Agnus Dei (Barber) Agnus Dei (Barber) Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is a choral composition in one movement by Samuel Barber, his own arrangement of his "Adagio for Strings" (1936). In 1967, he set the Latin words of the liturgical Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, for mixed chorus with optional organ or piano accompaniment. The music, in B-flat minor, has a duration of about eight minutes. Barber's "Adagio for Strings" began as the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11, composed in 1936. At the request of Arturo Toscanini, he arranged it for string orchestra, and in January 1938 sent
Requiem for a Tribe Brother reprise of the "Hosannas" from the previous movement. In common with the second movement, the "Agnus Dei" is a slow chorale, featuring a highly pungent harmonic language and many unusual shifts of key. This movement features two soprano soli which float above the rest of the choir throughout. A fast and fiery dance primarily for tenors, built on an ostinato figure in the basses. Towards the end of the movement, there is a brief reprise of material from the opening "Requiem aeternam". The serene concluding movement, in C major, derives its melody from the opening of the "Song of Hope"