Outsider music: classics of American classical music (57) - Samuel Barber - Adagio For Strings (1936) Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings Probably the most famous American composition of the 20th century, it has become almost a curse for its composer. For 99% of the population, Barber is "the one who wrote the Adagio." A somewhat reactionary composer, but talented, Barber spent the twentieth century shaping a sort of (neo)romanticism that was out of time, and in this field, he was probably the best across the ocean. There is so much more beyond the renowned Adagio.