Download Sofia Gubaidulina

Sofia Gubaidulina
Sam Feist
Background
Born Oct, 24th,
1931 in Chistopol,
Russia
She was raised
religiously by her
family in the
Russian Orthodox
Church
Faced religious
persecution from
the Soviet Union at
an early age due to
her father’s Islamic
heritage
Education
 Studied piano and composition at Kazan Conservatory,
graduated in 1954
 She then studied at the Moscow Conservatory: under
Nikolay Peyko until 1959, and then under Vissarion
Shebalin until 1963
 Received graduate degree from the Moscow Conservatory
after Dmitri Shostakovich stuck up for her
Peyko
Shebalin
Shostakovich
Career
 Began composing for films in the 1960s
 This gave her the freedom to
experiment with her music as it was
seen as “irresponsible” at the time for
musical pieces to use the elements she
worked with
 Did the score for “Adventures of
Mowgli”, a very popular Russian
animated rendition of Kipling’s “Jungle
Book” story
 Gubaidulina continued to compose
musical works on the side, but they
were often rejected for performance due
to her aesthetic
Career (con’t)
 In 1975 Gubaidulina founded Astraea: an improvisational trio
which used folk instruments such as the Russian Bayan
 Astraea made many see her as a part of the Russian avantgarde
 The trio, along with 4 other Russian composers of the time,
were blacklisted in 1979 by the Soviet Composer’s Union for
unapproved performances of Soviet music at festivals in the
West
Career (con’t)
 Gubaidulina became popular in the 1980s for works such as
Offertorium, a violin concerto and reference to the song sung during
the preparation of the Eucharist at Mass
 She was permitted by Soviet authorities to perform in Europe in 1985,
and in 1987 she was allowed to perform in America with the Louisville
Symphony Orchestra
 With the collapse of the USSR in the late 1980s and early 1990s,
Gubaidulina was relived of many restrictions and found new freedom
for her work
 She moved to Germany in 1992, taking a permanent residence just
outside of Hamburg
Career (con’t)
 Sofia Gubaidulina has won many awards from across the globe,
including:




Prix de Monaco in 1987 (sovereign city-state right next to France)
Russian State Prize in 1992
Praemium Imperiale in 1998 (Japan)
Polar Music Prize in 2002 (Sweden)
 When the Royal Swedish Academy of Music gave Gubaidulina the
Polar Music Prize, they also gave her $100,000 because she was
“denied the right of public expression by her government and
political system”
Style
 Gubaidulina uses a lot of dissonance in her compositions, frequently
using the quartertone
 As she is a very religious person, she uses her faith as a theme for
many of her works
 Her pieces are full of symbolism (the quartertones she uses are often
metaphors for good and evil, life and death, and the human and divine),
even in the scores of her works
Musical Works
Seven Words (Sieben Worte) (1982)
 For cello, bayan, and strings
 The piece symbolizes the final moments and
death of Christ on the cross and his seven last
words
 Heavy use of dissonance
Musical Works
Musical Toys: Fourteen Piano Pieces for
Children
 Piano music
 A series of short songs
 Gubaidulina wrote a handful of piano works early
on in her career, but has not written any since
1978
Sources
-Brennan, Carol, "Gubaidulina, Sofia." Encyclopedia of World
Biography. 2006, and MICHAEL KENNEDY;JOYCE BOURNE.
"Gubaidulina, Sofia." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01
Jan. 2003. Web. 01 July 2014.
<http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sofia_Gubaidulina.aspx>.
- "Sofia Gubaidulina." - Short Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 July
2014. <http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/short-bio/sofiagubaidulina>.
- Dunbar, Julie C. Women, Music, Culture: An Introduction. New
York: Routledge, 2011. Print.
- "Sofia Gubaidulina." Sofia Gubaidulina. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 July
2014. <http://www.boosey.com/composer/Sofia%2BGubaidulina>.