Schnittke, Alfred (Garrievich)

Schnittke, Alfred (Garrievich), prominent Russian composer of German descent; b. Engels, near Saratov, Nov. 24, 1934; d. Hamburg, Aug. 3, 1998. He studied piano in Vienna (1946–48), where his father was a correspondent of a German-language Soviet newspaper; then took courses in composition with Golubev and in instrumentation with Rakov at the Moscow Cons. (1953–58); after serving on its faculty (1962–72), he devoted himself fully to composition. He pursued many trips abroad, and in 1981 was a guest lecturer at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik and Darstellende Kunst. In 1981 he was elected a member of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste. In 1985 he survived a serious heart attack. In 1988 and again in 1991 he suffered debilitating strokes. After writing in a conventional manner, he became acutely interested in the new Western techniques, particularly in serialism and “sonorism,” in which dynamic gradations assume thematic significance. He soon became known as one of the boldest experimenters in modernistic composition in Soviet Russia.

Works

DRAMATIC : Opera: Odinnadtsataya Zapoved (The 11^th Commandment; 1962; unfinished); Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1989–93; Hamburg, June 22, 1995); Zhizn’s idiotom (Life With an Idiot; 1990–91; Amsterdam, April 13, 1992); Gesualdo (1993–94; Vienna, May 26, 1995). Ballet : Labirintï (Labyrinths; 1971; Leningrad, June 7, 1978); Zhyolt’iy zvuk (Yellow Sound), after Kandinsky (Saint Bomme, France, 1974); Sketches, after Gogol (1984; Moscow, Jan. 16, 1985; in collaboration with E. Denisov, S. Gubaidulina, and G. Rozhdestvensky); Peer Gynt, after Ibsen (1986; Hamburg, Jan. 1989). Also incidental music to plays and many film scores. ORCH .: 4 violin concertos: No. 1 (1957; rev. 1962; Moscow, Nov. 29, 1963), No. 2 for Violin and Chamber Orch. (1966; Leningrad, Feb. 20, 1968), No. 3 for Violin and Chamber Orch. (1978; Moscow, Jan. 29, 1979), and No. 4 (1982; West Berlin, Sept. 11, 1984); Piano Concerto (1960); Poem about Cosmos (1961); Music for Chamber Orch. (1964); Music for Piano and Chamber Orch. (1964); …pianissimo… (1967–68; Donaueschingen, Oct. 19, 1969); Sonata for Violin and Chamber Orch. (1968; Moscow, Feb. 5, 1986; chamber orch. version of Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano); Double Concerto for Oboe, Harp, and Strings (1970–71; Zagreb, May 1972); 9 syms.: No. 1 (1969–72; Gorky, Feb. 9, 1974), No. 2, St. Florian, for Chamber Chorus and Orch. (1979; London, April 23, 1980), No. 3 (Leipzig, Nov. 5, 1981), No. 4 for Tenor, Alto, Chorus, and Orch. or Chamber Orch. (Moscow, April 12, 1984), No. 5, Concerto Grosso No. 4/Symphony No. 5 (1987–88; Amsterdam, Nov. 10, 1988), No. 6 for Chamber Orch. (1991–92), No. 7 (1993; N.Y., Feb. 10, 1994), No. 8 (1993–94; Stockholm, Nov. 11, 1994), and No. 9 (1997–98; rev. by G. Rozhdestvensky following the composer’s instruction, 1998; Hamburg, Feb. 14, 1999); In memoriam (1972–78; Moscow, Dec. 20, 1979; orch. version of Piano Quintet); 6 concerti grossi: No. 1 for 2 Violins, Prepared Piano, Harpsichord, and Strings (Leningrad, March 21, 1977), No. 2 for Violin, Cello, and Orch. (West Berlin, Sept. 11, 1982), No. 3 for 2 Violins and Chamber Orch. (Moscow, April 20, 1985), No. 4, Concerto Grosso No. 4/Symphony No. 5 (1987–88; Amsterdam, Nov. 10, 1988), No. 5 for Violin, Piano, and Orch. (1990–91; N.Y, May 2, 1991), and No. 6 for Piano and Orch. (1993); Concerto for Piano and Strings (Leningrad, Dec. 10, 1979); Passacaglia (1979–80; Baden-Baden, Nov. 8, 1981); Gogol Suite (from incidental music to The Dead Souls Register; London, Dec. 5, 1980); Ritual (Novosibirsk, March 15, 1985); (K)ein Sommernachstraum ([Not] A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Salzburg, Aug. 12, 