While the stay in Rome does not prove personally exhilarating as Barber finds the atmosphere at the Academy particularly elitist and stifling, he composes some of his major works there. Before long, Barber is awarded a Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship and the American Prix de Rome, that gives him the opportunity to move to Italy and spend two years at the American Academy of Rome. (New York) offers him his first contract. However, on three occasions his music is rewarded publicly : a radio show is dedicated to his compositions, his symphonic poem after Shelley is a tremendous success at Carnegie Hall, and the prestigious classical music publishing company G. By the spring of 1935, Barber believes he still has not written a piece worth the trust the maestro has shown him. After several meetings, Toscanini informs Barber that he would be interested in performing one of his works, one day. They also visit Arturo Toscanini who is on vacation near Lake Maggiore. They visit Menotti's family in Italy and spend a few weeks studying at Scalero's house in the Aosta Valley. In the summer, they travel together to France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. While at the Institute, Samuel meets Gian Carlo Menotti, a young Italian who speaks in halting English, and becomes his friend and alter ego. Dover Beach, for baritone voice and string quartet, the Cello Sonata and The Music for a Scene from Shelley make him one of the most talented students in his class. Barber has his first success with the Overture "The School for Scandal", which wins him his first prize, while another prize for his Violin Sonata (the work has been lost since) allows him to pay for his first trip to Europe. His talent develops quickly and lives up to expectations.
Barber's teachers are as renowned as the composer Rosario Scalero, the singer Emilio de Gogorza, the pianist Isabelle Vengerova and the conductor Fritz Reiner. His intellectual and artistic training at the Curtis Institute will last ten years under the watchful eye of its founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok. Three years later, following an audition, the director of the Baltimore Musical College insists the Barbers send their son to study at the newly established Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Mentored by Sidney Homer, Samuel studies music and plays the organ at a local church. He only composes the first act, but the boy’s determination removes any doubt from his parents’ mind about their son’s musical talent. At nine, Samuel writes a letter to his mother, ending with those words: ‘I was meant to be a composer, and will be I’m sure.’ Driven by his ambition, he begins to write an opera, The Rose Tree, based on a libretto written by… the family cook. His aunt Louise Homer, a prominent contralto of the New York Metropolitan Opera, together with his uncle Sidney Homer, a famous composer of art songs, become his musical mentors. His family and friends cultivate the young boy’s blooming talent. At six, he writes his first miniatures for piano and songs. Before long, his musical talent transpired. Very early in life, Samuel took piano lessons from his mother and his first teacher, William Hatton Green. He grew up in a middle-class family with his father, a doctor and respected member of the Episcopalian community, his mother, an amateur piano player of Irish descent, and his sister Sara, three years younger. Samuel Barber was born March 9th, 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
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