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Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (russian: Софи́я Асгáтовна Губaйду́лина, link=no , tt-Cyrl, София Әсгать кызы Гобәйдуллина;
born 24 October 1931) is a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
-Russian
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
and an established international figure. Major orchestras around the world have commissioned and performed her works. She is considered one of the foremost Russian composers of the second half of the 20th century.
Family
Gubaidulina was born in
Chistopol
Chistopol (russian: Чи́стополь; tt-Cyrl, Чистай, ''Çistay''; cv, Чистай, ''Çistay'') is a town in Tatarstan, Russia, located on the left bank of the Kuybyshev Reservoir, on the Kama River. As of the 2010 Census, its p ...
,
(now the
Republic of Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan (russian: Республика Татарстан, Respublika Tatarstan, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə tətɐrˈstan; tt-Cyrl, Татарстан Республикасы), or simply Tatarstan (russian: Татарстан, tt ...
),
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
, to an ethnically mixed family of a
Volga Tatar
The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars ( tt-Cyrl, татарлар, tatarlar) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the Volga-Ural region of Russia. They are subdivided into various subgroups. Volga Tatars are Russia's second-largest ethnicity after t ...
father and an ethnic
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
mother. Her father, Asgat Masgudovich Gubaidulin, was an engineer and her mother, Fedosiya Fyodorovna (née Yelkhova), was a teacher. After discovering music at the age of 5, Gubaidulina immersed herself in ideas of
composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
*Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
. While studying at the Children’s Music School with Ruvim Poliakov, Gubaidulina discovered spiritual ideas and found them in the works of composers such as
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
,
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
, and
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
. Gubaidulina quickly learned to keep her spiritual interests secret from her parents and other adults since the Soviet Union was against any religious ideas. These early experiences with music and spiritual ideas led her to treat the two domains of thought as conceptually similar and explains her later striving to write music expressing and exploring spiritually based concepts.
Gubaidulina has married three times.
Career
She studied composition and piano at the
Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...
Conservatory, graduating in 1954. During her early conservatory years, Western contemporary music was banned nearly entirely from study, an unusual exception being
Bartók. Raids even took place in the dormitory halls, where searches were conducted for banned scores,
Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...
being the most infamous and sought after. Gubaidulina and her peers procured and studied modern Western scores nonetheless. "We knew
Ives
Ives is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:
Surname:
* Alice Emma Ives (1876–1930), American dramatist, journalist
* Burl Ives (1909–1995), American singer, author and actor
* Charles Ives (1874–1954), Ame ...
,
Cage
A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayin ...
, we actually knew everything on the sly."
In
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
she undertook further studies at the Conservatory with
Nikolay Peyko
Nikolay Ivanovich Peyko or Peiko (Николай Иванович Пейко) (25 March 1916 in Moscow – 1 July 1995 in Moscow) was a Russian composer and professor of composition.
Early life
Peyko began his music education at the Academic Mus ...
until 1959, and then with
Vissarion Shebalin
Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin (russian: Виссарио́н Я́ковлевич Шебали́н; 29 May 1963) was a Soviet composer.
Biography
Shebalin was born in Omsk, where his parents were school teachers. He studied in the musical colle ...
until 1963. She was awarded a Stalin fellowship. Her music was deemed "irresponsible" during her studies in
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Russia, due to its exploration of alternative
tunings. She was supported, however, by
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
, who in evaluating her final examination encouraged her to continue down her path despite others calling it "mistaken". She was allowed to express her modernism in various scores she composed for documentary films, including the 1963 production, ''On Submarine Scooters'', a 70mm film shot in the unique
Kinopanorama Kinopanorama is a three-lens, three-film widescreen film format. Although Kinopanorama was initially known as ''Panorama'' (russian: панорамный фильм, ''panoramnyy film'') in the Soviet Union the name was later revised to include it ...
widescreen format. She also composed the score to the well-known Russian animated picture "
Adventures of Mowgli
''Adventures of Mowgli'' (russian: Маугли; also spelled ''Maugli'') is an animated feature-length story originally released as five animated shorts of about 20 minutes each between 1967 and 1971 in the Soviet Union. It is based on Rudyard Ki ...
" (a rendition of Rudyard Kipling's ''Jungle Book'').
In the mid-1970s Gubaidulina founded ''Astreja'', a folk-instrument improvisation group with fellow composers
Viktor Suslin
Viktor Yevseyevich Suslin (russian: Ви́ктор Евсе́евич Су́слин; June 13, 1942, Miass, Ural, Russia – July 10, 2012, Hamburg, Germany) was a Russian composer. An associate of Sofia Gubaidulina's, together with her and Vy ...
and
Vyacheslav Artyomov
Vyacheslav Petrovich Artyomov (russian: Вячесла́в Петро́вич Артё́мов, link=no; born on June 29, 1940, in Moscow) is a Russian and Soviet Union, Soviet composer.
Biography
Artyomov was preparing to become a physicist, s ...
. In 1979, she was blacklisted as one of the "
Khrennikov's Seven Khrennikov's Seven (russian: Хренниковская семёрка or Семёрка Хренникова) was a group of seven Russian Soviet composers denounced in 1979 at the Sixth Congress of the Composers' Union by its leader Tikhon Khrenn ...
