Editing Samuel Barber (section)

===Mid career (1942–1966)===
In 1942, after the US entered World War II, Barber joined the [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] where he remained in service through 1945. Barber's first work after his military induction was the "Commando March" (1943), which was his only work for a [[concert band]]. It was premièred by the Army Air Forces Technical Training Command Band in Atlantic City on May 23, 1943. Sergei Koussevitzky commissioned an orchestral version for performance by the Boston Symphony that same year.<ref>[https://www.marineband.marines.mil/Portals/175/Docs/Programs/150715.pdf United States Marine Band Program Notes], Wednesday, July 15, 2015</ref>

While in the [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] Barber was commissioned to write several works for the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] (BSO), including his ''[[Cello Concerto (Barber)|Cello Concerto]]'' for [[Raya Garbousova]] and his ''Second Symphony'', a work he later suppressed.{{sfn|Heyman|2001}}<ref name="second"/> Composed in 1943, the symphony was originally titled ''Symphony Dedicated to the Air Forces'' and was premiered in early 1944 by [[Serge Koussevitzky]] and the BSO. Barber revised the symphony in 1947 and it was subsequently published by G. Schirmer in 1950<ref>Samuel Barber, ''Second Symphony'', op. 19, G. Schirmer's Edition of Study Scores of Orchestral Works & Chamber Music, no. 55 (New York: G. Schirmer, 1950; reprinted 1990).</ref> and recorded the following year by the New Symphony Orchestra of London, conducted by Barber himself.<ref name="second">''Samuel Barber: Symphony no. 2, op. 19'', LP recording, 10-inch, London LPS 334 (New York and London: London Records, 1951); reissued as ''Samuel Barber: Symphony no. 2, op. 19; Medea Ballet Suite, op. 23'', LP recording, 12-inch, London LL 1328 (London: London Records, 1956); reissued in this same pairing on 12-inch LP recording, Everest SDBR 3282 (Los Angeles: Everest Records, 1970); reissued as ''Samuel Barber: Symphony no. 2, op. 19; Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, op. 22; Media, op. 23: Orchestral Suite from the Music to the Ballet Cave of the Heart'', with Zara Nelsova (cello), CD recording, Pearl GEM 1051 (Wadhurst, E. Sussex, England: Pearl, 2001).</ref> According to some sources, Barber destroyed the score in 1964.{{sfn|Schenck|1988}} [[Hans Heinsheimer]] was an eyewitness, and reported that he accompanied Barber to the publisher's office where they collected all the music from the library, and Barber "tore up all these beautifully and expensively copied materials with his own hands".{{sfn|Heinsheimer|1968}} Doubt has been cast on this story, however, on grounds that Heinsheimer, as an executive at G. Schirmer, would have been unlikely to have allowed Barber into the Schirmer offices to watch him rip apart the music that his company had invested money in publishing.{{sfn|Wright|2010|p=95}} The score was later reconstructed from the instrumental parts,<ref>Vox Records liner notes{{Full citation needed|date=December 2010|reason=Presumably this means the NZSO recording; album title, catalog number, etc. is needed.}}</ref> and released in a Vox Box "Stradivari Classics" recording by the [[New Zealand Symphony Orchestra]] conducted by Andrew Schenck in 1988.<ref name=catalogue>{{Cite book|title=Samuel Barber: A Thematic Catalogue of The Complete Works|last=Heyman|first=Barbara B.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=9780199744640|location=New York|page=513}}</ref>

In 1943, Barber and Menotti purchased 'Capricorn', a house north of Manhattan in suburban [[Mount Kisco, New York]]. The home served as their artistic retreat up until 1972, and it was at this house that Barber had his most productive years as a composer during the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s.<ref name=Smith2002/>{{sfn|Heyman|2001}} Here he wrote ballet suite ''[[Medea (ballet)|Medea]]'' (1946) for [[Martha Graham]] and the symphonic work ''[[Knoxville: Summer of 1915]]'' for soprano and orchestra for opera singer [[Eleanor Steber]] who premiered the work with the BSO in 1948. In 1946 he was selected by the [[United States Department of State]] to be a member of the American delegation to the first [[Prague Spring International Music Festival]] where his music was showcased alongside other prominent American composers such as [[Leonard Bernstein]].{{sfn|Heyman|2001}} In 1949 he achieved a major critical success with his ''[[Piano Sonata (Barber)|Piano Sonata]]'' which was premiered by [[Vladimir Horowitz]] and commissioned by [[Irving Berlin]] and [[Richard Rodgers]] to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the [[League of Composers]]. Popularized in concerts internationally by Horowitz and other prominent pianists, the work earned an enduring place in the performance canon.{{sfn|Heyman|2001}}

