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The Project (2010-2013): Alfred Schnittke: Collected Works, Critical Edition

Alfred Schnittke: Collected Works
Critical Edition (based on the composer’s archive materials)
Phase One (15 volumes)
In partnership with the Compozitor Publishing House, Russia

[Download Booklet part 1]
[Download Booklet part 2]
[Download sample Edition volume: Violin Sonata No. 0 (VI/1)]

The music of Alfred Schnittke has an established place in concert repertoires around the world. Schnittke’s work has also been the subject of a large number of academic studies at music schools and conservatoires, and doctoral dissertations have been written on many aspects of his music and its context. The growing scholarly interest in Schnittke has been aided in recent years by the foundation of two research centres dedicated to his music and writings: the Alfred Schnittke Archive, Goldsmiths, and the Schnittke Centre, Moscow. Two further organisations have recently been established, the Schnittke Internationale Gesellschaft and the Schnittke Akademie in Hamburg, which are also dedicated to the study and dissemination of the composer’s music.

The Compozitor publishing house, St. Petersburg has undertaken to produce scholarly edition of Schnittke’s music (see the attached brochure). Two volumes (each in three parts) have already been published in 2009. The edition will run to 67 volumes and will provide access to Schnittke’s works, many of which have never before appeared in print.

This research project constitutes the scholarly basis of the edition.

The Alfred Schnittke Archive at Goldsmiths College contains primary sources that will be of crucial importance to the success of the publication. The originals are in a private collection and are not available for consultation. The family Archives in Hamburg and in Moscow will be consulted, as well as a substantial collection of Schnittke’s manuscript sketches recently acquired by the Julliard School, USA.

Despite Schnittke’s international reputation, scholars and performers of his music have faced a number of difficulties in accessing reliable editions of his music. Some works were published in Moscow in the 1970s and 80s but are now out of print. More of Schnittke’s works were published by the Sikorski Verlag, Universal Edition and Edition Peters. However, many of these were simply facsimile copies of the autograph scores, which are often difficult to read. The few engraved scores that were published in the West were not proofread by the composer, leading to a large number of printing errors. Many of the composer’s manuscripts are very unclear or ambiguous, especially his later compositions, which will require substantial research work. The project will address all these problems by providing authoritative editions.
The Collected Works Critical Edition will make an important contribution to the scholarly study of Schnittke’s music. Access to scores has been a particular problem, and the studies that have been carried out have looked almost exclusively at the works that exist in printed editions. There are still very few publications in English (or indeed in any other western European language) dedicated to Schnittke.

The new Critical Edition will allow work to be carried out on all of Schnittke’s music, and the introductory essays/editorial commentaries to each of the volumes are envisaged to be the first ever scholarly publications on many of the composer's works. They will fill significant gaps in the coverage of Schnittke’s music in existing commentaries and studies.

A language barrier between English and Russian language studies has hindered Schnittke scholarship in recent years. The scholarly introductory essays will appear in both languages and will summarise the work that has already been carried out in each.

The project is based on a collaboration between the Alfred Schnittke Archive at Goldsmiths and the State Compozitor Publishing House in St. Petersburg. It also has the support of Schnittke’s family (who own documents that will be important to the project), and of the Schnittke Internationale Gesellschaft and the Schnittke Akademie in Hamburg, which will form an important link with German scholars currently working on Schnittke’s music.

The Alfred Schnittke Archive is in a unique position to exploit this publication opportunity. It contains facsimile copies of almost every score that Schnittke completed, many original and unfinished scores, sketches, documentary material relating to premieres/commissions and an unparalleled collection of secondary sources relating to Schnittke’s work. The Archive was founded in 1999. Since then it has been used for original research by the college’s PhD students and has hosted over 150 researchers from around the world. Recent publications based on the Archive's holdings include books/articles published in UK, USA, Russia, Japan, Italy, Brazil.

The Archive collaborated with the BBC, the Barbican Centre and GSMD in 2001 on a Schnittke festival/symposium ‘Seeking the Soul’, which resulted in a festschrift volume of the same name (London, 2002) and with RMA/LPO/RCM on the Schnittke festival/symposium ‘Between Two Worlds’ in November 2009 (proceedings to be published in Schnittke Studies by Indiana UP).

Research work at the Schnittke Archive has previously attracted substantial grants from the Leverhulme Trust; British Academy; Lukoil, Russian oil company; AHRC; Southbank Centre and the Russian Federal Agency for the Press and Mass Communications. The Collected Works project will continue on from earlier research that has taken place at the Archive over the last decade including:

  • Cataloguing work (including of the composer's sketches)
  • Storage
  • Preservation of original manuscripts, tapes and films
  • Editing and digitisation of audio and video recordings
  • Translations of letters and articles
  • Collaboration meetings with the composer's family

The Critical Edition will act as a culmination of this work, providing an appropriate context for the full range of resources to be exploited.

