Alexander Aronovich Knaifel (; also ''Knayfel'', ''Knayfel'', or ''Kneifel''; 28 November 1943 – 27 June 2024) was a Soviet composer from

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

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, known for his operas '' The Ghost of Canterville'' and ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'' as well as for his music for cinema.

Background

Knaifel was born on 28 November 1943. He studied cello with

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian Cello, cellist and conducting, conductor. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enl ...

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...

from 1961 to 1963, then composition with Boris Arapov in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

from 1964 until 1967. Knaifel died on 27 June 2024, at the age of 80.

Music

From the very beginning of his composing career he associated himself with the group of so-called "

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

composers that include Andrey Volkonsky,

Edison Denisov Edison Vasilievich Denisov (, 6 April 1929 – 24 November 1996) was a Russian composer in the so-called " Underground", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music. Biography Denisov was born in Tomsk, Siberia. He studied math ...

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer. Among the most performed and recorded composers of late 20th-century classical music, he is described by musicologist Ivan Moody (composer), Ivan Moody as a ...

Sofia Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (24 October 1931 – 13 March 2025) was a Soviet and Russian composer of Modernism (music), modernist Holy minimalism, sacred music. She was highly prolific, producing numerous Chamber music, chamber, Orchestra, orch ...

Valentin Silvestrov Valentyn Vasylyovych Sylvestrov (; born 30 September 1937) is a Ukrainian composer and pianist, who plays and writes contemporary classical music. Biography Valentyn Vasylyovych Silvestrov was born on 30 September 1937 in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, th ...

, Leonid Hrabovsky,

Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in p ...

, Tigran Mansuryan, and others. The works of the 1990s and 2000s were strongly influenced by religious themes and showed dramatic changes in his musical language. He wrote more than 80 compositions in various genres and also more than 40 scores for feature films and documentaries. His music often surprises by its extravagant ideas, strange combination of the instruments or incredibly long duration. For example, his very slow and quiet ''Agnus Dei'' (1985) written for four instrumentalists (each of whom plays several instruments including keyboards, percussion, electronics, saxophones and double bass) lasts exactly 120 minutes. Another two-hour-long piece ''Nika'' (72 fragments after

Heraclitus Heraclitus (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Empire. He exerts a wide influence on Western philosophy, ...

and

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

1973–1974), is written for 17 double basses; and the piece titled ''Solaris'' (1980) is scored for 35 Javanese

gongs A gongFrom Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and are circular and fl ...

. In 1979 Knaifel was blacklisted as one of " Khrennikov's Seven" at the Sixth Congress of the

Union of Soviet Composers The Union of Russian Composers (formerly the Union of Soviet Composers, Order of Lenin Union of Composers of USSR () (1932– ), and Union of Soviet Composers of the USSR) is a state-created organization for musicians and musicologists created in 1 ...

for unapproved participation in some festivals of Soviet music in the West.

Norman Lebrecht Norman Lebrecht (born 11 July 1948) is a British music journalist and author best known as the owner of the classical music blog ''Slipped Disc''. His writings have been accused of sensationalism and criticized for their inaccuracies, while oth ...

explains Knaifel and his music as follows: "Russian

iconoclast Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...

, writing slow, quiet and unsettling music that passes from one instrument to another when it is good and ready... Many of his scores are unperformed, perhaps unperformable." Alexander Knaifel had a performance dedicated to his music in Ireland on 1 May 2009 as part of the Drogheda Arts Festival. The event entitled The Rest is Noise : the music of Alexander Knaifel featured the world premiere of a new work, the string trio " EF and the three calling cards of the poet".

Selected works

*'' The Ghost of Canterville'', opera in three acts with Prologue after

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

for soloists and chamber orchestra (1965–1966) *''Medea'', ballet in two parts after the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

saga (1968) *''Monody'' for female voice (1968) *''The Silly Horse'', 15 poems after V. Levin and F. Solasko for female singer and piano (1981) CD Megadisc MDC 7844: Tatjana Melentieva (soprano), Oleg Malov (piano) *''Agnus Dei'' for four instruments a cappella (1985) CD Megadisc 7808/07: Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles *''God'', ode after Dershavin for chorus and children's chorus (1985) *''Litany I'' for orchestra (1988) *''Litany II'' for orchestra (1988) *'' Through the Rainbow of Unvoluntary Tears'' for soprano and cello (1988) *''The Offer'' for a chorus of string instruments (1991) *''Svete Tikhiy'' (O Gladsome Light), song of the Most Holy Theotokos for Tatjana Melentieva (1991) CD ECM New Series 1763: Tatiana Melentieva (soprano), Andrei Siegle (sampler) *''Yet again on the Hypothesis'' (A Dialogue with J.S.

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

Prelude and Fugue B minor from Well Tempered Piano) for soloistic instrumental ensemble (1991–1992) *''In any Forgetting of Exhaustion'', postludium to the memory of M.G. Orlovski for chamber orchestra (1992) *''Postludium'' for soprano and piano) CD Megadisc MDC 7855: Tatjana Melentieva (soprano), Oleg Malov (piano) *''The Jacob's Ladder'', glossolalia of Thirteen for chorus (1992) *''The Eighth Chapter'', canticum canticorum for choruses and cello (1993) *'' In Air Clear and Unseen'', stanzas with Tyutchev for piano and string quartet (1994) CD ECM New Series 1763: Keller Quartet, Oleg Malov (piano) *''Lux Aeterna'' for two cellos and psalm singers (1998) *''Scarry March'' for soprano and piano CD Megadisc MDC 7855: Tatjana Melentieva (soprano), Oleg Malov (piano) *'' Prayer to the Holy Spirit'' for soprano and piano CD Megadisc MDC 7855: Tatjana Melentieva (soprano), Oleg Malov (piano) *''Alice in Wonderland'', opera (2001) *''EF and the Three Calling Cards of the Poet'', string trio: Joachim Roewer, Elizabeth Cooney and Elizabeth Wilson world premiere in Ireland (2009) *''O Heavenly King'', the first recording of the version for string quartet, piano/celeste and soprano features on the Louth Contemporary Music CD A Place Between (2009)

Notes

References

Svetlana Savenko: ''The magic of Alexander Knaifel’s message''; also: ''List of Alexander Knaifel’s principal works''. In ''"Ex oriente...III"'' Eight Composers from the former USSR Philip Gershkovich, Boris Tishchenko, Leonid Grabovsky, Alexander Knaifel, Vladislav Shoot, Alexander Vustin, Alexander Raskatov, Sergei Pavlenko. Edited by Valeria Tsenova. English edition only (studia slavica musicologica, Bd. 31). Verlag Ernst Kuhn – Berlin ; Tara Wilson: 'Russian Post-Minimalist Music: A Semiological Investigation into the Narrative Approaches employed by Alexander Knaifel between 1978 and 1994' (PhD Thesis: Goldsmiths, University of London, 2015).

External links

ECM Biography
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Alexander Knaifel : A Composer Documentary Trailer
by Jorge Rubiera {{DEFAULTSORT:Knaifel, Alexander 1943 births 2024 deaths Russian opera composers Soviet male opera composers Russian male classical composers Soviet film score composers Male film score composers Musicians from Tashkent 21st-century classical composers Soviet classical composers Moscow Conservatory alumni Russian Jews Jewish classical composers 20th-century Russian male musicians 21st-century Russian male musicians