Samuel Barber: composing in, football out

"Dear Mother: I have written to tell you my worrying secret. Now don’t
cry when you read it because it is neither yours nor my fault. I
suppose I will have to tell it now, without any nonsense. To begin with
I was not meant to be an athlete. I was meant to be a composer, and
will be I’m sure. I’ll ask you one more thing .—Don’t ask me to try to
forget this unpleasant thing and go play football.—Please—Sometimes
I’ve been worrying about this so much that it makes me mad (not very)."
-Samuel Barber, at age 9

The Emerson String Quartet will perform Samuel Barber's Adagio for String Quartet, Opus 11, and selections by Ives, Janacek and Shostakovich on Friday, December 4 at Jordan Hall. The performance will not be followed by a game of touch football (as far as we know), but you are welcome to organize one.