The School for Scandal (Barber)

Overture to The School for Scandal, Op. 5, is a concert overture by Samuel Barber. It is Barber's first work for full orchestra, composed in 1931 while he was completing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.^[1] The premiere was given on August 30, 1933 by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Alexander Smallens.^[2] It lasts around 8 min.^[1]

The title refers to the comedy The School for Scandal written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan and the overture by Barber intended to reflect the spirit of the play.^[1]

The instrumentation is as follows: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, english horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, bells, celesta, harp and strings. It is characterized by orchestral brilliance and a number of shifts in tempo and dynamics.

The overture helped to establish Barber's national reputation and became in the 1950s a more regular part of the repertoire of American orchestras. It won the Joseph H. Bearns Prize of Columbia University in 1933.^[3]