Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year that he wrote the quartet. It was performed for the first time on November 5, 1938, by Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a radio broadcast from NBC Studio 8H. Toscanini also played the piece on his South American tour with the NBC Symphony in 1940.

Date of composition 1931
Premiered 1938 in New York, NY, United States
Type Adagio
Catalogue Op. 5
Instruments String Orchestra
Autotranslations beta Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 5
Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 5
Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 5