 The program in Schnittke 's Fourth Symphony , reflecting the composer 's own religious dilemma at the time it was written , is more complex in execution , with the majority of it expressed wordlessly . In the 22 variations that make up the symphony 's single movement , Schnittke enacts the 15 traditional Mysteries of the Rosary , which highlight important moments in the life of Christ . As he did in the Second Symphony , Schnittke simultaneously gives a detailed musical commentary on what is being portrayed . Schnittke does this while using church music from the Catholic , Protestant , Jewish and Orthodox faiths , the orchestral texture becoming extremely dense from the many musical strands progressing at the same time . A tenor and a countertenor also sing wordlessly at two points in the symphony . The composition saves words for a finale that uses all four types of church music contrapuntally as a four @-@ part choir sings the Ave Maria . The choir can choose whether to sing the Ave Maria in Russian or Latin . The programmatic intent of using these different types of music , Ivashkin writes , is an insistence by the composer " on the idea ... of the unity of humanity , a synthesis and harmony among various manifestations of belief " . 