" at the Sixth Congress of the
Union of Soviet Composers
The Union of Russian Composers (formerly the Union of Soviet Composers, Order of Lenin Union of Composers of USSR () (1932- ), and Union of Soviet Composers of the USSR) is a state-created organization for musicians and musicologists created in 193 ...
for unapproved participation in some festivals of Soviet music in the West.
Gubaidulina became better known abroad during the early 1980s through
Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer ( lv, Gidons Krēmers; born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica.
Life and career
Gidon Kremer was born in Riga. His father was Jewish and had survived the Holoc ...
's championing of her violin concerto ''
Offertorium''. "She sprang to international fame in the late 1980s". She later composed an homage to
T. S. Eliot, using the text from the poet's ''
Four Quartets
''Four Quartets'' is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published over a six-year period. The first poem, ''Burnt Norton'', was published with a collection of his early works (1936's ''Collected Poems 1909–1935''). After a f ...
''. In 2000, Gubaidulina, along with
Tan Dun
Tan Dun (, ; born 18 August 1957) is a Chinese-born American composer and conductor. A leading figure of contemporary classical music, he draws from a variety of Western and Chinese influences, a dichotomy which has shaped much of his life and ...
,
Osvaldo Golijov
Osvaldo Noé Golijov (; born December 5, 1960) is an Argentine composer of classical music and music professor, known for his vocal and orchestral work.
Biography
Osvaldo Golijov was born in and grew up in La Plata, Argentina, in a Jewish family ...
, and
Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Sa ...
, was commissioned by the
Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart
Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart is a foundation in Stuttgart, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1981 to foster international concerts and workshops, namely Musikfest Stuttgart, dedicated especially to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in relati ...
to write a piece for the Passion 2000 project in commemoration of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
. Her contribution was the ''Johannes-Passion''. In 2002 she followed this by the ''Johannes-Ostern'' ("Easter according to John"), commissioned by Hannover Rundfunk. The two works together form a "diptych" on the death and resurrection of Christ, her largest work to date. Invited by
Walter Fink
Walter Fink (16 August 1930 – 13 April 2018) was a German entrepreneur and a patron of contemporary classical music. He is known for being a founding member, executive committee member and sponsor of the Rheingau Musik Festival, where he initia ...
, she was the 13th composer featured in the annual
Komponistenporträt of the
Rheingau Musik Festival
The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...
in 2003, the first female composer of the series. Her work ''The Light at the End'' preceded Beethoven's
Symphony No. 9 in the 2005 proms. In 2007 her second violin concerto ''In Tempus Praesens'' was performed at the Lucerne Festival by
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter (born 29 June 1963) is a German violinist. She was supported early in her career by Herbert von Karajan. As an advocate of contemporary music, she has had several works composed especially for her, by Sebastian Currier, Henri ...
. Its creation has been depicted in
Jan Schmidt-Garre
Jan Schmidt-Garre (born 18 June 1962 in Munich), German film director and producer.
Life
Jan Schmidt-Garre studied philosophy at the Hochschule für Philosophie der Jesuiten in Munich from 1982 to 1986 (M. A. with a semiotic thesis on Wagner's ...
's film ''Sophia – Biography of a Violin Concerto''.
Since 1992, Gubaidulina has lived in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Germany. She is a member of the musical academies in Frankfurt, Hamburg and the
Royal Swedish Academy of Music
The Royal Swedish Academy of Music ( sv, Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien), founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden. At the time of its foundation, only one of its co-founder was a professional musician, Ferdin ...
.
Aesthetic
For Gubaidulina, music was an escape from the socio-political atmosphere of Soviet Russia. For this reason, she associated music with human transcendence and mystical spiritualism, which manifests itself as a longing inside the soul of humanity to locate its true being, a longing she continually tries to capture in her works. These abstract religious and mystical associations are concretized in Gubaidulina's compositions in various ways, such as writing in bowing directions that cause the performer to draw a crucifix in the seventh movement of her ''Ten Preludes For Solo Cello''.
Gubaidulina is a devout member of the Russian Orthodox church. The influence of electronic music and improvisational techniques is exemplified in her unusual combination of contrasting elements, novel instrumentation, and the use of traditional Russian folk instruments in her solo and chamber works, such as ''De profundis'' for
bayan, ''Et expecto'',
sonata
Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...
for bayan, and ''In croce'' for cello and organ or bayan. The
koto
Koto may refer to:
* Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group
* Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument
* Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana
* Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women
* K ...
, a traditional Japanese instrument is featured in her work ''In the Shadow of the Tree'', in which one solo player performs three different instrument—koto, bass koto, and
chang. The ''Canticle of the Sun'' is a cello concerto/choral hybrid, dedicated to
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was wel ...
. The use of the lowest possible registers on the cello opens new possibilities for the instrument while the limited use of chorus also adds a mystical ambience to the work.
Another influence of improvisation techniques can be found in her fascination with percussion instruments. She associates the indeterminate nature of percussive timbres with the mystical longing and the potential freedom of human transcendence.
In an interview with the modern British composer
Ivan Moody
Ivan L. Moody (born Ivan Lewis Greening on January 7, 1980) is an American singer and songwriter who is the lead vocalist of Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch (FFDP). He performed for several other bands including Mo ...
