Webs of Meaning in John Corigliano’s Tarantellas

The final movement of John Corigliano’s Gazebo Dances (1972)—a light-hearted suite for two pianos—and the second movement of his Symphony No. 1 (1988)—dedicated to friends lost to AIDS—use the same tarantella refrain as their main thematic material, revealing opposing associations possible with tarantellas. Corigliano’s earlier work exemplifies the witty virtuosity of what I describe as a “humorous” tarantella, while the later work forefronts associations with mental illness and death in what I describe as a “crisis” tarantella. The symphonic movement conveys a process of thematic disintegration that resonates with theories of narrative and irony.