The project will be made up of five researchers linked to the Alfred Schnittke Archive (the Research Team):

  • Professor Alexander Ivashkin as Primary Investigator
  • Dr. Gavin Dixon as Researcher
  • Stephen Wilford, part-time Archivist at the Schnittke Archive (funded separately by Goldsmiths)
  • A PhD student
  • Maria Cook, Research Assistant
  • Christian Storch, Research Assistant

Professor Alexander Ivashkin is the world authority on Schnittke’s music. He was a close friend of the composer and a dedicatee of a number of his cello works. He has written a book on Schnittke’s music (Turin, 1993), a biography of the composer (London, 1996), a volume of conversations with him (2nd ed. Moscow, 2003) and has edited a volume of Schnittke’s writings on music (Bloomington, 2002; Moscow, 2004). A full list of Ivashkin’s publications and recordings can be found on his website: www.alexanderivashkin.com. As curator of the Alfred Schnittke Archive, he also has personal contact with almost every other scholar and performer working on Schnittke’s music and is in an ideal position to draw together current Schnittke scholarship.

The PI will act as compiling editor for the edition and co-ordinator of the project (see below).

Dr. Gavin Dixon is the leading authority on Schnittke’s orchestral works and has completed a PhD on Schnittke's music based on the resources of the Alfred Schnittke archive. His thesis can be accessed online at www.gavindixon.info.His postgraduate research work has given him experience of writing about Schnittke’s music and of using the resources of the Alfred Schnittke Archive. He also has a reading knowledge of Russian, as well as experience in archival work from previous employment (at the Goldsmiths library special collections and at the Horniman museum library), which will be essential for this project.

Gavin’s primary task will be to edit the symphonies and to write/edit the majority of the introductory essays. Many of these will be based on preparatory and background work that he carried out as part of his postgraduate study.

Mr Stephen Wilford (a part-time Archivist at the Schnittke Archive) will be in charge of locating the materials at the Archive and elsewhere. He will also be liaising with Dr Storch regarding German sources available in Hamburg, and with the PI regarding the sources available in Moscow. He will be responsible for the digitizing of the archive materials and forwarding/receiving them to/from the Production Team.

Two further Research Assistants will be engaged for the project:

Dr Christian Storch, based in Germany, is a research associate of the Alfred Schnittke Gesellschaft and has close contacts with the Sikorski Verlag in Hamburg. Christian Storch has worked at the Alfred Schnittke Archive in London for several months in 2007 on a research grant from the University of Weimar. He is familiar with the Archive resources. Storch will conduct research on German sources and will act as a liaison officer between the Research Team, the German publisher (Sikorski) and the Schnittke family archive (based in Hamburg). He will work on translations from German into English and will ensure that new research in Germany is included in the edition.

Maria Cook (MMus Composition, St. Petersburg Conservatoire), was formerly the full-time editor at the Compozitor Publishing House and now works as an independent music researcher based in USA. She will assist with translations between Russian and English and with the proof reading of the finished Russian texts. Drawing on her background as a composer, she will be dealing with the many problematic issues arising from Schnittke’s musical notation. Maria Cook will edit the piano and cello music volumes (VI/2, VII/1-3). She has already edited the piano sonatas volume (VII/1), published in 2009.

The Compozitor Publishing House is one of the largest and most reputable publishers in Europe, specializing in critical editions. The company has published thousands of scores, including the major works of Rakhmaninov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

The Compozitor Publishing House will employ three highly experienced members of staff to work full-time on the project (the Production Team):

  • Ms. Svetlana Tairova (production supervisor and the project executive director). A highly experienced editor and director, Ms Tairova will be in charge of decisions regarding layout, house style and consistency of prefatory matter. This will ensure that a high and consistent editorial standard will be maintained.
  • Mr. Alexei Vulfson (sub-editor, chamber and concerto scores). Mr Vulfson is an experienced editor with a background and training as a violinist.
  • Ms. Svetlana Nesterova (sub-editor, large format scores, vocal scores). Ms Nesterova is an experienced editor and trained composer.

The first fifteen volumes of the edition will be published within the three years of the project: II/5, II/7, II/9, II/10, II/13, III/1, III/8, III/15, III/19, IV/4, VI/1-2, VI/5, VII/2-3.

The Alfred Schnittke Collected Works Edition is being compiled with the dissemination of Schnittke’s music to performers and scholars as its highest priority. The volumes of the edition will be available at an affordable price, and the publishers will also arrange for orchestral parts to be available for hire.

The potential readership for the edition is very broad, and it is envisaged that the volumes will be considered as a definitive reference, both in UK and worldwide, for many years to come. By focussing on the needs of today’s performers, researchers into Schnittke’s music and researchers into late 20th century music, the edition will also meet immediate scholarly and performance needs.

Distribution of the edition will be through the Compozitor Publishing House, the Sikorski Verlag and via www.ruslania.com. The Schnittke Archive, the Schnittke Gesellschaft, the Schnittke Akademie and the Schnittke Centre, Moscow will actively promote the edition to the scholarly community, as well as to recording companies, libraries, educational institutions, students and music lovers.

The first two volumes (series VII, volume 1 and Series VI, volume 1, both in three parts) were published in 2009, and are now available from www.ruslania.com and for perusal at the Schnittke Archive, Goldsmiths.