Alfred Schnittke is one of the narrow circle of composers of the Soviet period who have received solid recognition abroad. His music is characterized by a combination of different trends and techniques in accordance with the concept of “polystylistics, ” which he himself developed. In total, Schnittke created more than two hundred classic works. For his work, he was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation and many other awards.
The first steps in a musical career and two marriages
Alfred Garrievich Schnittke was born in 1934 in Engels, the then capital of the Volga German Republic (now it is the Saratov Region). And the first language of the boy was just German, "great and mighty" he mastered later.
Alfred began to study music at the age of twelve. And three years later, the young man was taken to the choral department of one of Moscow schools. During training in this institution, Schnittke for the first time tries to compose something of his own.
In 1953 he became a full student at the Moscow Conservatory. And then, at the end of the main course, he continued his education as a graduate student.
In 1956, a young talented musician married Galina Koltsina, a student with whom he met on vacation by the Black Sea. This marriage did not last long - until 1959. The reason for the divorce was the chance acquaintance of Alfred Garrievich with the charming Irina Kataeva. Schnittke gave Irina private lessons. At a certain moment, he realized that, unconscious, he fell in love with a beautiful student. They married in 1961, and soon they had a baby - a boy, Andryusha.
Schnittke in the sixties, seventies and eighties
For nearly eleven years, from 1961 to 1972, Schnittke taught several disciplines at the same Moscow Conservatory - reading scores, polyphony instrumentation. In the same period, he began to actively show himself as an independent composer, to seek his own style, leaning more likely to the European avant-garde. Quite revealing in this aspect is the work “Dialogue for Cello and Seven Instruments” (year of writing —1965).
In addition to this, in the sixties, Schnittke is beginning to attract for work in the cinema. It is his music that sounds in the films “Daytime Stars”, “Crew”, “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”, “Hot Snow”, “You and Me”, “Belorussky Station”, etc.
Since 1975, Schnittke often appeared on stage as a pianist and performer of his own compositions. In 1977, Schnittke took part in a tour of European countries with an orchestra led by Saulius Sondeckis. Among other things, Concerto grosso No. 1 Schnittke sounded at concerts as part of the tour. Moreover, Alfred Garrievich personally performed the harpsichord and piano parts. This tour brought Schnittke worldwide fame. And it is quite natural that already in 1979 he entered the board of such an official body as the Union of Composers of the USSR.
Pretty significant year in the biography of Schnittke, of course, is 1985. This year, Alfred Garrievich created two great works at once - "The Choir Concert" to the texts of the philosopher and poet Narekatsi (this is the most prominent representative of the so-called Early Armenian Renaissance), and the famous "Viola Concert". And if the first concert is filled with optimism, then the second can be called extremely tragic.
In 1986, Schnittke was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR for the musical arrangement of several animated films of the Soyuzmultfilm studio (in particular, the animated film Autumn).