, Gubaidulina provides an explanation for how percussion is utilized in her works to show spiritualism. She says,
... percussion has an acoustic cloud around it, a cloud that cannot be analyzed. These instruments are at the boundary between palpable reality and the subconscious, because they have these acoustics. Their purely physical characteristics, of the timpani and membranophones and so on, when the skin vibrates, or the wood is touched, respond. They enter into that layer of our consciousness which is not logical, they are at the boundary between the conscious and the subconscious.
She was also preoccupied by experimentation with non-traditional methods of sound production, and as already mentioned, with unusual combinations of instruments, e.g. Concerto for Bassoon and Low Strings (1975), ''Detto – I'', sonata for organ and percussion (1978), ''The Garden of Joy and Sorrow'' for flute, harp and viola (1980), and ''Descensio'' for 3 trombones, 3 percussionists, harp, harpsichord/celesta and celesta/piano (1981).
Gubaidulina notes that the two composers to whom she experiences a constant devotion are
J. S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
and
Anton Webern
Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...
, although she had periods of devotion to
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
, the
Second Viennese School
The Second Viennese School (german: Zweite Wiener Schule, Neue Wiener Schule) was the group of composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils, particularly Alban Berg and Anton Webern, and close associates in early 20th-century Vienna. ...
, and 16th century music, most notably
Gesualdo da Venosa
Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa ( – 8 September 1613) was Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza. As a composer he is known for writing madrigals and pieces of sacred music that use a chromatic language not heard again until the late 19th century. ...
and
Josquin
Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the ...
.
Among some non-musical influences of considerable import are
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
(Swiss thinker and founder of analytical psychology) and
Nikolai Berdyaev
Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (; russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Бердя́ев; – 24 March 1948) was a Russian Empire, Russian philosopher, theologian, and Christian existentialism, Christian existentialist who e ...
(Russian religious philosopher, whose works were forbidden in the USSR, but nevertheless found and studied by the composer).
Style
A profoundly spiritual person, Gubaidulina defines "re-ligio" as re-legato or as restoration of the connection between oneself and the Absolute.
She finds this re-connection through the artistic process and has developed a number of musical symbols to express her ideals. She does it through narrower means of intervallic and
rhythmic Rhythmic may refer to:
* Related to rhythm
* Rhythmic contemporary, a radio format
* Rhythmic adult contemporary, a radio format
* Rhythmic gymnastics, a form of gymnastics
* Rhythmic (chart)
The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and ...
relationship within the primary material of her works, by seeking to discover the depth and mysticism of the sound, as well as on a larger scale, through carefully thought architecture of musical form.
Gubaidulina's music is characterised by the use of unusual instrumental combinations. ''In Erwartung'' combines
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
(
bongos
Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...
,
güiro
The güiro () is a Puerto Rican percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines (see photo) along the notches to produce a ratchet sound.
The güiro ...
s, temple blocks,
cymbal
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...
s and
tam-tam
A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...
s among others) and
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
quartet
In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments.
Classical String quartet
In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...
.
Melodically, Gubaidulina's is characterized by the frequent use of intense chromatic motives rather than long melodic phrases. She often treats musical space as a means of attaining unity with the divine—a direct line to God—concretely manifest by the lack of striation in pitch space. She achieves this through the use of micro-chromaticism (i.e., quarter tones) and frequent
glissandi
In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the co ...
, exemplifying the lack of "steps" to the divine. This notion is furthered by her extreme dichotomy characterized by chromatic space vs. diatonic space viewed as symbols of darkness vs. light and human/mundane vs. divine/heavenly. Additionally, the use of short motivic segments allows her to create a musical narrative that is seemingly open-ended and disjunct rather than smooth. Finally, another important melodic technique can be seen with her use of harmonics. When talking about her piece ''Rejoice!'', sonata for violin and violoncello, Gubaidulina explains,
The possibility for string instruments to derive pitches of various heights at one and the same place on the string can be experienced in music as the transition to another plane of existence. And that is joy.
''Rejoice!'' uses harmonics to represent joy as an elevated state of spiritual thought.
Harmonically, Gubaidulina's music resists traditional tonal centers and triadic structures in favor of pitch
clusters and intervallic design arising from the contrapuntal interaction between melodic voices. For example, in the ''Cello Concerto Detto-2'' (1972) she notes that a strict and progressive intervallic process occurs, in which the opening section utilizes successively wider intervals that become narrower toward the last section.
Rhythmically, Gubaidulina places significant stress on the fact that temporal ratios should not be limited to local figuration; rather, the temporality of the musical form should be the defining feature of rhythmic character. As
Gerard McBurney
Gerard McBurney (born 20 June 1954) is a British composer, arranger, broadcaster, teacher and writer.
Life
Born in Cambridge, England, he is the son of Charles McBurney, an American archaeologist, and Anne Francis Edmondstone (née Charles), ...
states:
In conversation she is most keen to stress that she cannot accept the idea (a frequent post-serial one) of rhythm or duration as the material of a piece. ... To her, rhythm is nowadays a generating principle as, for instance, the cadence was to tonal composers of the Classical period; it therefore cannot be the surface material of a work. ... e expresses her impatience with Messiaen
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century. His m ...
, whose use of rhythmic modes to generate local imagery, she feels, restricts the effectiveness of rhythm as an underlying formal level of the music.
To this end, Gubaidulina often devises durational ratios in order to create the temporal forms for her compositions. Specifically, she often utilizes elements of the
Fibonacci sequence
In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted , form a integer sequence, sequence, the Fibonacci sequence, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. The sequence commonly starts from 0 and 1, although some authors start ...
or the
golden ratio
In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b > 0,
where the Greek letter phi ( ...
