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John Corigliano
Voyage for Flute and Strings
Overview: John Corigliano
Born: February 16, 1938, in New York City
Work Composed: 1983
Why It Matters: John Corigliano is one of the most
distinguished American composers of our time. He
is one of the few modern composers who not only
wrote exceptional film scores, but was also able to
transition to a successful career in the concert hall.
He works for flute and orchestra,
written for Sir James Galway, and
some of the best modern works
for flute.
He is a performer’s dream—every
note has a place, a direction and a
purpose, and his master of sound
color in orchestration is unparalleled.—Joshua Bell
Voyage for Flute and String Orchestra
(1983) is an instrumental reworking of a 1971
choral piece, setting Richard Wilbur’s translation
of Baudelaire’s 1857 L’Invitation au voyage,
in which Baudelaire muses about a world of
obsessive imagination—what Corigliano called “a
drugged version of heaven full of sensual imagery.”
Unmistakable is Corigliano’s musical reference to
Baudelaire’s refrain: “There, there is nothing else
but grace and measure, richness, quietness, and
pleasure.” The piece was commissioned by Sir
James Galway.
About John Corigliano: Italian-American composer
John Corigliano was born on February 16, 1938,
in New York City, to a musical family. His father
was concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic
for 23 years and his mother was an educator and
a fine pianist. He received degrees in composition
from Columbia University and the Manhattan
School of Music, and worked in various producing
jobs (including as an assistant to the producer of
Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts) until
his composition career took over when he won
Program Notes, continued
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the Spoleto Festival competition with his Sonata
for Violin and Piano (1963). Although dedicated
primarily to orchestral and chamber music, his
1980 score for Altered States is still seen as a critical
and groundbreaking film score, and he we won an
Oscar in 1999 for The Red Violin. His Symphony
No. 1 (1999) shook the orchestral world with the
first major work about the AIDS crisis, and his
Symphony No. 2 (2001) won the Pulitzer Prize
for Music. He teaches composition at Lehman
College of the City University of New York and
the Juilliard School of Music.
Johannes Brahms
Variations on a Theme
of Haydn, op. 56a
Overview: Johannes Brahms
Born: May 7, 1833, in Hamburg
Died: April 3, 1897, in Vienna
Work Composed: 1809 – 1810
Why It Matters: Beethoven was a revolutionary
inspired by the American and French revolutions
and a voice for freedom of expression throughout
much of the world. His dramatic music about
revolutionary figures occupies
a special, personal place in his
repertoire.
“Many new and remarkable
talents have made their
appearance, and a fresh
musical power seemed about to reveal itself among
the many aspiring artists of the day, even though
their compositions were known only to the few. I
thought to follow with interest the pathway of these
elect; there would, there must, after such promise,
suddenly appear one who should utter the highest
ideal expression of his time, who should claim the
Mastership by no gradual development, but burst