The Musical Oeuvres of Alfred G. Schnittke

Abstract

The previous issues of the journal
featured publications of lectures about such
outstanding 20th century Russian composers
as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky,
Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Dmitri
Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian, Georgy
Sviridov, and Rodion Shchedrin. This series
is being continued with a lecture about
the music of Alfred G. Schnittke.
The first part of the lecture (“National
‘Fermentations’ and Early Works”) examines
the questions of the genesis of the composer’s
personality and the initial stage of his artistic
formation with a drastic reorientation from
a traditional style to avant-garde experiment.
The second part (“The Middle Period”)
is devoted to Schnittke’s explorations
in the direction of contacts with wide
audiences, which went along various lines
of democratization of his artistic approach.
The conclusive part (“The Late Style”)
is directed towards the composer’s immense
contribution to the formation
of the stylistic realities of the Postmodern
aesthetics.
During the course of the lecture’s
exposition fragments of musical compositions
are offered with recommended performances
of them, in their sum providing a perception
of the most substantial sides
of Alfred G. Schnittke’s musical output.