute as the main protagonist in the movement. In 1963 Barber received a Pulitzer Prize in music for his Piano Concerto and one year later received the Music Critics Circle Award.

Canzone, (from Piano Concerto, 2nd Movement) is a portrait of bittersweet nostalgia. The flute narrative maintains its original elegiac sentiment and transitions through episodes of malaise and uncertainty, concluding in a peaceful resolution.

- CD Notes, Susan Hoeppner's American Flute Masterpieces