Composing the Sacred in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia: History and Christianity in Alfred Schnittke's Concerto for Choir

Schnittke wrote the Concerto for Choir during one of his most prolific compositional years, 1985, the same year that Mikhail Gorbachev, the architect of Soviet glasnost, came to power, and the year Schnittke suffered from the first of five strokes. The Concerto is scored for a cappella mixed chorus, and its text is the work of the tenth-century Armenian monk and poet, Gregor Narekatsi (951--1003). The work is demanding and challenging, and its approximate length of forty-seven minutes requires great endurance. These characteristics, plus a lengthy Russian text, have not diminished interest in performing and recording the work. The entire second half of this dissertation includes a thorough analysis of Schnittke's Concerto. It provides essential information for conductors wanting to successfully perform this monumental twentieth-century composition.

Name thesis:degree_name

D.M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Turgeon, Melanie Edwardine

Contributors dc:contributor

• Donna Buchanan

• Literature, Slavic and East European

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3270044

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/85790