Composer of the Week - Samuel Barber (1910-1981) - Episode 5

When Barber got the call from the New York Met asking him to provide the first opera in its new theatre Barber realised it was potentially the defining moment of his career. Sadly it turned out to be one of the great disasters of operatic history. Donald Macleod assesses the effect all of this had on the composer, and charts his final years troubled by alcoholism and creative blocks.