Alfred Schnittke composed nearly 70 film scores over a thirty-year career, providing a necessary livelihood while he navigated the complexities of the Soviet musical bureaucracy. Born in Engels in 1934, he eventually settled in Hamburg, Germany, after a lifetime of creating works that transitioned from complex polystylism to a bleak, withdrawn late-period aesthetic.
Formative Years in Vienna and Moscow
Schnittke began his formal musical education in Vienna in 1946, an experience he later identified as crucial to his professional discipline and stylistic development. He found the environment to be a conduit for history, citing Mozart and Schubert as primary influences. By 1948, his family moved to Moscow, where he completed graduate work in composition at the Moscow Conservatory in 1961, studying under Evgeny Golubev and Nikolai Rakov.
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Following a period of experimentation with serial techniques under the influence of Luigi Nono, Schnittke developed a method known as polystylism. This approach combined disparate musical patterns, exemplified in his Second Violin Sonata and the First Symphony. This work faced significant opposition from the Composers' Union, which effectively banned the symphony. In 1980, he was barred from international travel following his refusal to participate in a union vote.
Spiritual Shifts and Late Works
The death of his mother in 1972 prompted a period of introspection and a eventual conversion to Catholicism in 1983. His compositions, such as the Concerto for Mixed Chorus and the Faust Cantata, reflected these deep spiritual concerns. As his health declined following multiple strokes beginning in 1985, his music shifted away from earlier extroverted polystylistic displays toward a sparser, more accessible style evident in his late symphonies.
Fast facts
- Born: 1934, Engels
- Died: 1998, Hamburg
- Education: Moscow Conservatory
- Notable Works: Symphony No. 0, Symphony No. 9
- Awards: Bach Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (1992)
- Awards: Praemium Imperiale (1992)
- Awards: State Prize of the Russian Federation (1995)
- Burial: Novodevichy Cemetery
Questions readers ask
What is polystylism?
It is a technique Schnittke pioneered that juxtaposes and combines various musical styles from the past and present within a single work.
How did his health impact his career?
After suffering a stroke in 1985 that left him in a coma, he continued to compose, though his later music became more withdrawn and bleak compared to his earlier compositions.
Achievements
- Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Bach Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg — 1992
- State Prize of the Russian Federation — 1995
- Krupskaya State Prize of the RSFSR — 1986
- Notable work: Symphony No. 0
- Notable work: Symphony No. 9
- Instruments: piano
- Genres: 20th-century classical music, opera and symphony
