CRASSH

One of the most remarkable pieces of the entire postwar Soviet repertoire, Alfred Schnittke's First Symphony (1969-1972) has been a subject of various interpretations, focusing on the social, political, religious and other manifestations of this work. My aim here is to analyse the First Symphony in an explicitly political context, and attempt to read all the various political messages that Schnittke has imburdened this work with. A number of Schnittke's most important polystylistic works have been borne out of Schnittke's moral and political commitment, and the First is no exception. It was a riotous work of a deprived author, forced into an “unofficial” status domestically, and prevented from pursuing an international career. Thus, the First Symphony was loaded with semantic cargo and meant to transmit the composer's political statement. I shall analyse how Schnittke employed the recognisable codes of popular musical genres and socialist realist kitsch to depict "evil" in this Symphony and to express his political protest. I shall also pay attention to the fact that the tight control placed upon the various facets of people’s lives by the Soviet authorities inspired an aggressive bonding between the “unofficial” composers and their audiences – nowhere more obvious than in Schnittke’s case.