Symphony No. 1 (Corigliano)
Encyclopedia
John Corigliano
John Corigliano
John Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...

's Symphony No. 1 for Orchestra was written between 1988 and 1989 during the composer’s tenure as the Composer-In-Residence
Artist in residence
Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities allow visiting artists to stay and work so that they may apply singular focus to their art practice....

 at the Chicago Symphony. The symphony’s first performance was by the Chicago Symphony conducted by Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....

 on March 15, 1990.

Instrumentation

The symphony is scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, 3 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets in Bb, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 6 horns in F, 5 trumpets in C, 4 trombones (2 tenor, 2 bass), 2 tubas, timpani, percussion (glockenspiel, crotales, vibraphone, xylophone, marimba, chimes (2 sets), snare drum, 3 tom-toms, 3 roto-toms, field drum, tenor drum, 2 bass drums, suspended cymbal, tamtam, finger cymbals, 3 temple blocks, tambourine, anvil, metal plate with hammer, brake drum, triangle, flexatone, police whistle, whip, ratchet), harp, piano, and strings.

Form

"Apologue: Of Rage and Remembrance" is the first of the four movements in Symphony No. 1 and written in a loose A-B-A form that "alternates between the tension of anger and the bittersweet nostalgia of remembering".

The movement opens with "the nasal open A of the violins and violas" and explores the different timbres of that note by being played on different strings while varying the speed of vibrato as the note "grows in intensity and volume until it is answered by a burst of percussion". This then ushers in the entrance of the orchestra in cacophonous overlapping passages of various woodwind and brass instruments. The piece intensifies with increasing dynamic and tempo to a climax, from which the violins take over in the very upper range of the their register, thus beginning the B section.

As the violins descend, in a calmer and more peaceful mood, an offstage piano enters with Leopold Godowsky
Leopold Godowsky
Leopold Godowsky was a famed Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher. One of the most highly regarded performers of his time, he became known for his theories concerning the application of relaxed weight and economy of motion in piano playing, principles later propagated by Godowsky's...

.'s transcription of Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...

's Tango - a tribute to the concert pianist, a friend of Corigliano, to whom this symphony is dedicated. The lyrical melody, first played by solo woodwind instruments and then by strings, carries a much more nostalgic mood. The “chattering brass motives” from the A section begin to reappear for increasing lengths of time until it takes over, thus bringing the end of this section.

The dissonant motives accumulate with increasing speed until the orchestra reaches a standstill with loud, repeating dissonant chords played by the entire ensemble, pulsating for long stretches of time. These pulses eventually diminuendo with a lower frequency to a piano. A recapitulation of the motives from the beginning of the piece reach a final climax to conclude the movement, as the strings linger on a high A.

Composition

Prior to this work, Corigliano had “long resisted the notion of a contemporary symphony ... for what he felt was its egotistical elevation of the composer’s need to express himself over the needs of the performer or audiences”. However, the loss of numerous friends due to the emerging AIDS pandemic
AIDS pandemic
The acquired immune deficiency syndrome pandemic is a widespread disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus .Since AIDS was first recognized in 1981, it has led to the deaths of more than 25 million people, making it one of the most destructive diseases in recorded history.Despite recent...

 brought Corigliano to use the symphonic form not as a means of personal expression but to commemorate “‘my friends - those I had lost and the one I was losing’”.

Inspired in part by the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, often abbreviated to AIDS Memorial Quilt, is an enormous quilt made as a memorial to and celebration of the lives of people who have died of AIDS-related causes...

, the symphony seeks to memorialize friends and colleagues in Corigliano’s life. The first three movements are dedicated to three individuals: a pianist, a music executive, and a cellist. The finale depicts the piano solo, the tarantella melody, and the cello solo from the first three movements against a backdrop of “a repeated pattern consisting of waves of brass chords ... [to convey] an image of timelessness”.

Reception

Perhaps due to the subject matter or to its very present emotive quality, the symphony has been well received by the public and by critics. Many orchestras have performed this symphony since its premiere, and it has also been choreographed by the Milwaukee Ballet.

The symphony has received numerous awards, including the Grawemeyer Award
Grawemeyer Award
The Grawemeyer Awards are five awards given annually by the University of Louisville in the state of Kentucky, United States. The prizes are presented to individuals in the fields of education, ideas improving world order, music composition, religion, and psychology...

 for Composition in 1990, the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

s for Best Orchestral Performance and for Best New Composition in 1991, and the Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album in 1996.

Notable recordings

  • Daniel Barenboim
    Daniel Barenboim
    Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....

     conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
    Chicago Symphony Orchestra
    The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...

  • Leonard Slatkin
    Leonard Slatkin
    Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...

     conducting the National Symphony Orchestra (United States)
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