Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) by Samuel Barber.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

[hlthe2b]

1. aka: Adagio For Strings, Op. 11

Beautiful... Always makes me cry by the second bar...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. Yep. It was originally a movement for String Quartet, Opus 11.

I have played a string orchestra arrangement in high school orchestra.

[sarge43]

3. A music critic wrote that it described

a tragedy endured, then overcame.

[joesdaughter]

4. Thanks for posting

...grant us peace.

[ReRe]

5. Have you ever noticed....

.... that any piece of music that is written with so many flats goes to the top of the charts, no matter what century it was composed in? It's those haunting black keys. Thanks for posting this tragically beautiful music...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

8. Yes. It's also in a minor key.

There are 12 major keys and 12 minor keys since there are 12 notes in the scale.

The original string orchestra version is in six flats (G flat major or E minor).
This choral version is in five flats. (D flat major or B flat minor).

In the 19th century, before equal tuning of pianos, certain keys were said to represent certain emotions.

Here's a page with various examples:
http://www.biteyourownelbow.com/keychar.htm

[2naSalit]

6. Thank you for posting

this arrangement. The first time I ever heard this was the day Pres. Kennedy was killed, and it has become almost obligatory after each national tragedy. I was a classical vocal performance participant for over a decade and always wished to do this piece but didn't know there was such an arrangement. And to have the written form of the arrangement is just... thank you.

As for the purpose of your posting it, I am very saddened as this latest tragedy was in the city I was born in and grew up in and around, still terribly upset today.

[SwissTony]

7. Adagio for strings, played a few days after 9/11

[yoyossarian]

9. So lovely... so beautiful... so sad... thanx SO MUCH for sharing!

And btw, he was gay, you know... 2X Pulitzer Prize winner for music, he eventually suffered from depression and alcoholism after his later works met with adverse criticism... he died of cancer at age 71.

*Many do not know that Barber himself arranged his Adagio for Strings for vocal choir (1967) under the title “Agnus Dei” (text from the Latin Mass: Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us; grant us peace). This composition, in both instrumental and vocal forms, is often performed during state funerals (Franklin Roosevelt, Princess Grace of Monaco, Albert Einstein, etc.). Many first heard it when used in the soundtrack for the film “Platoon.”

He shared a house with his lover Menotti for over 40 years. Of course, they couldn't get married, just like today. But they named their house Capricorn, which I think is kinda neat.

I wonder if the depression and the alcoholism had anything to do with society's mad intolerance for human diversity?

This is the sort of person the Catholic Church has no tolerance for. The man who wrote the holiest music I've ever heard.