The Saddest Music Ever Written

An exploration of the cultural impact of Samuel Barber’s  Adagio for Strings , the Pieta of music, and its enigmatic composer. "Whenever the American dream suffers a catastrophic setback, Barber’s Adagio plays on the radio.” —Alex Ross, author of  The Rest is Noise In the first book ever to explore Samuel Barber’s  Adagio for Strings , music and literary critic Thomas Larson tells the story of the prodigal composer and his seminal masterpiece: from its composition in 193