, in which each succeeding element is equal to the sum of the two preceding elements (i.e., 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc.). This numerical layout represents the balanced nature in her music through a sense of cell multiplication between live and non-live substances. She believes that this abstract theory is the foundation of her personal musical expression. The golden ratio between the sections are always marked by some musical event, and the composer explores her fantasy fully in articulating this moment.
The first work in which Gubaidulina experiments with this concept of proportionality is ''Perceptions'' for Soprano, Baritone, and Seven String Instruments (1981, rev. 1983–86). The 12th movement, "Montys Tod" (Monty's Death), uses the Fibonacci series in its rhythmical structure with the number of quarter notes in individual episodes corresponding to numbers from Fibonacci series.
In the early 1980s, she began to use the
Fibonacci sequence
In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted , form a integer sequence, sequence, the Fibonacci sequence, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. The sequence commonly starts from 0 and 1, although some authors start ...
as a way of structuring the form of the work. Her use of the Fibonacci sequence to determine phrase and rhythm length replaces traditional form, creating a new form which to her is more spiritually in tune. Gubaidulina also experimented with other like series, including
the Lucas Series which begins by adding 2 instead of 1 to the initial value; the only thing setting it apart from Fibonacci.
These forms are still fluid, as every other movement in her
symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
''
Stimmen... Verstummen...'' follows the Fibonacci form. "It is a game!", she would claim.
Later the Lucas and Evangelist series, sequences derived from that of
Fibonacci
Fibonacci (; also , ; – ), also known as Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo of Pisa, or Leonardo Bigollo Pisano ('Leonardo the Traveller from Pisa'), was an Italian mathematician from the Republic of Pisa, considered to be "the most talented Western ...
, were added to her
repertoire
A repertoire () is a list or set of dramas, operas, musical compositions or roles which a company or person is prepared to perform.
Musicians often have a musical repertoire. The first known use of the word ''repertoire'' was in 1847. It is a l ...
.
Valentina Kholopova, Gubaidulina's close friend and colleague, outlined the composer's form techniques in detail. In addition to using the Fibonacci among other number sequences, Kholopova describes Gubaidulina's use of "expression parameters"; being
articulation,
melody
A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
, rhythm,
texture
Texture may refer to:
Science and technology
* Surface texture, the texture means smoothness, roughness, or bumpiness of the surface of an object
* Texture (roads), road surface characteristics with waves shorter than road roughness
* Texture (c ...
, and composition. The name suggests the immediate effects of each parameter on the listener. Each of these exists on a scale of
consonance to dissonance, together forming the "parameter complex". For example, she describes a consonant articulation as legato, and a dissonant one as staccato, but each of these can change from piece to piece.
According to Kholopova, music from before the 20th century left the responsibility of articulation to the performer, while now it begs to be more heavily illustrated by the composer. She also cites the writings of Viktor Bobrovski on his research on macrothemes, or central ideas that may occupy larger frames of time, such as entire sections of a piece. With this scale, pieces such as her ''Concordanza'' assume a mosaic form held together by Fibonacci-derived groupings of expression parameters, "
modulating" between consonance and dissonance. This technique appears most clearly in her ''Ten Preludes for Solo Cello'' as six of its movements are names after modulation between parameters, and two being single parameters. Kholopova proposed that this scale could be used to analyze the music of any 20th century composer focused on texture,
timbre
In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...
and color, and that it is but one way to analyze music, signalling a continuing progression, catalyzed, according to Gubaidulina, by Webern.
Piano music
Gubaidulina's entire piano output belongs to her earlier compositional period and consists of the following works: ''Chaconne'' (1962), Piano Sonata (1965), ''Musical Toys'' (1968), ''Toccata-Troncata'' (1971), ''Invention'' (1974) and Piano Concerto "Introitus" (1978). Some of the titles reveal her interest in
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
genres and the influence of
J. S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
.
The Piano Sonata is dedicated to Henrietta Mirvis, a pianist greatly admired by the composer. The work follows the classical formal structure in 3 movements: ''Allegro'' (
sonata form
Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical form, musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle ...
), ''Adagio'', and ''Allegretto''. Four motives (pitch sets) are utilized throughout the entire
sonata
Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...
, which also constitute the cyclical elements upon which the rhetoric of the piece is constructed. Each motive is given a particular name: "spring", "struggle", "consolation", and "faith".
There are two elements in the primary thematic complex of the first movement: (1) a "swing" theme, characterized by
syncopation
In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...
and dotted rhythms and (2) a chord progression, juxtaposing minor and major seconds over an
ostinato
In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...
pattern in the left hand. The slower secondary theme introduces a melodic element associated with the ostinato element of the previous theme.
In the development section, these sets are explored melodically, while the dotted rhythm figure gains even more importance. In the recapitulation, the chord progression of the first thematic complex is brought to the higher registers, preparing the coda based on secondary theme
cantabile
In music, ''cantabile'' , an Italian word, means literally "singable" or "songlike". In instrumental music, it is a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human voice.
For 18th-century composers, ''cantabile'' is often synonymous wi ...
element, which gradually broadens.
