Peter J. Schmelz
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190653712
- eISBN:
- 9780190653750
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190653712.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
One of the most distinctive, and most famous, movements in Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 is the fifth, Rondo, which returns to the frantic baroque gestures of the second movement but with ...
More
One of the most distinctive, and most famous, movements in Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 is the fifth, Rondo, which returns to the frantic baroque gestures of the second movement but with a promise of redemption. Most notably, these gestures, among them thrumming strings, are interrupted by the seductive strains of a tango, resulting in one of Schnittke’s most obvious and yet most effective polystylistic collisions. The Rondo points to the larger philosophical questions raised by the score. This chapter examines the construction and meaning of the Rondo, as well as its critical reception, focusing particularly on the larger implications of its clashes between high and low. The chapter closes by examining choreographer John Neumeier’s use of the Concerto Grosso no. 1 in his 1985 ballet Othello.Less
One of the most distinctive, and most famous, movements in Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 is the fifth, Rondo, which returns to the frantic baroque gestures of the second movement but with a promise of redemption. Most notably, these gestures, among them thrumming strings, are interrupted by the seductive strains of a tango, resulting in one of Schnittke’s most obvious and yet most effective polystylistic collisions. The Rondo points to the larger philosophical questions raised by the score. This chapter examines the construction and meaning of the Rondo, as well as its critical reception, focusing particularly on the larger implications of its clashes between high and low. The chapter closes by examining choreographer John Neumeier’s use of the Concerto Grosso no. 1 in his 1985 ballet Othello.
Peter J. Schmelz
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190653712
- eISBN:
- 9780190653750
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190653712.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book provides for the first time an accessible, comprehensive study of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 (1977). One of Schnittke’s best-known and most compelling works, the Concerto ...
More
This book provides for the first time an accessible, comprehensive study of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 (1977). One of Schnittke’s best-known and most compelling works, the Concerto Grosso no. 1 sounds the surface of late Soviet life, resonating as well with contemporary compositional currents around the world. This innovative monograph builds on existing publications about the Concerto Grosso no. 1 in English, Russian, and German, augmenting and complicating them. It adds new information from underused primary sources, including Schnittke’s unpublished correspondence and his many published interviews. It also engages further with his sketches for the Concerto Grosso no. 1 and contemporary Soviet musical criticism. The result is a more objective, historical appraisal of this rich, multifaceted composition.
The Concerto Grosso no. 1 provided a utopian model of the contemporary soundscape. It was a decisive point in Schnittke’s development of the approach he called polystylism, which aimed to contain in a single composition the wide range of contemporary musical styles, including jazz, pop, rock, and serial music. Thanks to it and his other similar compositions, Schnittke became one of the most-performed and most-recorded living composers at the end of the twentieth century. The novel structure of this book engages the Concerto Grosso no. 1 conceptually, historically, musically, and phenomenologically: the six movements of the composition frame the six chapters. The present volume thus provides a holistic accounting of Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1, its influences, and its impact on subsequent music making in the Soviet Union and worldwide.Less
This book provides for the first time an accessible, comprehensive study of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 (1977). One of Schnittke’s best-known and most compelling works, the Concerto Grosso no. 1 sounds the surface of late Soviet life, resonating as well with contemporary compositional currents around the world. This innovative monograph builds on existing publications about the Concerto Grosso no. 1 in English, Russian, and German, augmenting and complicating them. It adds new information from underused primary sources, including Schnittke’s unpublished correspondence and his many published interviews. It also engages further with his sketches for the Concerto Grosso no. 1 and contemporary Soviet musical criticism. The result is a more objective, historical appraisal of this rich, multifaceted composition.
The Concerto Grosso no. 1 provided a utopian model of the contemporary soundscape. It was a decisive point in Schnittke’s development of the approach he called polystylism, which aimed to contain in a single composition the wide range of contemporary musical styles, including jazz, pop, rock, and serial music. Thanks to it and his other similar compositions, Schnittke became one of the most-performed and most-recorded living composers at the end of the twentieth century. The novel structure of this book engages the Concerto Grosso no. 1 conceptually, historically, musically, and phenomenologically: the six movements of the composition frame the six chapters. The present volume thus provides a holistic accounting of Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1, its influences, and its impact on subsequent music making in the Soviet Union and worldwide.
