Schnittke, Alfred

a working manuscript draft of the complete work, scored for tenor and piano, notated in pencil on up to seven systems of varying size per page, mostly of three staves, with autograph title ("3 Gedichte von Viktor Schnittke") and autograph movement numbers ("I...II...III"), the three poems commencing, respectively, with the words 'Wer Gedichte macht, ist ein einsamer Mann', 'Wenn er den feinsten Faden dehnt und dehnt' and 'Ich neige mich zum Bach', each movement dated at the end by the composer ("29.01.88...30.01.88...30.01.88"), the last two bars of the final poem written in the right-hand margin on a single hand-drawn stave, a few entries in the first poem in black ink, with a few deletions and corrections; page 3 of the manuscript being a rejected page from Schnittke's composing manuscript of his opera Historia von D. Johann Fausten (page 22, marked "S. 22"), notated in pencil on five three-stave systems and a single stave, the text beginning 'Erstlich, daß Faustus verspirchst [sic] und schwörst', the vocal parts marked "M[ephostophiles]." and "F[austus].", with the numbering "L 5/6" at the lower right-hand corner of the page  

3 pages of music in all ("Drei Gedichte": 2 pages; Faustus fragment: 1 page), plus one blank, 4to (c.31 x 23.6cm), 18-stave paper, with a four-page reproduction of Schnittke's fair-copy manuscript of the work, [Hamburg], 29-30 January, 1988, central horizontal crease; together with: Schnittke, Viktor. Stimmen des Schweigens. Erzählungen und Gedichte, Moscow: Raduga-Verlag, 1992 (3)

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A working manuscript of a complete work by Schnittke.

Schnittke's "Drei Gedichte" for tenor and piano, composed in 1988, ten years before his death, sets three poems by the composer's brother Viktor (d. 1994): 'Wer Gedichte macht, ist ein einsamer Mann' ('Whoever writes poems is lonely man'); 'Der Geiger' ('The violinist'); and 'Dein Schweigen' ('Your silence'). All these poems can be found in a volume of stories and poems by Viktor Schnittke entitled Stimmen des Schweigens (Moscow, 1992). With their lucid textures and moving harmonies, the songs are among the most atmospheric by the composer. A notable feature of the autograph is the presence on page 3 of a rejected draft for page 22 of the working autograph of Schnittke's opera Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1983-94). The working manuscript of the songs differs in a number of points from the faircopy autograph, notably in the second number (see, for example, the diverging vocal part in bb. 11-12 of that number; b.13 of the second song draft is cut in the final autograph). 

The work was given its first performance on 12 October 2009 in Hamburg by Sviatoslav Martynchuk and Alan Newcombe.