In the 1950s Barber was engaged to conduct his own works with several symphony orchestras internationally for performances and recordings, including the BSO, the [[Berlin Philharmonic]] and the [[Frankfurt Radio Symphony]].{{sfn|Heyman|2001}} To prepare for recordings of his ''Second Symphony'', ''Cello Concerto'' and the ''Medea'' ballet suite, he studied conducting with [[Nikolai Malko]] in 1951.{{sfn|Heyman|2001}} In 1952 he was elected vice president of the [[International Music Council]].{{sfn|Heyman|2001}} In 1953 Barber was introduced to soprano [[Leontyne Price]] by her voice teacher [[Florence Kimball]], who was a friend of Barber, when he approached Kimball about needing a singer to perform his [[song cycle]] ''[[Hermit Songs]]''.<ref name=catalogue />{{rp|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=n3mnkIHn60kC&dq=Florence+Kimball+Samuel+Barber&pg=PA324 439]}} Impressed with her voice, Barber engaged her to premiere the work at the [[Library of Congress]] with Barber accompanying on the piano.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Allen | first=William Duncan | title=Musings of a Music Columnist| journal=The Black Perspective in Music | volume=1 | issue=2 | pages=107–114 | date=Autumn 1973 | doi=10.2307/1214445 | jstor=1214445}}</ref> Price also sang for the premiere of Barber's cantata ''[[Prayers of Kierkegaard]]'' with the BSO in 1954, and would become closely associated with performances of his music over the next two decades.<ref>Giordano, Diego. "Samuel Barber: Kierkegaard, From a Musical Point of View". In ''Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources'' (Series), Jon Stewart (ed.), Vol. 12, ''Kierkegaard's Influence on Literature, Criticism, and Art'', Tome IV, ''The Anglophone World''</ref>

In 1958 Barber won the [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] for his first opera ''[[Vanessa (opera)|Vanessa]]'' which premiered at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in January 1958 with a cast that included opera stars [[Eleanor Steber]], [[Rosalind Elias]], [[Regina Resnik]], [[Nicolai Gedda]], and [[Giorgio Tozzi]]. The Met took the production to the Salzburg Festival later that year, becoming the first American opera to be performed at that festival.{{sfn|Heyman|2001}} Menotti wrote the libretto for both ''Vanessa'', and Barber's second opera ''[[A Hand of Bridge]]''. This latter work premiered at the [[Festival dei Due Mondi]] in Spoleto, Italy in 1959 with a cast that included [[Patricia Neway]] and [[William Lewis (tenor)|William Lewis]].{{sfn|Heyman|2001}}

In 1962 Barber became the first American composer to attend the biennial [[Union of Soviet Composers|Congress of Soviet Composers]] in Moscow.{{sfn|Heyman|2001}} That same year he won the Pulitzer Prize a second time for his ''[[Piano Concerto (Barber)|Piano Concerto]]'' which was one of three works by him commissioned for the opening of [[Lincoln Center]] and was performed at the opening of [[David Geffen Hall|Philharmonic Hall]] with pianist [[John Browning (pianist)|John Browning]] in September 1962.{{sfn|Heyman|2001}} The second work performed for the opening of Lincoln Center was his ''Andromache's Farewell'', a piece for soprano and orchestra, which was premiered by the [[New York Philharmonic]] and soprano [[Martina Arroyo]] with [[Thomas Schippers]] conducting in April 1963.{{sfn|Heyman|2001}} The final composition composed for Lincoln center was his third and final opera, ''[[Antony and Cleopatra (1966 opera)|Antony and Cleopatra]]'', which premiered at the opening of the new [[Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center)|Metropolitan Opera House]] in 1966 with Leontyne Price and [[Justino Diaz]] in the title roles. Barber worked on the opera in Greece and was visited by writer [[William Goyen]]'s former lover, American artist [[Joseph Glasco]] and his collector-friend [[Stanley J. Seeger|Stanley Seeger]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raeburn |first=Michael |title=Joseph Glasco: The Fifteenth American |publisher=Cacklegoose Press |year=2015 |isbn=9781611688542 |edition=1st |location=London |pages=199 |language=English}}</ref> This visit may have proved to be a distraction and the work was poorly received by critics, although Barber himself believed it contained some of his best work, and he spent the decade following its premiere revising the opera.{{sfn|Heyman|2001}}