CHAPTER 56
Returning with Interest: Dylan, Corigliano, and Postmodern Reworkings
OVERVIEW
Chapter 56 addresses contemporary postmodern composers and their openness to rework
previously composed music or to become inspired by the music of others to create new works.
John Corigliano serves as a case in point, noted in his musical settings of texts by Bob Dylan
titled Seven Poems of Bob Dylan, a song cycle originally scored for voice and piano in 2000.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the reworking of, elaborating on, or drawing inspiration from previously
composed music as central to a postmodern aesthetic
2. To understand Bob Dylan as one of the most influential and celebrated singer-songwriters
of the twentieth century
3. To understand John Corigliano’s postmodern approach to composing Mr. Tambourine Man
from his song cycle Seven Poems of Bob Dylan
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Moderate a class debate about the issues of musical originality, ownership, and collaboration
addressed in the chapter introduction. Ask the class to summarize the postmodern attitude
toward originality, borrowing, reworking, collaborating, and plagiarism. How are these
issues defined legally, and to what extent are these laws followed/enforced in today’s world?
Are there examples today of musicians, artists, and consumers challenging laws designed to
protect intellectual/creative property? How does a postmodern worldview contribute to the
circulation and acceptance of these challenges? Do these ideas threaten the livelihood of
artists or do they promote artistic expression and creativity?
2. Ask students to compare Dylan’s original acoustic version of Mr. Tambourine Man to the
Byrds’ folk rock version recorded in 1965. Ask students to identify what sets these versions
apart musically beyond the addition of electric instruments in the Byrds’ version. How do
the two versions approach the text and text setting differently? How does each contribute to
narrating Dylan’s poetry? Following this discussion, ask students to consider these same
issues in comparing Dylan’s version and Corigilano’s setting of the text in Seven Poems of
Bob Dylan. What does Corigliano’s setting offer that Dylan’s doesn’t?
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. The voice of Bob Dylan—much like that of his fellow singer-songwriter Tom Waits—is
one that has been noted for its harsh, presumably untrained, yet powerfully evocative
timbre. How is Bob Dylan’s voice different from what you envision as the status quo, and
how does it make you feel? Do you think his lyrics would carry the same meaning if he
sang in a more orthodox or generic fashion? Does the meaning or power of his lyrics change
when sung by a trained classical singer, as in the recording of Corigliano’s setting of Mr.
Tambourine Man?
2. Listen to the other movements of Corigliano’s Seven Poems of Bob Dylan and compare
them to Dylan’s originals. Are there any that correlate musically to the originals more than
others? Which of Corigliano’s settings do you feel contrasts most sharply from the original,
and how does Corigliano’s music change your understanding or interpretation of Dylan’s
poetry?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
The challenge of this chapter is having enough class time to explore not only the Prelude from
Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man but also both the original Bob Dylan version and the Byrds’
version. Assigning out-of-class listening to the earlier versions of the song before addressing
Corigliano’s setting in class might be helpful.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTOIRE
Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles
Luciano Berio: Sinfonia
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Metzer, David. Quotation and Cultural Meaning in Twentieth-Century Music. Cambridge and
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Metzer addresses the ways in which
twentieth-century composers borrow, quote, paraphrase, and invoke the music of others, and
how these “references” affect the meaning and interpretation of music for contemporary
listeners.
Sheeny, Colleen J., and Thomas Swiss, eds. Highway 61 Revisited: Bob Dylan’s Road from
Minnesota to the World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009. An anthology
of scholarly articles on Bob Dylan. Chapter 14 (“Women Do Dylan: The Aesthetics and
Politics of Dylan Covers”) highlights the cultural, racial, and gender-based dialogues that
emerge from women artists covering Dylan since the 1960s.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Returning with Interest: Dylan, Corigliano, and Postmodern Reworkings (Chapter 56)
I. Returning with Interest
A. Musicians pay homage to earlier composers
1. elaborate on their ideas; new creative perspective
2. art and commercial music cross boundaries
II. Bob Dylan as Singer-Songwriter
A. Bob Dylan (b. 1941)
1. singer-songwriter of protest songs
2. distinctive style: raspy voice, simple and complex textures
3. extraordinary texts, full of imagery
B. Dylan’s Mr. Tambourine Man
1. from Bringing It All Back Home, recorded 1964–65
2. text by Bob Dylan
3. paired phrase structure similar to Classical style
4. refrains “close” musical and textual verses
5. nuanced emphasis of poetic text: irregular rhythms, melodic ideas
6. simple voice-and-acoustic-guitar instrumentation
7. 1965 “cover” by the Byrds: “folk rock”
III. John Corigliano and the Contemporary Song Cycle
A. John Corigliano (b. 1938)
1. New York-born composer
2. education: Columbia University, Manhattan School of Music
3. produced Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts Series
4. teaching positions: Manhattan and Juilliard Schools of Music; Lehman College
5. distinguished awards include Academy Award, Grammy Award
6, writes for specific premier artists, ensembles
7. diverse styles: atonality, serialism, microtonality, chance music, neo-Romantic works,
redefines traditional genres
8. works: orchestral works, concertos, choral, vocal, chamber music, stage works, film
music
B. Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man
1. song cycle for voice and orchestra
a. commissioned by Sylvia McNair (2000) Carnegie Hall recital
b. written for voice and piano, later orchestrated
c. orchestra includes piano, harp, saxophones, tambourine
2. text: Bob Dylan poetry
a. poems follow emotional journey
b. innocence, awareness, political fury, premonition of apocalypse, victory of ideas
3. no suggestion of popular or rock style
4. no melodic “borrowing”
5. cycle unified by recurring motives
C. Listening Guide 45: Corigliano, Prelude, from Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of
Bob Dylan (orchestrated, 2003)
1. modified verse-chorus structure
2. instrumental introduction
3. verse 1: dreamy, slow, sung freely
4. chorus: fast, syncopated, disjunct, tambourine prominent
5. verse 2: louder, wide vocal leaps, prominent brass and percussion
6. verse 3: dramatic, shrieking vocal, tambourine rolls
7. verse 4 (partial): loud and dramatic, wide vocal leaps
8. brief instrumental interlude
9. mysterious mood returns, word-painting