Alfred Schnittke April 6, 1989, Moscow

Alfred Garyevich Schnittke (Russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, November 24, 1934 Engels - August 3, 1998 Hamburg) was a Russian and Soviet composer. Image File history File links Alfred_Schnittke_April_6_1989_Moscow. ... Image File history File links Alfred_Schnittke_April_6_1989_Moscow. ... April 6 is the 96th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (97th in leap years). ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Position of Moscow in Europe Coordinates: Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Government  - Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Area  - City 1,081 km²  (417. ... November 24 is the 328th day (329th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Engels (Russian: Энгельс) is a city in the Saratov Oblast in Russia. ... August 3 is the 215th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (216th in leap years), with 150 days remaining. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean [1]. // Coated in ice, power and telephone lines sag and often break, resulting in power outages. ... Location Coordinates Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country NUTS Region DE6 First Mayor Ole von Beust (CDU) Governing party CDU Votes in Bundesrat 3 (from 69) Basic statistics Area  755 km² (292 sq mi) Population 1,754,317 (11/2006)[1]  - Density 2,324 /km² (6,018... Soviet redirects here. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ...

Biography

Schnittke's father was born in Frankfurt to a Jewish family of Russian origin who had moved to the USSR in 1926, and his mother was a Volga German born in Russia. For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ... Volga German pioneer family commemorative statue in Victoria, Kansas, USA. The Volga Germans (German: or Russlanddeutsche) were ethnic Germans living near the Volga River in the region of southern European Russia around Saratov and to the south, maintaining German culture, language, traditions and religions: Evangelical Lutheranism, Reformed and Roman Catholicism...

Alfred Schnittke was born in Engels in the Volga-German Republic of the RSFSR, Soviet Union. He began his musical education in 1946 in Vienna where his father, a journalist and translator, had been posted. In 1948 the family moved to Moscow. He completed his graduate work in composition at the Moscow Conservatory in 1961 and taught there from 1962 to 1972. Thereafter he supported himself mainly by composing film scores. Schnittke converted to Christianity and possessed deeply held mystic beliefs which influenced his music. In the 1960s he studied at the Moscow Conservatory where, among his teachers in composition, was Evgeny Golubev. Engels (Russian: Энгельс) is a city in the Saratov Oblast in Russia. ... Volga German ASSR location map Volga German ASSR map 1937 flag of the Volga German ASSR The Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (German: Autonome Sozialistische Sowjet-Republik der Wolga-Deutschen, Russian: Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика Немцев Поволжья) was an autonomous republic established in the Soviet Union, with its capital at the Volga port of Engels... State motto: Russian: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! Translation: Workers of the world, unite! Capital Moscow Official language Russian Established In the USSR:  - Since  - Until November 7, 1917 November 7, 1917 December 12, 1991 (dissolution) Area  - Total  - Water (%) Ranked 1st in the USSR 17,075,200 km² 13% Population  - Total   - Density Ranked 1st in the... Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Position of Moscow in Europe Coordinates: Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Government  - Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Area  - City 1,081 km²  (417. ... The Moscow Conservatory (Московская Государственная Консерватория им. П.И.Чайковского) is a prominent music school in Russia. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... Mysticism from the Greek μυστικός (mustikos) an initiate (of the Eleusinian Mysteries, μυστήρια (musteria) meaning initiation[1]) is the pursuit of achieving communion or identity with, or conscious awareness of, ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight; and the belief that such experience is one... Evgeny Golubev (February 16, 1910, Moscow – December 25, 1988, Moscow) (ru: Эвгэний Голуъэв) was a Russian composer. ...

Schnittke was often the target of the Soviet bureaucracy. His First Symphony was effectively banned by the Composers' Union, and after he abstained from a Composers' Union vote in 1980 he was banned from travelling outside of the USSR. In 1985, Schnittke suffered a stroke which left him in a coma. He was declared clinically dead on several occasions but recovered and continued to compose. In 1990, Schnittke left Russia and settled in Hamburg. His health remained poor, however, and he suffered several more strokes before his death on August 3, 1998 in Hamburg. Soviet redirects here. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... USSR Union of Composers or Union of Composers of the USSR (Russian: Союз Советских композиторов СССР), also Union of Composers or Composers’ Union was a ‘creative’ professional organisation of composers in the Soviet Union. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted by occlusion (an ischemic stroke- approximately 90% of strokes), by hemorrhage (a hemorrhagic stroke - less than 10% of strokes) or other causes. ... In medicine, a coma (from the Greek koma, meaning deep sleep) is a profound state of unconsciousness. ... Location Coordinates Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country NUTS Region DE6 First Mayor Ole von Beust (CDU) Governing party CDU Votes in Bundesrat 3 (from 69) Basic statistics Area  755 km² (292 sq mi) Population 1,754,317 (11/2006)[1]  - Density 2,324 /km² (6,018... August 3 is the 215th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (216th in leap years), with 150 days remaining. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean [1]. // Coated in ice, power and telephone lines sag and often break, resulting in power outages. ...

Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich, but after the visit of the Italian composer Luigi Nono to the USSR he took up the serial technique in works such as Music for Piano and Chamber Orchestra (1964). However, Schnittke soon became dissatisfied with what he termed the "puberty rites of serial self-denial" and moved on to a new style which has been called "polystylism", where music of various different styles past and present are juxtaposed in proximity (the composer once wrote "The goal of my life is to unify serious music and light music, even if I break my neck in doing so"). The first concert work to use the polystylistic technique was the Second Violin Sonata, Quasi una sonata (1967-1968), but the influence of Schnittke's film work on his stylistic development is shown by the fact that much of the music of this work was derived from a score for the animation short The Glass Harmonica. He continued to develop the polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony (1969-1972) and First Concerto Grosso (1977), but also composed more stylistically unified works such as the Piano Quintet (1972-1976), written in memory of his recently deceased mother. Dmitri Shostakovich   (Russian: , Dmitrij Dmitrievič Å ostakovič) (September 25 [O.S. September 12] 1906–August 9, 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet period. ... Grave of Nono in the San Michele Cemetery, Venice Luigi Nono (29 January 1924 - 8 May 1990) was an Italian composer of contemporary music. ... Serialism is a technique for composing music that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the composer manipulations of those sets to create music. ... Polystylism is the use of multiple styles or techniques of music, and is seen as a postmodern characteristic. ... Polystylism is the use of multiple styles or techniques of music, and is seen as a postmodern characteristic. ... A violin sonata is a musical composition for solo violin, often (but not always) accompanied by a piano or other keyboard instrument, or by figured bass in the Baroque. ... The history of Russian animation is a very rich, but so far nearly unexplored field for Western film theory and history. ... Polystylism is the use of multiple styles or techniques of music, and is seen as a postmodern characteristic. ... The concerto grosso (plural concerti grossi) (Italian for big concert) was a popular form of baroque music using an ensemble and usually having four to six movements in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the concertino) and full orchestra (the ripieno). ... A piano quintet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one piano and four other instruments, or the name of a piece written for such a group. ...

In the 1980s, Schnittke's music began to become more widely known abroad, thanks in part to the work of emigre Soviet artists such as the violinists Gidon Kremer and Mark Lubotsky. Nowadays it is often played by duo violinists Angela and Jennifer Chun. Despite constant illness, he produced a large amount of music, including important works such as the Second (1980) and Third (1983) String Quartets and the String Trio (1985); the Faust Cantata (1983), which he later incorporated in his opera Historia von D. Johann Fausten; the ballet Peer Gynt (1985-1987); the Third (1981), Fourth (1984) and Fifth (1988) Symphonies (the last of which incorporates his Fourth Concerto Grosso) and the Viola (1985) and 1st Cello (1985-1986) Concertos. Gidon Kremer (Latvian: ; born February 27, 1947) is a Latvian violinist and conductor. ... The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. ... Historia von D. Johann Fausten is an opera by the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) in three acts, with introduction and epilogue to the German libretto by Jörg Morgener (Jürgen Köchel) and Alfred Schnittke after the anonymous prose book of the same name (published by Johannes... Peer Gynt is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. ...

As his health further deteriorated, Schnittke's music started to abandon much of the extroversion of his polystylism and retreat into a more withdrawn, bleak style. The Fourth Quartet (1989) and Sixth (1992), Seventh (1993) and Eighth (1994) symphonies are good examples of this, and some Schnittke scholars such as Gerard McBurney have argued that it is the late works which will ultimately be the most influential parts of Schnittke's output. After a further stroke in 1994 left him almost completely paralysed, Schnittke largely ceased to compose, though some short works emerged in 1997 and a Ninth Symphony was left almost unreadable at his death, now being encoded by Alexander Raskatov. A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted by occlusion (an ischemic stroke- approximately 90% of strokes), by hemorrhage (a hemorrhagic stroke - less than 10% of strokes) or other causes. ...

Controversy

In 1991 Schnittke collaborated with the Russian writer Victor Erofeyev during the work on the opera "The life with the idiot". The libretto of the work consists of racial and misogynic tendencies and also based on the mockery towards mentally ill. However in an interview given to RTL in March 1993 Schnittke publicly regretted writing the work and explained it by "beeng used by not very honest people" and also referring to his poor health at the time. Biography Victor Erofeyev is a highly controversial Russian author, born in 1947, the son of a high-ranking Soviet diplomat (who worked closely with Stalin). ... RTL (formerly RTL plus) is a large German commercial television station distributed via cable and satellite along with DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial) in larger population centers. ...

