Biography
Cornago, a Spanish composer active chiefly at the Neapolitan courts of Alfonso V and Fernando I, is believed to have belonged to the Franciscan order. His settings frequently projected an air of restrained melancholy, their texts dwelling on romantic loss and amorous sorrow. Departing from rigid syllabic or melismatic practice, he alternated between the two approaches, inserted instrumental interludes, and aligned the tenor with the uppermost voice in matching rhythms a third or sixth apart. Diatonic harmony appears throughout his work, even apart from the expectations of conventional cadences. ~ Keith Johnson