The second movement shifts to a different expressive world. A simple ternary form with a cadenza–AB (
cadenza
In music, a cadenza (from it, cadenza, link=no , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvisation, improvised or written-out ornament (music), ornamental passage (music), passage played or sung by a solo (music), sol ...
) A, the B section represents an acoustic departure as the chromatic figurations in the left hand, originating in section A, are muted.
In the cadenza the performer improvises within a framework given by the composer, inviting a deeper exploration of the secrets of sound. It consists of two alternating elements– open-sounding strings, stroke by fingers, with no pitch determination, and muted articulation of the strings in the bass register—separated by rests marked with
fermata
A fermata (; "from ''fermare'', to stay, or stop"; also known as a hold, pause, colloquially a birdseye or cyclops eye, or as a grand pause when placed on a note or a rest) is a symbol of musical notation indicating that the note should be pr ...
s. The third movement is constructed of 7 episodes, in which there is a continuous liberation of energy accumulated during the previous movement.
Two distinct aspects of the sonata—the driving force and the meditative state—can be seen through the architecture of the work as portraying the image of the cross. The first movement is related to the "horizontal" line, which symbolizes human experience while the second movement reflects the "vertical" line, which represents man's striving for full realization in the Divine. The meeting point of these two lines in music happens at the end of second movement, and that reflects transformation of the human being at crossing these two dimensions. The third movement "celebrates the newly obtained freedom of the spirit".
The
Steinway
Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...
grand piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
she has in her home was a gift from Rostropovich.
Awards and recognition
*Prix de Monaco (1987)
*Premio Franco Abbiati (1991)
*Heidelberger Künstlerinnenpreis (1991)
*Russian State Prize (1992)
*Koussevitzky International Record Award (in 1989 and 1994)
*Ludwig-Spohr-Preis der Stadt Braunschweig (1995)
*Kulturpreis des Kreises Pinneberg (1997)
*
Praemium Imperiale
Prince Takamatsu
The Praemium Imperiale ( ja, 高松宮殿下記念世界文化賞, Takamatsu-no-miya Denka Kinen Sekai Bunka-shō, World Culture Prize in Memory of His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu) is an international art prize inaugura ...
in Japan (1998)
*
Sonning Award in Denmark (1999)
*Preis der Stiftung Bibel und Kultur (1999)
*Goethe-Medaille der Stadt Weimar (2001)
*Moscow Silenzio-Preis (2001)
*
Polar Music Prize
The Polar Music Prize is a Swedish international award founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, best known as the manager of the Swedish band ABBA, with a donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The award is annually given to one contemporary ...
in Sweden (2002)
*Great Distinguished Service Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
(2002)
*Living Composer Prize of the Cannes Classical Awards in 2003
*Europäischen Kulturpreis (2005)
*Russian Cultural Prize "Triumph" (2007)
*
Bach Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
The Bach Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg has been awarded since 1951, since 1975 every four years. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach, the prize was founded in 1950 by the Senate and the ...
(2007)
*Honour Prize of the Moscow Regiment and the International Council of Russian Compatriots "The Compatriot of the Year – 2007".
In 2001 she became honour professor of the
Kazan Conservatory
The N.G. Zhiganov Kazan State Conservatory (Russian: Казанская государственная консерватория имени Н.Г. Жиганова) is a higher musical education institution in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. The conse ...
. In 2005 she was elected as a foreign honorary member of the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
. In 2009, she became Dr. honoris causa of Yale University.
In 2011 she was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree from the University of Chicago.
On 4 October 2013, Gubaidulina became the recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for the Music section of the
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
.
She has won the
BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards () are an international award programme recognizing significant contributions in the areas of scientific research and cultural creation. The categories that make up the Frontiers of Knowledge Awards ...
(2016) in the contemporary music category. The jury in its citation praised the "outstanding musical and personal qualities" of the Russian composer, and the "spiritual quality" of her work.
On 27 February 2017, Gubaidulina was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree by the
New England Conservatory
The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Hu ...
, in Boston.
Her 90th birthday in October 2021 was celebrated by the
Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...
of Leipzig's release of three of her pieces. She was also celebrated in a week of chamber and orchestral music.
In November, to mark the occasion, she was selected as Composer of the Week on the long running
show of the same name on
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
.
Works
Orchestral
*''Fairytale Poem'' for orchestra (1971)
*''Revue Music'' for symphony orchestra and jazz band (1976, rev. 1995, 2002)
*''Te Salutant'', capriccio for large orchestra (1978)
*''
Stimmen... Verstummen...'' symphony in twelve movements (1986)
*''Pro et Contra'' for large orchestra (1989)
*''The Unasked Answer (Antwort ohne Frage)'' collage for three orchestras (1989)
*''Stufen'' for orchestra and 7 reciters (1992)
*''Figures of Time (Фигуры времени)'' for large orchestra (1994)
*''The Rider on the White Horse'' for large orchestra and organ (2002)
*''The Light of the End (Свет конца)'' for large orchestra (2003)
*''Feast During a Plague'' for large orchestra (2006)
*''Der Zorn Gottes'' for orchestra (2020)
Concertante
*''Detto II'' for cello and ensemble (1972)
*Concerto for bassoon and low strings (1975)
*''Introitus'' concerto for piano and chamber orchestra (1978)
*''
Offertorium (Жертвоприношение)'' concerto for violin and orchestra (1980, rev. 1982, 1986)
*''Sieben Worte'' for cello,
bayan, and strings (1982)
*''And: The Feast is in Full Procession (И: Празднество в разгаре)'' for cello and orchestra (1993)
*''
Music for Flute, Strings, and Percussion ''Music for Flute, Strings, and Percussion'' is a piece written by Sofia Gubaidulina in 1994 dedicated to Pierre-Yves Artaud.
The instruments are divided into two sections, one of which is tuned a quarter-tone lower than the other.Michael Kurtz, M ...
'' (1994)
*''Impromptu'' for flute (flute and alto flute), violin, and strings (1996)
*Concerto for viola and orchestra (1996)
*''
The Canticle of the Sun of St Francis of Assisi'' for cello, chamber choir and percussion (1997)
*''Two Paths: A Dedication to Mary and Martha'' for two viola solo and orchestra (1998)
*''Im Schatten des Baumes (В тени под деревом)'' for koto, bass koto, zheng, and orchestra (1998)
*''Under the Sign of Scorpio'' variants on six hexachords for bayan and large orchestra (2003)
*''...The Deceitful Face of Hope and Despair'' for flute and orchestra (2005)
*''In Tempus Praesens'', concerto for violin and orchestra (2007)
*''Glorious Percussion'', concerto for percussion and orchestra (2008)
*''
Fachwerk
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
'', concerto for bayan, percussion and strings (2009)
*''Warum?'' for flute, clarinet and string orchestra (2014)
*Concerto for violin, cello and bayan (2017)
*''Dialog: Ich und Du'', concerto for violin and orchestra (2018)
Vocal/choral
*''Phacelia'', vocal cycle for soprano and orchestra based on
Mikhail Prishvin
Mikhail Mikhailovich Prishvin (russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович При́швин) (January 23 ( N.S. February 4), 1873 – January 16, 1954) was a Russian and Soviet novelist, prose writer and publicist. Prishvin defined it this wa ...
's poem (1956)
*''Night in Memphis'', cantata for mezzo-soprano, orchestra and male choir on tape (1968)
*''Rubaijat'', cantata for baryton and chamber ensemble (1969)
*''Roses'' for soprano and piano (1972)
*''Counting Rhymes'' for voice and piano (1973)
*''Hour of the Soul'' poem by Marina Tsvetaeva for large wind orchestra and mezzo-soprano/contralto (1974), for percussion, mezzo-soprano, and large orchestra (1976)
*''Laudatio Pacis'', oratorio for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, speaker, 3 mixed choirs and large orchestra without strings (1975)
*''Perception'' for soprano, baritone (speaking voices) and 7 string instruments (1981, rev. 1983, 1986)
*''Hommage à Marina Tsvetayeva'' for a cappella choir (1984)
*''Letter to the Poetess Rimma Dalo'' for soprano and cello (1985)
*''Ein Walzerpass nach Johann Strauss'' for soprano and octet, also arranged for piano and string quintet (1987)
*''Hommage à T.S. Eliot'' for soprano and octet (1987)
*''Two Songs on German Folk Poetry'' for (mezzo-)soprano, flute, harpsichord and cello (1988)
*''Jauchzt vor Gott'' for mixed choir and organ (1989)
*''Alleluja'' for mixed chorus, boy soprano, organ and large orchestra (1990)
*''Aus dem Stundenbuch'' on a text of Rainer Maria Rilke for cello, orchestra, male choir, and a woman speaker (1991)
*''Lauda'' for alto, tenor, baritone, narrator, mixed choir, and large orchestra (1991)
*''Jetzt immer Schnee (Теперь всегда снега)'' on verses of Gennadi Aigi for chamber ensemble and chamber choir (1993)
*''Ein Engel'' for contralto and double bass (1994)
*''Aus den Visionen der Hildegard von Bingen'' for contralto (1994)
*''Galgenlieder à 3'' fifteen pieces for mezzo-soprano, percussion, and contrabass (1996)
*''Galgenlieder à 5'' fourteen pieces for mezzo-soprano, flute, percussion, bayan, and contrabass (1996)
*''Sonnengesang'', St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun for violoncello, mixed choir and percussion (1997)
*''Johannes-Passion'' for soprano, tenor, baritone, bass, two mixed choirs, organ, and large orchestra (2000)
*''Johannes-Ostern'' for soprano, tenor, baritone, bass, two mixed choirs, organ, and large orchestra (2001)
*''O Komm, Heiliger Geist'' for soprano, bass, mixed choir and orchestra (2015)
*''Über Liebe und Hass'' for soprano, tenor, baritone, bass, two mixed choirs and orchestra, in 9 movements (2015, rev. 2016) and in 15 movements (2016, rev. 2018)
Solo instrumental
*Serenade for guitar (1960)
*Chaconne for piano (1963)
*Piano Sonata (1965)
*Toccata for guitar (1969)
*''Musical Toys'' for piano (1969)
*''Toccata-Troncata'' for piano (1971)
*Ten Preludes for cello (1974), also version as Eight Etudes for double bass (2009)
*''Invention'' for piano (1974)
*''Hell und Dunkel'' for organ (1976)
*Sonatina for flute (1978)
*''De Profundis'' for
bayan (1978)
*''Et Exspecto'', sonata for bayan (1986)
*''Ritorno perpetuo'' for harpsichord (1997)
*''Cadenza'' for bayan (2003, rev. 2011)
Chamber/ensemble
*Quintet for piano, two violins, viola, and cello (1957)
*''Allegro Rustico'' for flute and piano (1963)
*Five Etudes for harp, double bass and percussion (1965)
*''Pantomime'' for double bass and piano (1966)
*''Musical Toys'' fourteen piano pieces for children (1969)
