Composer Sofia Gubaidulina has died at age 93 in her home near Hamburg, Germany. Dubbed the Grande Dame of new music, Gubaidulina is considered to be one of the most important contemporary Russian composers.
Her work was infused with a spiritual sensibility, and a mystical Christianity. Her works touched on fundamental aspects of life.
Sofia Gubaidulina was born on October 24, 1931 in Chistopol, in what was then called the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (today known as Tatarstan, Russia). Her musical studies began in Kazan, the capital of the Tatar Republic, where she graduated from the Kazan Conservatory in 1954. She then went on to study composition at the Moscow Conservatory from 1954 until 1959.
Gubaidulina struggled for recognition as a composer for some time in her native Russia, but found more success composing music for films. All along, she had a deep interest in the folk and traditional music of Russia, Caucausus and Central Asia, including often rare instruments.
Violinist Gidon Kramer was an early advocate of her work in the 1980s, and growing support outside Russia is part of what convinced her to leave the stultifying cultural environment of Soviet Russia for the West. Her first trip out of Russia took place in 1985. In 1992, she took the step of emigrating to Hamburg, Germany. From there, her reputation and career continued to grow, and her work began to be regularly programmed and recorded.
Recognition received during her career includes the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for music in 1998, and two Koussevitzky International Recording Awards for new music in 1989 and 1993. She was awarded the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 2013 Venice Biennale.
Sofia Gubaidulina: Seven Words for Cello, Bayan and Strings
Gubaidulina’s compositions were notable for incorporating elements outside the strictly musical, including texts and other elements.
Her music is strongly rhythmic, and polytonal. True to her background, she often uses nonstandard instruments and folk instruments in her compositions, blending them into unique orchestral colours. Some of her works are improvisational, while others incorporate a stricter sense of form.
Her work has been commissioned by Yuri Bashmet, Mstislav Rostropovich, the Kronos and Arditti Quartets, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Sir Simon Rattle, among others, and includes chamber music, choral and orchestral pieces.
‘The art of music, like any other artform, is affected by an existential feeling. Why? Because this artform in particular has to do with a material that directly connects the finite with the infinite. In this sense, sonic art in particular has the means by which man could be stopped in his rapid fall.’ (Sofia Gubaidulina)
May the Grande Dame rest in peace.
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