John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 and its derivative choral chaconne, Of Rage and Remembrance, form a supplementary pair dealing with private and public mourning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The symphony is a work of mourning, dedicated to Corigliano’s lifelong friend Sheldon Shkolnik, who died of AIDS just weeks after attending the premiere in March 1990. Mourning and remembrance are musically invoked throughout the symphony. For example, in the first movement (titled “Apologue”), Corigliano quotes Leopold Godowsky’s arrangement of Isaac Albéniz’s Tango in D, a piece frequently performed by Shkolnik. The tango is performed by an offstage piano, emphasizing Shkolnik’s absence. The third movement presents a different approach to memory and mourning by blending a cello improvisation by Giulio Sorrentino with J. S. Bach’s lamenting chorale Es ist genug (Corigliano also alludes to Alban Berg’s use of this chorale in his Violin Concerto). The third movement reaches its climax with a “quilt” of nine interwoven melodies labeled in the score with the names of nine friends of Corigliano’s who were victims of AIDS—a reference to the NAMES Project’s AIDS Quilt memorial begun in 1987. Of Rage and Remembrance, a choral chaconne setting of the third movement of the symphony, makes the mourning explicit by reciting the names of Corigliano’s deceased friends.

Works: John Corigliano: Symphony No. 1 (345-53); Of Rage and Remembrance (353-58)

Sources: Isaac Albéniz (composer), Leopold Godowsky (arranger): Tango in D Major, Op. 165, No. 2 (345-47); Giulio Sorrentino: Giulio’s Song (Improvisation) (348-53); J. S. Bach: Es ist genug from O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60 (348-50); Alban Berg: Violin Concerto (349-50); John Corigliano: Symphony No. 1 (353-58)

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet