Alfred Schnittke, String Trio

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

String Trio

by Will Herz

With the death of Shostakovich in 1975, his leadership among Soviet composers – both musically and politically – passed to a nonconformist composer named Alfred Schnittke.  Schnittke was even more prolific than Shostakovich, and he continued Shostakovich's struggle against the arbitrary restraints imposed by Soviet authorities.  Thanks to expatriate musicians like Mstislav Rostropovich and Gidon Kremer, his music soon won wide recognition outside the Soviet Union.  In the past 12 years, more than 50 compact disks of his music have been released.

Schnittke was an improbable candidate to succeed Shostakovich since his background was as much German as Russian.  He was born in the Volga Republic, an autonomous region for ethnic Germans within the Soviet Union.  His father had been born in Frankfurt to a Jewish family of Russian origin, who had converted to Communism and had moved to the USSR in 1926 to serve in the Soviet government.  His mother was a native Volga-German.

Schnittke began his musical education in 1946 in Vienna where his father, a journalist and translator, had been posted.  After the family returned to Moscow in 1948, Schnittke completed his music education at the Moscow Conservatory and continued there as a professor.  However, as a fluent German speaker, he felt as much at home in Germany, and he spent the final decade of his life as a professor at the Hamburg conservatory.

With his ear to the West, Schnittke was among the first Soviets to experiment with serial, electronic and other techniques frowned upon by Soviet authorities.  In 1972, his First Symphony, "beginning like a circus and ending in an apocalyptic, terrifying way," lost him the support of the Soviet Composers Union, and at one point, all of his symphonies were banned by Soviet authorities.  With the customary venues for his music curtailed, he supported himself by composing the scores for more than 60 Soviet films.

In the 1970s, Schnittke discarded strict serialism in favor of a synthesis of historical styles, which he called "polystylistics."  This was a collage-like approach encompassing many idioms, including Baroque, late 19th century romanticism, even jazz.  "In the beginning," he said in an 1988 interview, "I composed in a distinct style, but I see now that my personality was not coming through.  Most recently, I have used many different styles and quotations from many periods of musical history, but my own voice comes through clearly now."

Schnittke composed his String Trio in 1985 on a commission from the Alban Berg Society of Vienna and in observance of the 100th anniversary of Berg's birth.  However, the music is far more in the updated romantic style of Shostakovich than in Berg's atonal or twelve-tone idioms.  Further, the trio perpetuates Shostakovich's frequent overtone of pessimism and despair.  It became one of Schnittke's most successful works – the violist Yuri Bashmet arranged it for string orchestra, and Schnittke himself modified it into a piano trio.

The String Trio consists of two movements, both in a slow tempo.  The opening theme of the first movement may remind American listeners of "Happy Birthday to You," but the mood is hardly festive.  The theme is repeated again and again in different dress but with mounting intensity.  About half-way through there is a contrasting section marked by ominous chords and turbulent rhythms.

The adagio second movement uses the same fundamental material, with the main theme somewhat altered.  At the end, the main theme of the first movement returns, ending the work on a note of complete resignation.  Not an easy work, but it is likely to stay with you.