Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Garrievich Schnittke[n 1] (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer.[1][n 2] Among the most performed and recorded composers of late 20th-century classical music,[1][6] he is described by musicologist Ivan Moody as a "composer who was concerned in his music to depict the moral and spiritual struggles of contemporary man in [...] depth and detail."[7]
Alfred Schnittke
24 November 1934
3 August 1998 (aged 63)
Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich.[8] He developed a polystylistic technique in works such as the epic Symphony No. 1 (1969–1972) and his first concerto grosso (1977). In the 1980s, Schnittke's music began to become more widely known abroad with the publication of his second (1980) and third (1983) string quartets and the String Trio (1985); the ballet Peer Gynt (1985–1987); the third (1981), fourth (1984), and fifth (1988) symphonies; and the viola concerto (1985) and first cello concerto (1985–1986). As his health deteriorated, Schnittke's music started to abandon much of the extroversion of his polystylism and retreated into a more withdrawn, bleak style.[9]
Career[edit]
In 1961 Schnittke completed his graduate work in composition at the Moscow Conservatory and taught there from 1962 to 1972. Evgeny Golubev was one of his composition teachers. Thereafter, he earned his living chiefly by composing film scores, producing nearly 70 scores in 30 years.[13]
After his mother's death in 1972, he began to compose his Piano Quintet in her memory. During its composition, he began to seek solace in Catholicism;[14] he converted on 18 June 1983.[15] He possessed deeply held beliefs in predestination[16] and mysticism which influenced his music.[17]
Schnittke and his music were often viewed suspiciously by the Soviet bureaucracy. His First Symphony was effectively banned by the Composers' Union.[18] After he abstained from a Composers' Union vote in 1980, he was banned from travelling outside the USSR.
See Schmelz 2013 for an extensive bibliography