Prelude to War

This chapter reveals the most accurate account of Barber’s first major commission, the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. It was commissioned in 1939 by Samuel Fels of Fels-Naptha soap for his ward Iso Briselli, a young violinist prodigy. Barber’s work on the concerto in Switzerland was interrupted by the impending Nazi invasion in Poland and, on arriving home, the illness of his father. As the work could not be completed in time for Briselli’s debut, it was premiered instead by Albert Spalding and the Philadelphia Orchestra and received a generous response, newspapers reporting it to be an “exceptional popular success.” The chapter also features four songs on texts by Gerard Manley Hopkins, James Agee, W. B. Yeats, and Frederic Prokosch, a friend of Barber’s. It mentions the piano trio he wrote for the wedding of Barber’s sister Sara and his nomination to the National Institute of Arts and Letters as its youngest member.