Evil in Music: Schnittke's Fourth Violin Concerto

Indianapolis, IN

Although the polystylistic techniques of Alfred Schnittke have elicited much comment, the significant impact of Thomas Mann on his music has not been widely explored. Schnittke’s interest in Mann developed after reading Doktor Faustus, a novel written in consultation with Theodor Adorno, whose philosophies of music influenced the development of the Devil and Adrian Leverkühn, the composer protagonist. Schnittke even attempted to compose Leverkühn’s works as described by Mann. The tension between the rational and irrational and good and evil in the Faust story particularly attracted Schnittke. Yet, rather than polarizing these ideas, Schnittke, as well as Mann and Adorno, believed they belonged together. These polarities became fundamental to his compositional aesthetic. For example, Schnittke understood the concerto as an individual personality opposing a satanic social situation, most likely the Communist dictatorship, and he utilized his fourth violin concerto to convey these dualities. In his fourth concerto, Schnittke reflects the duality of Faustian good and evil, through the use of monograms, popular culture references, and tonalities.