Title Page | Collection Summary | Biographical/Organizational Note | Scope and Content | Arrangement
Biographical Note
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1910 Mar. 9 | Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania |
| 1917 | Began composing |
| 1919 | Began studying piano with William Hatton Green |
| 1924 | Began studying piano, composition, and voice at the Curtis Institute |
| 1926 | Graduated from West Chester High School |
| 1928 | Met partner Gian Carlo Menotti while attending the Curtis Institute Won the Joseph H. Bearns award for Sonata for Violin and Piano |
| 1931 | Won a second Bearns award for the overture to School for Scandal |
| 1934 | Graduated from the Curtis Institute |
| 1935 | Made national solo singing debut on NBC Music Guild radio series Awarded first Pulitzer traveling scholarship |
| 1936 | Awarded second Pulitzer traveling scholarship |
| 1938 Nov. 5 | Radio broadcast performance of Essay for Orchestra No. 1 and Adagio for Strings by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini |
| 1939-1942 | Taught composition at the Curtis Institute |
| 1941 Feb. 7 | Public premiere of the Violin Concerto by violinist Arthur Spalding and the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy |
| 1942-1945 | Served in the United States Army Air Force |
| 1943 | Barber and Menotti purchased "Capricorn," their home in Mount Kisco, New York |
| 1946 Apr. 5 | Cello Concerto premiered by cellist Raya Garbousova and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky |
| 1946 May 10 | Premiere of Martha Graham's ballet Cave of the Heart, choreographed to music from Medea |
| 1948 Apr. 9 | Knoxville: Summer of 1915 premiered by soprano Eleanor Steber and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky |
| 1950 Jan. 11 | Sonata for Piano, commissioned by Richard Rogers and Irving Berlin for the League of Composers, is premiered by Vladimir Horowitz |
| 1953 Oct. 30 | Hermit Songs, commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, is premiered at the Library of Congress by soprano Leontyne Price with Barber at the piano |
| 1958 | Vanessa, premiered at the Metropolitan Opera, is awarded the Pulitzer Prize |
| 1962 Mar. | Attended the Congress of Soviet Composers in Moscow |
| 1963 | Piano Concerto No. 1 awarded the Pulitzer Prize |
| 1966 Sept. 16 | Antony and Cleopatra premiered at the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House |
| 1971 Sept. 22 | The Lovers premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy |
| 1973 | Capricorn sold |
| 1981 Jan. 23 | Died in New York City |