Talk:Alfred Schnittke

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

Russian wikipedia does not refer him as ethnic Russian, he was of Jewish-German origin and held Soviet and later Russian and German citizenship. Netherveless he wrote a few peaces for Orthodox church chorus. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.165.173.131 (talk) 17:52, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

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.

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

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)

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)

I don't see a link in the article currently to this site. In any any case, I did go to the site out of curiosity. I suppose someone might possibly find it amusing (I did not), but I don't see that it has any bearing on this article (despite its name) and vote against having a link here. (I would add that a vote in favor by the creator of the site should not count since he is obviously biased. In fact, he should not be advertising his site even on the talk page. That makes the tally so far by my count 2- 0.)TheScotch (talk) 06:28, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

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)

You're confusing ethnicity (Jew) with religion (Jewish) - there are religious Orthodox, Reformed, etc., JEWS, Christian Jews, and even the very odd Muslim Jew (after marrying a Muslim man - rare but it happens, you can't fight l-o-v-e!  :-) Anyway, Schnittke was a Christian(ized) Jew. Or, to get technical about it, he was a Russo-German Christian Jew. Since his father was an atheist, the Jewish religion doesn't come into the picture. I don't know what faith his mother had - anyone have a good bio (book) of him at hand? HammerFilmFan (talk) 22:06, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

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)

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.

Composer project review

I've reviewed this article as part of the Composers project review of its B-class articles. This is a Start-class article; the biographic section (all 2+ paragraphs) is notably too short, and the musicology lacks in critical and popular commentary. My full review is on the comments page; questions and comments should be left here or on my talk page. Magic♪piano 12:56, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

File:Alfred Schnittke -- May 6, 1989.jpg Nominated for Deletion

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krainev

The concerto dedicated to Krainev is Concerto for Piano and Strings (1979). I do not have a reference at hand, but this is at least correct. Sasha (talk) 15:16, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

That seems more likely. I'm not sure if this should be mentioned in this list, even with a reference — the list doesn't mention the dedicatees of other works. If someone were to create an article on the Concerto for Piano and Strings it would seem appropriate to mention it there. --Deskford (talk) 15:26, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

I agree with you. Sasha (talk) 15:47, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Jewish father

What are actually the sources about the jewish ancestry of his father? The one link leads to a login window of the Times, the other one is in Russian. Could someone point out the particular sentence in the text and translate it? --Kreuzkümmel (talk) 02:18, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

Two Reliable Sources - AllMusic's Classical Archives, and The Grove Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians - both attest to him being a Jewish born (father's side, his mom was a German from the Volga region in Russia) Christian Jew. An article in The Guardian states, "(born to an atheist Russian Jewish father in 1934, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1982)"

http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2013/apr/29/alfred-schnittke-contemporary-music-tom-service HammerFilmFan (talk) 22:14, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

Early Life as Musician

This article says nothing about what instrument that Alfred Schnittke was trained on as child or had as his main musical instrument as a musician. I assume it's the piano based on some links on this page. Can someone please verify and include fact in this Wikipedia article, its quite an omission really! I came to this page to find out this particular detail and its no where to be seen. Thank you to whoever fixes this with the correct knowledge. Simon Rashleigh 04:45, 29 March 2015 (UTC) Simon Rashleigh

Why do you suppose he was trained on any instrument at all? According to New Grove, he "studied in the Choirmasters' Department at the October Revolution Music College in Moscow", which suggests his orientation as a performer may have been as a singer rather than as an instrumentalist. An unforgivable lapse for a composer from after 1600, of course, but not entirely unprecedented.—Jerome Kohl (talk) 06:03, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

Pretty tough to be a decent composer if you can't play an instrument. TheScotch (talk) 06:36, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Alfred Schnittke/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Comment(s)

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;Composers Project Assessment of Alfred Schnittke: 2024-11-22 This is an assessment of article Alfred Schnittke by a member of the Composers project, according to its assessment criteria. This review was done by Magicpiano. If an article is well-cited, the reviewer is assuming that the article reflects reasonably current scholarship, and deficiencies in the historical record that are documented in a particular area will be appropriately scored. If insufficient inline citations are present, the reviewer will assume that deficiencies in that area may be cured, and that area may be scored down. Adherence to overall Wikipedia standards (WP:MOS, WP:WIAGA, WP:WIAFA) are the reviewer's opinion, and are not a substitute for the Wikipedia's processes for awarding Good Article or Featured Article status. Origins/family background/studies Does the article reflect what is known about the composer's background and childhood? If s/he received musical training as a child, who from, is the experience and nature of the early teachers' influences described? minimal family background Early career Does the article indicate when s/he started composing, discuss early style, success/failure? Are other pedagogic and personal influences from this time on his/her music discussed? sketchy; no personal/family details. Mature career Does the article discuss his/her adult life and composition history? Are other pedagogic and personal influences from this time on his/her music discussed? sketchy; no personal/family details. List(s) of works Are lists of the composer's works in WP, linked from this article? If there are special catalogs (e.g. Köchel for Mozart, Hoboken for Haydn), are they used? If the composer has written more than 20-30 works, any exhaustive listing should be placed in a separate article. List identifies as "selected"; presumed incomplete. Critical appreciation Does the article discuss his/her style, reception by critics and the public (both during his/her life, and over time)? Stylistic discussion; no critical or popular appreciation. Illustrations and sound clips Does the article contain images of its subject, birthplace, gravesite or other memorials, important residences, manuscript pages, museums, etc? Does it contain samples of the composer's work (as composer and/or performer, if appropriate)? (Note that since many 20th-century works are copyrighted, it may not be possible to acquire more than brief fair use samples of those works, but efforts should be made to do so.) If an article is of high enough quality, do its images and media comply with image use policy and non-free content policy? (Adherence to these is needed for Good Article or Featured Article consideration, and is apparently a common reason for nominations being quick-failed.) One image; no sound. References, sources and bibliography Does the article contain a suitable number of references? Does it contain sufficient inline citations? (For an article to pass Good Article nomination, every paragraph possibly excepting those in the lead, and every direct quotation, should have at least one footnote.) If appropriate, does it include Further Reading or Bibliography beyond the cited references? No sources (unless "Further reading" works were used as sources); few inline citations. Structure and compliance with WP:MOS Does the article comply with Wikipedia style and layout guidelines, especially WP:MOS, WP:LEAD, WP:LAYOUT, and possibly WP:SIZE? (Article length is not generally significant, although Featured Articles Candidates may be questioned for excessive length.) Lead is short; "Further reading" may be misnamed? Things that may be necessary to pass a Good Article review Article is not nearly ready for formal review Summary This article is a reasonable beginning of a biographical article; it covers the basic professional details of the subject. Considering the "Further reading" lists works that probably contain more biographical details, I find the sketchiness of the biographic section to be a fatal problem. Article is Start-class; a more robust biography is needed, as is critical and popular appreciation. Magic♪piano 12:53, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Last edited at 12:53, 26 March 2009 (UTC). Substituted at 07:16, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Alfred Schnittke 1934-1998.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 23:22, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

Time of death?

The text says "3 August 1998" twice, but the info box says "4 August 1990". I don't have access to any of the sources, so I can't know which one is right. But one of the two is wrong, for sure. You only die once. (that sounds like the worst James Bond knockoff title ever :-) --95.89.78.72 (talk) 15:46, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

Okay, I checked Britannica ( https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Schnittke ) and they also list Aug. 3, 1998. I change the info box accordigly. --95.89.78.72 (talk) 15:47, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for catching that! —CurryTime7-24 (talk) 15:55, 11 August 2023 (UTC)