And talking about children, I would like to share with you a note that Samuel Barber wrote to his mother You might know it already because it has been widely spread but I hope that, if it's the case, you'll like to read it again. This emotional depth became eventually one of the main features in the composer's music Remember, for instance, The Crucifixion, a kind of mirror of A Slumber Song of the Madonna, composed almost thirty years later, where we feel the love and fear of the mother in a very different context.īut now, it is time for hope and light so we’ll remain with the child in his cradle. Talking about the lullaby by Samuel Barber, what amazes me the most is how it conveys both love and, above all, a mother’s fear. 26 spannende Spiel-Impulse mit Alltagsmaterialien regen Kinder zum Bauen und Konstruieren an. Those works written by very young composers are fairly common and we've already listened to some of them, starting with the impressive Gretchen am Spinnrade that Schubert composed at seventeen however, the maturity of those pieces always amazes me. Barber, a compulsive poetry reader throughout all his life, chose the first of these poems to compose his very first song at least, his oldest of those published. Well, this poem, The Highwayman, was published in 1907 in Forty Singing Seamen and Other Poems, which includes a group of seven poems called Slumber Songs of the Madonna.

However, for those who don't know him (actually, I didn’t so I had to do some research) let me tell you that he's the author of one of the most famous poems in English literature, The Highwayman at least that rings a bell as there are many versions and interpretations of it, including a film. This English poet is well known for many of you. Welcome to the official website for film and TV composer and music producer Michael Tremante.

So far we've listened to Brahm's Geistliches Wiegenlied, Britten's That jongë Child and Balulalow and Strauss's Weihnachtslied today, we add a song by Barber to our list, A Slumber Song of the Madonna.Ī Slumber Song of the Madonna is the first of Ten Early Songs, written between 19 Samuel Barber wrote it when he was only fourteen, from a poem by Afred Noyes. To begin with, we have one of the most usual Christmas musical images, a lullaby after all, we celebrate a child's birth. In this year’s calendar, three weeks to go until Three Kings' Day and, as always, my three respective posts will be related to these dates.

Michael fink composer