Talk:Alfred Schnittke

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Contents 1 Religion/Spirituality 2 Cyrillic 3 Complicated sentence 4 AlfredSchnittke.com 5 Why listed in Jews in Music? 6 Symphony No. 5/Concerto Grosso No. 4 7 Schnittke Requiem?

[edit] Religion/Spirituality

How did his "deeply held mystic beliefs" influence his music? It's isn't obvious to me from what I know of him (which addmittedly isn't all that much) - a pointer to a piece or two would probably be useful. --Camembert

Was he Jewish or German or of mixed descent? This is confusing. --Humus sapiens|Talk 22:19, 7 May 2004 (UTC)

It seems clear to me: the article says he was Russian and a Jew, who was born to German parents and who later converted to Christianity. (I don't actually know for sure if that's correct, but it's what the article says, and I've no reason to doubt it.) --Camembert

OK, well it doesn't quite say that any more... what do I know? --Camembert

Yes, some of these questions are confusing indeed. Don't mean to be anal, it just sounded kind of funny. --Humus sapiens|Talk 23:08, 7 May 2004 (UTC)

It's clearer now, anyway, so thanks. --Camembert

His mother was a Volga German.

[edit] Cyrillic

I've remove this original version of his name from the article: "Russian: Àëüôðåä Øíèòêå". It'd be good to have the original Russian form of his name in Cyrillic, of course, but this has got garbled somehow (it may have happened because - as far as I know - it's not possible to paste the Cyrillic straight into the edit window, you have to use unicode). --Camembert

And now it's fixed. Thanks very much Humus sapiens :) --Camembert

[edit] Complicated sentence

I find this sentence rather complicated :) :

His father was born in Frankfurt to a Jewish family of Russian origin who had moved to the USSR in 1926,

His dad was born a Russian Jew whose family then moved to the USSR? Or by moving to the USSR they became Russian? A-giau 08:22, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] AlfredSchnittke.com

I've removed the link to AlfredSchnittke.com. The site provides no information about the composer. And I can only imagine that the person who maintains it is mentally ill. Crculver 02:02, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)

REBUTTAL from alfredschnittke.com creator: I will not add it back myself, but I do feel this is a valid site for people intereted in Schnittke. New Yorker music critic Alex Ross described the site as "an oblique but poetic tribute to the late Russian master". It's up to you. --NathanBeach

Followup: I've waited a year now (25 January) and have heard no response. I would like to add the link back. I love wikipedia and think this link belongs here. Crculver doesn't seem to be a member anymore, anyway, and he was the one who had a problem with it. Nathan Beach 02:05, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why listed in Jews in Music?

Schnittke was baptised in the Roman Catholic Church and much of his productivity was after his conversion. A great deal of his later works are specifically Christian. Why list him under "Jews in Music"? CRCulver 22:36, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Symphony No. 5/Concerto Grosso No. 4

I've added Schnittke's IMDB entry.

I've amended the sentence on the Fifth Symphony saying that it is 'confusing' that the work also his Fourth Concerto Grosso. Confusing it may be for some, but a less POV statement is that the Concerto Grosso is incorporated into the Symphony, which it surely is.--Stevouk 10:25, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Schnittke Requiem?

I know his fourth symphony really is his "Requiem" writing, but I think someone (or maybe me, dang it) ought to write an expansion about the choral work, it's an amazing accomplishment. My two favorite movements are the Tuba Mirrum (the altos I think just chanting the words on each downbeat...fantastic), and the Credo, which features the use of pop drums along with a homophonically-oriented choir. Great, great stuff.