The American Academy

Abstract

Barber continued to receive numerous recognitions and awards for his work. In 1935, he was given the Prix de Rome, for being the most talented and promising music student at the time. With the award, he was granted two years of study at the American Academy in Rome, with full lodging and a regular stipend. In this new environment, Barber continued to flourish, winning a Pulitzer traveling scholarship, which provided him with an extended stay at the American Academy, where his fSymphony in One Movement was composed. His uncle, Sidney Homer, proudly observed Barber’s triumphs as he read stories in the local newspaper about his music being performed in America. Uncle and nephew continued to communicate regularly through letters, exchanging queries, comments, and criticisms about Barber’s new compositions. Correspondence between Mary Bok and Barber flourished. Barber wrote many songs on emotionally charged poems, which seem biographically pointed. During the summer, he and Menotti lived in a game warden’s cottage in St. Wolfgang, Austria; there he began work on the String Quartet in B minor, the second movement of which later became the famous Adagio for Strings. Both the symphony and the String Quartet were premiered at the American Academy.