The Third Symphony by

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, link=no, Alfred Garriyevich Shnitke; 24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer of Jewish-German descent. Among the most performed and re ...

was his fourth composition in the symphonic form, completed in 1981. Like its predecessor, it is in four movements: an opening '' Moderato'', followed by an '' Allegro'' and a relatively brief movement marked ''Allegro pesante'', with the lengthy finale marked ''

Adagio Adagio (Italian for 'slowly', ) may refer to: Music * Adagio, a tempo marking, indicating that music is to be played slowly, or a composition intended to be played in this manner * Adagio (band), a French progressive metal band Albums * ''Adagi ...

''. At around 50 minutes, it is Schnittke's third longest symphony, after the First and Second symphonies. It shares an intensity similar to the First Symphony, but unlike that work has a more traditional form, and contains no direct quotations. Nonetheless, the influence of many composers hangs over the piece (

Richard Taruskin Richard Filler Taruskin (April 2, 1945 – July 1, 2022) was an American musicologist and music critic who was among the leading and most prominent music historians of his generation. The breadth of his scrutiny into source material as well as ...

called the opening of the work "Wagner's '' Rheingold'' prelude, cubed and cubed again."), not merely stylistically but in Schnittke's repeated use of composers' initials. These include

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 wor ...

, Handel, Mozart, Schoenberg,

Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundb ...

and

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as ...

. Further use is made of transposed words later in the work: in the third movement the word "das Böse" ("the Evil") appears as an eight-note

tone row In music, a tone row or note row (german: Reihe or '), also series or set, is a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets ...

(D, A, E flat, A flat, B flat, E, E flat, E), with the B-A-C-H monogram dominating the final movement. The work was premiered in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

on 5 November 1981, with

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus O ...

conducting the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester in Schnittke's presence. It was first recorded in 1984 by

Gennadi Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky, CBE (russian: Генна́дий Никола́евич Рожде́ственский; 4 May 1931 – 16 June 2018) was a Soviet and Russian conductor. Biography Gennady Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. ...

with the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra. Further recordings appeared in the 1990s with the

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra ( sv, Kungliga Filharmonikerna or , literal translations, "Royal Philharmonic" or "Royal Philharmonic Orchestra") is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm. Its principal venue is the Konserthuset. His ...

under

Eri Klas Eri Klas (7 June 1939 – 26 February 2016) was an Estonian conductor. Klas was born into a Jewish family in Tallinn. His mother was pianist Anna Klas. His father, Eduard Klas, was killed in 1941, during the Holocaust.''Eesti Entsüklope ...

and in 2015 with the

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (''Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie. The orchestra has also ...

under

Vladimir Jurowski Vladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski (; born 4 April 1972) is a Russian conductor. He is the son of conductor Michail Jurowski, and grandson of Soviet film music composer Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski. Early life Born in Moscow, Jurowski began h ...

( PENTATONE PTC 5186485).

Instrumentation

The symphony is scored for a large orchestra consisting of 4 flutes (all doubling piccolos), 4 oboes (4th doubling cor anglais), 4 clarinets (3rd doubling piccolo clarinet, 4th doubling bass clarinet), 4 bassoons (4th doubling contrabassoon), 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones (4th doubling contrabass trombone), tuba, timpani, 2 tam-tams, vibraphone, marimba, bells, glockenspiel, electric guitar, bass guitar, 2 harps, piano, harpsichord, organ, celesta, and strings (16-16-12-12-10) The symphony consists of four movements : * Moderato * Allegro * Allegro pesante * Adagio The duration of the symphony is approximately 50 minutes.

References

{{Authority control 1981 compositions Symphonies by Alfred Schnittke