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American composer renowned for his emotionally expressive neoromantic style, celebrated for works like Adagio for Strings. Barber entered the Curtis Institute at age 14. His Adagio for Strings became one of the most performed 20th-century orchestral works. He won two Pulitzer Prizes for Music (for Vanessa and Piano Concerto) and maintained a lifelong partnership with composer Gian Carlo Menotti.

• His Adagio for Strings was played on national radio following Franklin D. Roosevelt's death and became synonymous with public mourning.
• Barber battled severe depression and alcoholism later in life, worsened by the harsh criticism of his opera Antony and Cleopatra (1966), which nearly ended his career.
• He lived for over 40 years with composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who wrote librettos for Barber's operas Vanessa and A Hand of Bridge. They separated in 1973.
• Barber died of cancer at 71, having composed little in his final decade due to declining health and creative struggles.