John Corigliano

Music Research Paper
Music after 1900

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Artwork by Remedios Varo

Twentieth century music has been under lots of changes since its starting point. Inventions of electronic devices, using dissonance and silence, and creating new instruments have had a big impact on modern and postmodern music. In this essay, I will analyze two of the twentieth century musical pieces and highlight what I like or dislike about them.

One of the most successful composers of past century is John Corigliano. Even though many composers were making atonal dissonant music at his time, he was composing new modern or new tonal music. Some referred to his music as neo-romantic. The Cloister is one of his famous works that was composed in 1965. This opera piece has four
parts, which are relatively short in length. The texture is polyphonic and quite consistent in his music.
Although Corigliano tends to create beautiful tonal music, he utilizes many postmodern musical characteristics used in music after 1900 such as dissonant melody and harmony. One of these features that create an unusual but pleasing effect is his method in incorporating fragment variation in harmonizing his piece. By this method, he harmonizes the same phrase in a lower pitch and different key simultaneously with the melody. Despite of its dissonant harmonic sound, one can recognize the appealing motive behind its multilayered textured which repeats in this piece. Another noticeable aspect of Corigliano music is the leaps of thirds that adds another postmodern tonality gesture to its overall outcome. Moreover, the melodic phrase of each section repeats. He has composed it in peculiar yet remarkable way using large leaps followed by small steps. This combination creates an interesting melody dynamics as well as unresolved dissonant forms that help making an anxious mood. Moreover, Corigliano uses suspended chords to create a sad and touching atmosphere. He also uses unresolved cadences to add more sensitivity to this unhappy mood. In the beginning, the piece starts at a slow rhythm but its pace increases in second
part where its texture is more condense. Although there are many dissonant notes in the second and third parts of this piece, Corigliano resolves them at the ends of each part very delicately. Another attention-grabbing factor is the flow of his music. After a soft opening in the first part, he builds up layers and increases the tempo in second part. In the third part, the piece reaches its climax and slows down in the last part.
Even though he does not use baroque style tonality, he ends up the third part with a perfect cadence. It is remarkable that how he tries to keep the balance between the dissonance and consonance in his piece. In addition, Corigliano is quite successful in changing the atmosphere by sudden shifts in pace and rhythm of the piece. These sudden shifts create a breathtaking moments which keep the audience alert and connected. This effect is most obvious in the second and third parts of this piece. Although Corigliano uses quite similar melodic phrase in the last part, He uses more consonance to decrease the tension in the piece. Despite of the calmness of last part, the piece ends unresolved. One of the appealing characteristics of this piece is the composer’s choice on quantity and quality of timbre. Combination of the piano with a male vocal with a low register definitely creates the touching effect, which is needed in this piece. There are many delicate yet effective variations in this piece, which makes it more interesting. An example is when the piece seems to be modulated but falls back to it previous key very quick.
Another example is the series of half steps that may sound very dissonant in general but they completely fit the texture in this piece. The Cloisters is one of the best examples of music that are made as beautiful as baroque and renaissance and as diverse as contemporary music. It includes lots of successful methods used in both old and contemporary music. Considering of the creative and innovative elements in form, harmony, texture, rhythm and melody, Corigliano has done a great job in composing this piece.

Morton Subotnick is another contemporary composer who is famous for his specific use of electronics. He has a completely different approach in creating his pieces. Varied range of timbers and durations play important roles in the dynamic and the texture in many of his works. He uses synthesizers and electronic effect to create a different environment in his works. A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur is one of his known works that has two parts, Opening and Dance. The piece is heavily constructed by many repeating staccato sixteenth or faster notes. Due to the nature of early electronic timbre, it is quite difficult to recognize some of their pitches. Furthermore, Subotnick’s piece lacks consistency in texture and rhythm. The composer does not follow any particular form, shape or rule which confuses the audience who expect some idea implying in the piece. Even though it may not be the case, the overall sound seems very haphazard, random and scattered. Not even it is confusing for the listeners, there are so many repetitions in this piece. These repetitions may be interesting for a short period of time but they become dull after a while especially if it a very long piece. Considering the basics in music, a piece should have clear pitched notes by which one realizes its flow. There are many musical ideas that incorporate noises or percussion instruments but this piece does not go under any of those categories, which also creates more confusion. There are no harmony of any kind therefore it can be categorized as a combinations of dissonant noise like notes.
A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur could be more functional if the composer had considered a melodic shape in his piece. Using different equipments to create music may be original and creative but it does not necessarily the only feature to reach a successful outcome. When there is no obvious flow in music, there are no obvious cadence, melodic phrase and structured variations. Subotnick has used a frequency range in which it is quite difficult to analyze the steps and leaps. There are lots of dotted tube like sounds in his piece that are separated by silences and do not seems to be connected. Subotnick style of music may be more purposeful if it is used mostly as accompaniment of a tonal or atonal piece. In addition, there may be more interesting result if his piece follows a more distinct direction, melody and rhythm. Even though Subotnick piece is quite original, many elements and rules are not followed. Overall, A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur lacks features such as continuity, functional structure, distinctive melodic phrases and rhythmic pattern.