Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) “I see no conflict in being both serious and comic in the same piece. In fact, I cannot have one without the other.” - Alfred Schnittke Soviet and Jewish born composer Alfred Schnittke was born in 1934 to German parents. In addition to composing for concert hall repertory, he also scored for films, more specifically cartoons. Although Schnittke studied and later taught at the Moscow Conservatory, his approach in composing still held influences of his education in Vienna during his adolescent years. Schnittke 's music comprises of a distinctive feature, the polystylistic idiom, which can be found all over his extensive repertory. Towards the latter years of his life, Schnittke suffered a series of strokes, but notwithstanding, his compositional creativity did not falter, rather, it flourishes even more. Assessing Schnittke 's extensive oeuvre, one would not pick up on his serialism, but instead, will perceive the eccentricity of his style. "I set down a beautiful chord on paper—and suddenly it rusts." Said Schnittke once. Despite the grimness of the context, his remark was not mistaken. A good example would be Silent Night, a violin and piano work, penned as a holiday greeting for Gidon Kremer. Instead of holiday cheer, Schnittke managed to transform it into a nightmare. Furthermore, Kremer took it to performing it …show more content…
Further analysis demonstrates how "impossible" a sonata it is due to the atonality. Schnittke commented on this piece and its relationship with the sonata form as "a report on the impossibility of a sonata in the form of a sonata". Thus, he took a new avenue with this composition, and he later labeled as "polystlism". Polystilism is when one purposefully disagrees and disregard conventions of distinct styles. It is a form that he frequents, and it can be said that Quasi una sonata is the innovator of