Schnittke String Quartet Creative Techniques

As one of the greatest composer in Russia in 20th century, Alfred Schnittke was so unique in the style of his music—there were many styles of music coexisting in one piece of work; there might be the styles of music and melodies (or sounds) of different musical schools existing in coherence in one piece of work, which seemed so far way from each other in time, just like to be connected in a montage in filming, and this might make the listeners feel the change beyond time and space; no matter how different they were, the factors in music would finally be reflected in one unified and harmonious feeling. The music, which enrolled various styles of music and techniques of composing, was so attracting and spiritual, and was called"polystylistic music"by Schnittke.The original intention and the formation of its concept of polystylistic music seemed to be closely related to his experience of study and creation, complex family background, passion for literature, devout religious belief and complicated philosophical ideas, etc. Furthermore, the features of so called polystylistic music were fully demonstrated in all the four string quartets created all through his life. In this paper, I will take this four string quartets for example which last all through his life and best reflect the style and feature of his music, and focus on the specific composing techniques in order to get some idea of his typical musical style and technological feature, and further reveal the enlightenment of his string quartets on modern musical creation.