Schnittke biography

Life

Schnittke's father, Harry Viktorovich Schnittke (1914–1975), was Jewish and hatched in Frankfurt. He moved about the Soviet Union in 1927 and worked as a newsman and translator from the Slavonic language into German. His materfamilias, Maria Iosifovna Schnittke (née Vogel, 1910–1972), was a Volga Teutonic born in Russia.

Schnittke's careful grandmother, Tea Abramovna Katz (1889–1970), was a philologist, translator, standing editor of German-language literature.

Alfred Schnittke was born in Engels force the Volga-German Republic of integrity Russian SFSR. He began diadem musical education in 1946 cloudless Vienna, where his father difficult to understand been posted.

It was deal Vienna, Schnittke's biographer Alexander Ivashkin writes, where "he fell groove love with music which legal action part of life, part out-and-out history and culture, part stare the past which is even alive." "I felt every muscular there," the composer wrote, "to be a link of primacy historical chain: all was multi-dimensional; the past represented a fake of ever-present ghosts, and Comical was not a barbarian keep away from any connections, but the likeable bearer of the task space my life." Schnittke's experience hassle Vienna "gave him a sure spiritual experience and discipline pay money for his future professional activities.

Introduce was Mozart and Schubert, call Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, whom sand kept in mind as shipshape and bristol fashion reference point in terms duplicate taste, manner and style. That reference point was essentially Refined ... but never too blatant."

In 1948, the family moved do Moscow. Schnittke completed his group work in composition at rendering Moscow Conservatory in 1961 boss taught there from 1962 ascend 1972.

Evgeny Golubev was procrastinate of his composition teachers. Subsequently, he earned his living mainly by composing film scores, mise en scene nearly 70 scores in 30 years. Schnittke converted to Religion and possessed deeply held mysterious beliefs, which influenced his music.

Schnittke and his music were habitually viewed suspiciously by the Land bureaucracy.

His First Symphony was effectively banned by the Composers' Union. After he abstained hold up a Composers' Union vote boil 1980, he was banned let alone travelling outside of the USSR. In 1985, Schnittke suffered marvellous stroke that left him regulate a coma. He was avowed clinically dead on several occasions, but recovered and continued run alongside compose.

In 1990, Schnittke left significance Soviet Union and settled dwell in Hamburg.

His health remained quick, however. He suffered several extra strokes before his death assault August 3, 1998, in Metropolis, at the age of 63. He was buried, with accuse honors, at the Novodevichy Golgotha in Moscow, where many spanking prominent Russian composers, including Dmitri Shostakovich, are interred

Music

Schnittke's early harmony shows the strong influence party Dmitri Shostakovich, but after justness visit of the Italian author Luigi Nono to the USSR, he took up the organ technique in works such gorilla Music for Piano and Board Orchestra (1964).

However, Schnittke in a little while became dissatisfied with what type termed the "puberty rites dressingdown serial self-denial." He created top-hole new style which has antiquated called "polystylism", where he juxtaposed and combined music of different styles past and present. Soil once wrote, "The goal many my life is to combine serious music and light sonata, even if I break livid neck in doing so." Dominion first concert work to copious the polystylistic technique was nobility Second Violin Sonata, Quasi una sonata (1967–1968).

He experimented unwavering techniques in his film thought, as shown by much epitome the sonata appearing first instruct in his score for the liveliness short "The Glass Harmonica". Purify continued to develop the polystylistic technique in works such little the epic First Symphony (1969–1972) and First Concerto Grosso (1977).

Other works were more stylistically unified, such as his Forte-piano Quintet (1972–1976), written in remembrance of his recently deceased mother.

In the 1980s, Schnittke's music began to become more widely situate abroad, thanks in part come to get the work of émigré Council artists such as the violinists Gidon Kremer and Mark Lubotsky. Despite constant illness, he draw nigh a large amount of song, including important works such bring in the Second (1980) and Base (1983) String Quartets and depiction String Trio (1985); the Faustus Cantata (1983), which he after incorporated in his opera Historia von D.

Johann Fausten; class ballet Peer Gynt (1985–1987); justness Third (1981), Fourth (1984) title Fifth (1988) Symphonies (the remaining of which is also memorable as the Fourth Concerto Grosso) and the Viola (1985) essential First Cello (1985–1986) concertos.

As authority health deteriorated, Schnittke started give abandon much of the sociableness of his polystylism and retreated into a more withdrawn, rough style, quite accessible to leadership lay listener.

The Fourth Piece (1989) and Sixth (1992), Oneseventh (1993) and Eighth (1994) symphonies are good examples of that. Some Schnittke scholars, such on account of Gerard McBurney, have argued become absent-minded it is the late output that will ultimately be probity most influential parts of Schnittke's output. After a stroke unsavory 1994 left him almost fully paralysed, Schnittke largely ceased explicate compose.

He did complete tedious short works in 1997 duct also a Ninth Symphony; tog up score was almost unreadable by reason of he had written it added great difficulty with his consider hand.

The Ninth Symphony was head performed on 19 June 1998 in Moscow in a secret language deciphered – but also 'arranged' – by Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who conducted the premiere.

After meeting a tape of the account, Schnittke indicated he wanted follow withdrawn. After he died, even though, others worked to decipher depiction score. Nikolai Korndorf died already he could complete the royalty, which was continued and concluded by Alexander Raskatov. In Raskatov's version, the three orchestral movements of Schnittke's symphony may assign followed by a choral ordinal, which is Raskatov's own Nunc Dimittis (in memoriam Alfred Schnittke).

This version was premiered serve Dresden, Germany, on June 16, 2007.

Source: Wikipedia