Selected Works

Symphonies

• Symphony No. 0 (1956-57)
• Symphony No. 1 (1969-72)
• Symphony No. 2, for mixed chamber choir and orchestra (1979)
• Symphony No. 3 (1981)
• Symphony No. 4, for soprano, contralto, tenor, bass and chamber orchestra (1983)
• Symphony No. 5 / also as Concerto Grosso No.4 (1988)
• Symphony No. 6, commissioned by and dedicated to The National Symphony Orchestra and Mstislav Rostropovich (1992)
• Symphony No. 7, dedicated to Kurt Masur (1993)
• Symphony No. 8, dedicated to Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (1994)
• Symphony No. 9, (1996-98)(First after encoding will be performed in Dresden, on June the 16th,2007)

Concertos

Concerti Grossi

• Concerto Grosso No. 1: for two violins, harpsichord, prepared piano and strings, dedicated to Gidon Kremer (1977)
• Concerto Grosso No. 2, for violin, violoncello and orchestra (1981-82)
• Concerto Grosso No. 3, for 2 violins and chamber orchestra (1985)
• Concerto Grosso No. 4 / also as Simphony No. 5 (1988)
• Concerto Grosso No. 5, for violin and orchestra (1991)
• Concerto Grosso no. 6, for piano, violin and strings (1993)

Violin Concertos

• Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra (1957 revised 1963)
• Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Chamber Orchestra (1966)
• Concerto No. 3 for Violin and Chamber Orchestra (1978)
• Concerto No. 4 for Violin and Orchestra (1984)

Piano Concertos

• Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1960)
• Music for Piano and Chamber Orchestra (1964)
• Concerto for Piano and Strings (1979)
• Concerto for Piano Four Hands and Chamber Orchestra (1988)

Other Instruments

• Double Concerto for Oboe, Harp, and Strings (1971)
• Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (1985)
• Concerto No. 1 for Violoncello and Orchestra (1986)
• Concerto No. 2 for Violoncello and Orchestra (1990)

Chamber Music

• Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano (1963)
• String Quartet No. 1 (1966)
• Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano "Quasi una Sonata" (1968) (Dedicated to Mark(Lubotsky) and Ljuba (Edlina))
• Quintet for Piano and Strings (1972-76)
• Canon in Memoriam Igor Stravinsky, for string quartet (1977)
• Sonata No. 1 for Violoncello and Piano (1978)
• String Quartet No. 2 (1981)
• Septet (1981-82)
• "Schall und Hall" for Trombone and Organ (1983)
• String Trio (1985)
• String Quartet No. 3 (1988)
• "3 x 7", for clarinet, horn, trombone, harpsichord, violin, violoncello and double bass (1989)
• String Quartet No. 4 (1989)
• Sonata No. 2 for Violoncello and Piano (1994)
• Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano (1994)

Operas

• The Eleventh Commandment libretto by Marina Churova, Georgy Ansimov and Alfred Schnittke, (1962)
• Arrangement: Peter Tchaikovsky, Queen of Spades, after Alexander Pushkin (1977)
• Life with an Idiot, opera in 2 acts libretto by Viktor Yerofeyev (1991)
• Historia von D. Johann Fausten libretto by Jörg Morgener (Jurjen Köchel (1991-1994)
• Gesualdo, libretto by Richard Bletschacher (1993)

1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский, sometimes transliterated as Piotr, Anglicised as Peter Ilich), (May 7, 1840 – November 6, 1893 (N.S.); April 25, 1840 – October... Queen of Spades may mean a number of things: for the card in a typical playing card deck, see Playing card. ... Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Пу́шкин, IPA: ,  ) (June 6 [O.S. May 26] 1799 – February 10 [O.S. January 29] 1837) was a Russian Romantic author who is considered to be the greatest Russian poet[1][2][3][4] and the founder of modern Russian literature. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Historia von D. Johann Fausten is an opera by the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) in three acts, with introduction and epilogue to the German libretto by Jörg Morgener (Jürgen Köchel) and Alfred Schnittke after the anonymous prose book of the same name (published by Johannes... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

Ballets

• Labyrinths, ballet in five episodes. Libretto by Vladimir Vasilyev. (1971)
• Peer Gynt, ballet in three acts by John Neumeier based on Henrik Ibsen’s drama (1988)

John Neumeier (February 24, 1942 - ) is a well-known American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. ...

Further reading

• Alexander Ivashkin (1996). Alfred Schnittke. Phaidon Press. ISBN 0-7148-3169-7. 
• Alfred Schnittke (2002). in Alexander Ivashkin: A Schnittke Reader. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33818-2. 
• Альфред Шнитке (2003). in Александр Ивашкин: Беседы с Альфредом Шнитке. Классика XXI. ISBN 5-89817-051-0. 

External links

• Biography
• Works list
• Works list (with hypothetical opus numbers)
• Schnittke at his original publisher Sikorski (German)