Adagio for Strings Adagio for Strings Adagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arguably his best known, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year that he wrote the quartet. It was performed for the first time on November 5, 1938, by Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a radio broadcast from NBC Studio 8H. Toscanini also played the piece on his South American tour with the NBC Symphony in 1940. Its reception was generally positive, with Alexander J. Morin writing that "Adagio for
Serenade for Strings (Dvořák) Serenade for Strings (Dvořák) Antonín Dvořák's Serenade for Strings in E major (), Op. 22, was composed in just two weeks in May 1875. It remains one of the composer's more popular orchestral works to this day. 1875 was a fruitful year for Dvořák, during which he wrote his Symphony No. 5, String Quintet No. 2, Piano Trio No. 1, the opera "Vanda", and the "Moravian Duets". These were happy times in his life. His marriage was young, and his first son had been born. For the first time in his life, he was being recognized as a composer and