Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) were three of the most important avant-garde Russian composers of the twentieth century. Even though their music shares a number of important traits, their work also reflects very individualized and distinct compositional styles. This study illustrates the similarities in their approach and the contrasting elements present in three selected pieces: Stravinsky´s Suite Italienne for Violin and Piano (1933), Shostakovich’s Violin Sonata in G Major, Op. 134 (1968), and Schnittke’s Suite in the Old Style for Violin and Piano (Harpsichord) (1972). The study disseminates Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Schnittke’s musical influences in these works, focusing particularly in the use of baroque elements by tracing a number of important aspects from their backgrounds. In addition, a chronological outline of compositions containing baroque elements is provided. Finally, this research examines stylistic traits of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the three selected compositions: Suite Italienne, Violin Sonata, Op. 134, and Suite in the Old Style.

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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.