1985); Viola Concerto (1985; Amsterdam, Jan. 6, 1986); 2 cello concertos: No. 1 (Munich, May 7, 1986) and No. 2 (1989); Quasi una Sonata for Violin and Chamber Orch. (1987; chamber orch. version of Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano); Trio Sonata for Chamber Orch. (1987; chamber orch. version of String Trio); 4 Aphorisms (West Berlin, Sept. 18, 1988); Monologue for Viola and String Orch. (Bonn, June 4, 1989); Concerto for Piano, 4-Hands, and Chamber Orch. (1989; Moscow, April 27, 1990); Für Liverpool (1994); Concerto for Three for Violin, Viola, Cello, and Strings with Piano (1994); 5 Fragments on Pictures by Hieronymus Bosch (London, Nov. 11, 1994). CHAMBER : 3 violin sonatas: No. 1 (1963), No. 2, Quasi una Sonata (1968), and No. 3 (1994); Dialogue for Cello and 7 Instruments (1965); 4 string quartets (1966, 1980, 1983, 1989); Serenade for Violin, Clarinet, Double Bass, Piano, and Percussion (1968); Canon in memoriam Igor Stravinsky for String Quartet (1971); Suite in Old Style for Violin and Piano or Harpsichord (1972); Piano Quintet (1972–76; orchestrated as In memoriam); Hymnus I for Cello, Harp, and Timpani (1974), II for Cello and Double Bass (1974), III for Cello, Bassoon, Harpsichord, and Bells or Timpani (1975), and IV for Cello, Double Bass, Bassoon, Harpsichord, Harp, Timpani, and Bells (1976; all first perf. Moscow, May 26, 1979); Praeludium in memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich for 2 Violins or 1 Violin and Tape (1975); Cantus Perpetuus for Keyboards and Percussion (1975); Moz-Art for 2 Violins (1976); Mozart à la Haydn for 2 Violins, 2 Small String Ensembles, Double Bass, and Conductor (1977); 2 cello sonatas (1978, 1994); Stille Musik for Violin and Cello (1979); Polyphonic Tango for Ensemble (1979); Moz-Art for Oboe, Harpsichord, Harp, Violin, Cello, and Double Bass (1980); Septet (1981–82); Lebenslauf for 4 Metronomes, 3 Percussionists, and Piano (1982); A Paganini for Violin (1982); Schall und Hall for Trombone and Organ (1983); String Trio (1985; new version for Chamber Orch. as Trio-Sonata; rev. as a Piano Trio, 1992); Piano Quartet (1988); Klingende buchstaben for Cello (1988); 3 x 7 for Clarinet, Horn, Trombone, Harpsichord, Violin, Cello, and Double Bass (1989); Moz-Art à la Mozart for 8 Flutes and Harpsichord (1990); Quartet for 4 Percussionists (1994). Piano: Prelude and Fugue (1963); Improvisation and Fugue (1965); Variations on a Chord (1965); 4 Pieces (1971); Dedication to Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich for Piano, 6-Hands (1979); 2 sonatas (1987−88; 1990). VOCAL : Nagasaki, oratorio for Mezzo-soprano, Chorus, and Orch. (1958); Songs of War and Peace, cantata for Soprano, Chorus, and Orch. (1959); 3 Poems for Mezzo-soprano and Piano (1965); Voices of Nature for 10 Women’s Voices and Vibraphone (1972); Requiem for 3 Sopranos, Alto, Tenor, Chorus, and 8 Instrumentalists, after stage music to Schiller’s Don Carlos (1975; Budapest, Oct. 8, 1977); Der Sonnengesang des Franz von Assisi for 2 Choruses and 6 Instruments (1976); 3 Madrigals for Soprano and 5 Instruments (Moscow, Nov. 10, 1980); 3 Scenes for Soprano and Instrumental Ensemble (1980); Minnesang for 52 Voices (1980–81; Graz, Oct. 21, 1981); Seid nüchtern und wachet…, cantata for 4 Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (first perf. as Faust Cantata, Vienna, June 19, 1983); Concerto for Chorus (1984–85); Busslieder for Chorus (Moscow, Dec. 26, 1988); Eroffnungsvers zum ersten Festspielsonntag for Chorus (Lockenhaus, July 2, 1989).

Bibliography

T. Burde, Zum Leben und Schaffen des Komponisten A. S. (Kludenbach, 1993); D. Shulgin, Gody neizvestnosti A. S.: Besedy s kompozitorom (Moscow, 1993); A. S. zum 60. Geburtstag: Eine Festschrift (Hamburg, 1994).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire