Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24, is a 1947 work for voice and orchestra by Samuel Barber. The text is taken from a 1938 short prose piece by James Agee. The work was commissioned by soprano Eleanor Steber, who premiered it in 1948, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitzky.
Although the piece is traditionally sung by a soprano, it may also be sung by tenor; Anthony Rolfe Johnson's interpretation has become popular in recent years.
Read more about Knoxville: Summer Of 1915: Genesis, Description, Structure, Barber's Text, Premiere, Discography
Famous quotes containing the word summer:
“Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car,
And driven the hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
Hast thou not torn the naiad from her flood,
The elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)