Third Essay

The Third Essay, Op. 47, is a short orchestral work composed by Samuel Barber in 1978. The score is dedicated to Audrey Sheldon.
History.
Barber's "Third Essay" was the eventual product of a suggestion made in the spring of 1976 by Eugene Ormandy, who had been approached by an anonymous patron offering a commission of $75,000 from the Merlin Foundation for a large-scale work to be premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as to support recordings of works of Barber’s choice. The mysterious benefactor eventually was revealed to be Audrey Sheldon Poon, an American socialite, daughter of Huntington D. Sheldon and Magda Merck, the youngest daughter of George Merck, founder of the pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co. Although a contract was signed, a series of misunderstandings between the parties involved resulted in protracted and ultimately fruitless negotiations with the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, who could not accept some of the conditions tied to the contribution. While it is not certain whether it was Barber or his patroness who terminated the arrangement, the Merlin Foundation's check was returned. By this time divorced from Mr. Poon and using her maiden name, Audrey Sheldon renewed the commission for an orchestral work, this time intended for the New York Philharmonic, presenting Barber with $60,000.
In March 1978, the announcement for the opening concert of the next season of the New York Philharmonic gives the title of Barber's new work as "The Ambiguities (after Melville)". A little more than a month later, on April 21, 1978, Audrey Sheldon died of a drug overdose, which was ruled a suicide. Barber composed the "Essay" in Italy during the following summer, completing the score in the third week of August, less than a month before it was premiered on September 14, 1978, in Avery Fisher Hall, by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta in his debut as music director. After hearing the work performed, Barber was dissatisfied with what he felt was a too-abrupt ending, which he extended somewhat in revision. The score, which was published only in 1991, a decade after the composer's death, bears a dedication to Audrey Sheldon.
Instrumentation.
The "Third Essay" is scored for a large orchestra consisting of piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, E clarinet, two clarinets in B, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, euphonium, three trombones, tuba, two harps, piano, two timpanists (each with four drums), an exceptionally large percussion section (small and large tam-tams, bass drum, sheet metal, marimba, xylophone, cymbal, high and low snare drums, wood block, bells, antique cymbal, bongos), and strings.
Analysis.
According to the composer, this essay is absolutely abstract, and more essentially dramatic and less lyric in character than the first two essays, although the central section includes several lyric themes. The introductory twenty-seven bars are for just the percussion with piano and harps, and the thematic nature of the first section is dictated by the percussion. The introductory material serves as a point of reference that holds together the various themes that follow, with the paramount objective of creating unity.
References.
Footnotes