*''Vivente – Non Vivente'' for electronics (1970)
*''Concordanza'' for chamber ensemble (1971)
*String Quartet No. 1 (1971)
*Music for Harpsichord and Percussion Instruments from Mark Pekarsky’s Collection (1971, rev. 1973)
*''Rumore e silenzio'' for percussion and harpsichord (1974)
*Quattro for two trumpets and two trombones (1974)
*Sonata for double bass and piano (1975)
*''Two Ballads'' for two trumpets and piano (1976)
*''Dots, Lines and Zigzag'' for bass clarinet and piano (1976)
*Trio for three trumpets (1976)
*''Lied ohne Worte (Songs without words)'' for trumpet and piano (1977)
*''On Tatar Folk Themes'' for domra and piano (1977)
*Duo sonata for two bassoons (1977)
*''Lamento'' for tuba and piano (1977)
*''Misterioso'' for 7 percussionists (1977)
*Quartet for four flutes (1977)
*''Detto I'', sonata for organ and percussion (1978)
*''Sounds of the Forest'' for flute and piano (1978)
*Two Pieces for horn and piano (1979)
*''In Croce'' for cello and organ (1979), for bayan and cello (1991)
*''Jubilatio'' for 4 percussionists (1979)
*''Garten von Freuden und Traurigkeiten'' for flute, viola, harp and narrator (1980)
*''Descensio'' for 3 trombones, 3 percussionists, harp, harpsichord and piano (1981)
*''Rejoice!'', sonata for violin and cello (1981)
*''Swan, Crab and Pike'', march for brass ensemble and percussion (1982)
*''In the Beginning There was Rhythm'' for seven percussionists (1984)
*''Quasi hoquetus'' for viola, bassoon, and piano (1984)
*String Quartet No. 2 (1987), appears on ''
Short Stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
''
*String Quartet No. 3 (1987)
*String Trio (1988)
*''Ein Walzerpass nach Johann Strauss'' for piano and string quintet, arranged from version for soprano and octet (1989)
*''Hörst Du uns, Luigi? Schau mal, welchen Tanz eine einfache Holzrassel für Dich vollführt (Слышишь ты нас, Луиджи? Вот танец, который танцует для тебя обыкновенная деревянная трещотка)'' for six percussionists (1991)
*''Gerade und ungerade (Чет и нечет)'' for seven percussionists, including cymbalom (1991)
*''Silenzio'' for bayan, violin, and cello (1991)
*''Tartarische Tanz'' for bayan and two contrabass (1992)
*''Dancer on a Tightrope (Der Seiltänzer)'' for violin and
string piano
String piano is a term coined by American composer-theorist Henry Cowell (1897–1965) to collectively describe those pianistic extended techniques in which sound is produced by direct manipulation of the strings, instead of or in addition to str ...
(1993)
*''Meditation über den Bach-Choral "Vor deinen Thron tret' ich hiermit"'' for harpsichord, two violins, viola, cello, and contrabass (1993)
*''... Early in the Morning, Right before Waking ...'' for three 17-string Japanese bass kotos and four 13-string Japanese kotos (1993)
*String Quartet No. 4 (a triple quartet for quartet, two taped quartets and ad libitum colored lights, dedicated to the
Kronos Quartet
The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...
) (1993)
*''In Erwartung (В ожидании)'' for saxophone quartet and six percussionists (1994)
*''Aus der Visionen der Hildegard von Bingen'' for alto (1994)
*''Quaternion'' for cello quartet (1996)
*''Risonanza'' for three trumpets, four trombones, organ, and six strings (2001)
*''Reflections on the theme B–A–C–H'' for string quartet (2002)
*''Mirage: The Dancing Sun'' for eight violoncelli (2002)
*''On the Edge of Abyss'' for seven violoncelli and two
waterphone
A waterphone (also ocean harp) is a type of inharmonic acoustic tuned idiophone consisting of a stainless steel resonator ''bowl'' or ''pan'' with a cylindrical ''neck'' and bronze rods of different lengths and diameters around the rim of the bowl ...
s (2002)
*''Verwandlung (Transformation)'' for trombone, saxophone quartet, cello, double bass, and tam-tam (2005)
*''The Lyre of Orpheus'' for violin, percussion, and strings (2006)
*''Ravvedimento'' for cello and quartet of guitars (2007)
**''Pentimento'', an arrangement for double-bass and three guitars (2007)
**''Repentance'', an arrangement for cello, double-bass and three guitars (2008)
*''Fantasia on the Theme S–H–E–A'' for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart (2008)
* ''Sotto voce, ''for viola, double-bass and two guitars (2010/2013)
*''Labyrinth'', for 12 celli (2011)
*''So sei es, ''for violin, double-bass, piano, and percussion (2013)
*''Pilgrims'' for violin, double bass, piano and two percussionists (2014)
*''Einfaches Gebet'', Low Mass for narrator, two celli, double bass, piano and two percussionists (2016)
Arrangements
*''Le Grand Tango'' by
Astor Piazzolla
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (, ; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed ''nuevo tango'', incorporating elements from ...
