The early polystylism of Alfred Schnittke demonstrates a gradual movement away from strict serialism towards a more mimetic music of quotations, allusions, aleatoric techniques, and tonal styles. This thesis investigates three pieces from 1968: film music for The Glass Harmonica, Serenade for Five Musicians, and Violin Sonata No. 2, Quasi Una Sonata. The first piece is analyzed as a clash of two ideas, the transcendent and the grotesque, which are exhibited in the music’s allusions to J. S. Bach and the presence of twentieth-century aleatory and atonality. The various technical features of Serenade and Violin Sonata No. 2 show the importance of dodecaphony and motivic atonality as unifying procedures. Temporal and pitch indeterminacy are also prevalent but it is perhaps the fleeting tonal references that hint at how important appropriation of older styles would be for Schnittke’s later music.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-06, Section: A, page: 2239. Adviser: Donna Buchanan. Includes Grigory Gerenstein's English translation. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-231) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

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As part of my doctoral research on Alfred Schnittke’s symphonies I analysed countless symphonies written not only by Schnittke ([Al’fred Šnitke] 1934–1998) himself, but also by a host of his Soviet contemporaries including Galina Ustvolskaya ([Galina Ustvol’skaâ] 1919–2006), Boris Chaikovsky ([Boris Cajkovskij] 1925–1996), Nikolai Karetnikov ([Nikolaj Karetnikov] 1930–1994), Sofia Gubaidulina ([Sofiâ Gubajdulina] born 1931), Valentin Silvestrov ([Valentin Silvestrov] born 1937), Boris Tishchenko ([Boris Tiˆsenko] 1939–2010) and many others. Among them, the symphonies by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (born 1935) really stood out, because each one of them is unique and quite different from the Shostakovichian symphonic model that was prevalent among this generation.

Alfred Schnittke was a prolific and nuanced musical figure of the twentieth-century, contributing significantly to the fields of musical philosophy and composition. One of his most researched contributions, that bridges both disciplines, is his definition and implementation of the compositional technique, polystylism. His 1971 essay, "Polystylistic Tendencies in Modern Music," served as the first serious discussion of the term, providing a narrower definition, differentiating it from other techniques, and discussing its importance in the oeuvre of twentieth-century artists. Schnittke is also known for his fervent desire to overcome the gap between Ernstmusik (serious music) and Unterhaltung (music for entertainment). This lifelong pursuit, combined with polystylism, lead him to create an eclectic catalogue that championed the ideas it was pioneering. However, there is little research done on the 1947 literary work that served as a creative catalyst to all these ideas: Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus: The Life of German Composer Adrian Leverkühn as told by a Friend. In contrast to other telling's of the Faust legend, Mann's version features a composer-protagonist, Adrian Leverkühn, who sells his soul for twenty-four years of creative musical-genius. During this time, Leverkühn composes numerous successful works, even developing a new system of musical composition. Mann's telling regularly goes into lengthy detail when describing these musical works, compositional techniques, and extramusical associations. To ensure that these musical topics were technically and theoretically sound, Mann chose the philosopher and music critic, Theodore Adorno, to be the primary editor and consultant when writing Doctor Faustus. Exploring and unpacking these connections to Mann's Doctor Faustus exposes numerous hidden layers, even codes, within Schnittke's compositions. Through a close examination of Schnittke's first completed composition, Fuga (1953), many of these Mann influences and hidden layers can be observed and analyzed.