, for violin and piano (1995)
Film scores (partial list from more than 30 films)
Gubaidulina considers the following four works the most important in this genre:
*''The Circus Tent'' by Ideya Garanina (1981)
*''Veliki Samoyed'' by Arkadi Kordon (1981)
*''The University Chair'' by Ivan Kiasashvili (1982)
*''
The Scarecrow'' by
Rolan Bykov
Rolan Antonovich Bykov (russian: Ролан Антонович Быков; October 12, 1929 – October 6, 1998) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, director, screenwriter and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1990).
Early life
R ...
(1984)
Other works include:
*''
Adventures of Mowgli
''Adventures of Mowgli'' (russian: Маугли; also spelled ''Maugli'') is an animated feature-length story originally released as five animated shorts of about 20 minutes each between 1967 and 1971 in the Soviet Union. It is based on Rudyard Ki ...
'' (1967–1971)
*''
The Kreutzer Sonata
''The Kreutzer Sonata'' (russian: Крейцерова соната, ) is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, named after Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven), Kreutzer Sonata. The novella was published in 1889, and was promptly censored by the Rus ...
'' (1987)
*''
The Cat Who Walked by Herself
''The Cat Who Walked by Herself'' (russian: Кошка, которая гуляла сама по себе, Koshka, kotoraya gulyala sama po sebe) is a 1988 Soviet animated feature film directed by Ideya Garanina and made at the Soyuzmultfilm stud ...
'' (1988)
*''
Mary Queen Of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
'' (2013)
A more complete list of her scores for animated films may be found on her profile at
Animator.ru.
"Gubaidulina, Sophia"
Animator.ru
Discography
*''Solo Piano Works'' (1994: Sony SK 53960). "Chaconne" (1962), "Sonata" (1965) and "Musical Toys" (1968), performed by Andreas Haefliger
Andreas Haefliger (born September 11, 1962) is a German-born Switzerland, Swiss pianist.
Early life and education
Born in Berlin on September 11, 1962, Haefliger is the youngest son of famed tenor Ernst Haefliger and interior designer and archit ...
, and "Introitus": Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra (1978), Andreas Haefliger with the NDR Radiophilharmonie
The NDR Radiophilharmonie is a German radio orchestra, affiliated with the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony. The orchestra principally gives concerts in the ''Großer Sendesaal'' of the ''Landesfunkhaus Niedersa ...
conducted by Bernhard Klee
Bernhard Klee (born 19 April 1936) is a German conductor, originally from Schleiz, in Thuringia. Trained as a member of the Thomanerchor, he has since conducted many of Europe's most prestigious orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic and S ...
.
*''The Canticle of the Sun'' (1997) and ''Music for Flute, Strings, and Percussion ''Music for Flute, Strings, and Percussion'' is a piece written by Sofia Gubaidulina in 1994 dedicated to Pierre-Yves Artaud.
The instruments are divided into two sections, one of which is tuned a quarter-tone lower than the other.Michael Kurtz, M ...
'' (1994). The first performed by cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was wel ...
and London Voices
London Voices is a London-based choral ensemble founded by Terry Edwards (1939-2022) in 1973. In its early years, it also incorporated the London Opera Chorus and London Sinfonietta Voices and Chorus. In 2004, Ben Parry, became co-director of th ...
conducted by Ryusuke Numajiri, the second by flutist Emmanuel Pahud
Emmanuel Pahud (born 27 January 1970) is a Franco-Swiss flautist.
He was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His father is of French and Swiss background and his mother is French. The Berlin-based flutistPatrick LamEmmanuel Pahud – The showcase behi ...
and the London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
conducted by Rostropovich. Gubaidulina attended the recording of both pieces.
*''Johannes-Passion'' (2000). Performed by Natalia Korneva, soprano; Viktor Lutsiuk, tenor; Fedor Mozhaev, baritone; Genady Bezzubenkov, bass; Saint Petersburg Chamber Choir (dir. Nikolai Kornev); Choir of the Mariinsky Theatre Saint Petersburg (dir. Andrei Petrenko); Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
The Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra or just the Mariinsky Orchestra (formerly known as the Kirov Orchestra) is located in the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. The orchestra was founded in 1783 during the reign of Catherine the Great, it wa ...
Saint Petersburg conducted by Valery Gergiev
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (russian: Вале́рий Абиса́лович Ге́ргиев, ; os, Гергиты Абисалы фырт Валери, Gergity Abisaly fyrt Valeri; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conductor and opera company d ...
. World premiere recorded live at the European Music Festival in Stuttgart, September 9, 2000.
References
Sources
*
*
External links
Classical.net: Sofia Gubaidulina
*
Sofia Gubaidulina on the Official site of the Moscow Regiment
18 April 1997
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gubaidulina, Sofia
1931 births
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
Deutsche Grammophon artists
Eastern Orthodox Christians from Russia
German electronic musicians
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Living people
Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
Kazan Conservatory alumni
Moscow Conservatory alumni
People from Chistopol
Recipients of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale
Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists
Russian classical composers
Russian expatriates in Germany
Russian women classical composers
Russian Orthodox Christians from Russia
Soviet women classical composers
Tatar Christians
Tatar people of Russia
Volga Tatar people
Tatar composers
20th-century women composers
21st-century women composers
Tatar people of the Soviet Union
Musicians from Tatarstan