Arvo Pärt’s Resonant Texts
Choral and Organ Music 1956–2015
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Names: Shenton, Andrew, 1962- author.
Title: Arvo Pärt’s resonant texts : choral and organ music, 1956–2015 / Andrew Shenton.
Description: New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017017582 | ISBN 9781107082458 (Hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Pärt, Arvo–Criticism and interpretation. | Pärt, Arvo. Choral music. | Choral
music–20th century. | Choral music–21st century.
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Arvo Pärt’s Resonant Texts
Statistically the most performed and listened to contemporary composer in the world, Arvo Pärt is a musical and cultural phenomenon.
This book is an essential resource for anyone interested in his extraordinarily innovative and uniquely appealing music. Andrew Shenton
surveys the full scope of Pärt’s oeuvre, providing context and chronological continuity while concentrating in particular on his text-based
music, as well as analyzing and describing individual pieces and
techniques, including tintinnabulation. The book also explores the
spiritual and theological contexts of Pärt’s creativity and the challenges of performing his work. This volume is the definitive guide for
readers looking to engage with the form, content, and context of Pärt’s
compositions, as Shenton situates Pärt in the narrative of metamodernism and suggests new ways of understanding this unique and
beautiful music.
is a scholar, prize-winning author, performer,
educator, consultant, and administrator based in Boston, MA. He
holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from London University, Yale, and Harvard, respectively. He is the author of a monograph on Messiaen and editor or co-editor of three collections of
essays. A leading expert on the music of Arvo Pärt, Shenton edited
and contributed to The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and is a contributor to Arvo Pärt’s
White Light: Media, Culture, Politics (Cambridge University Press,
2017). He is on the faculty of Boston University and is active as an
organist and conductor. He has premiered more than ninety pieces
and has more than thirty recordings to his credit.
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Preface
Around Pärt’s seventy-fifth birthday in 2010 a series of connected conferences in Boston, London, and Canterbury brought together scholars in
conversation about the composer and his music. Some of these papers were
reworked into a collection of essays entitled The Cambridge Companion to
Arvo Pärt, which aimed to address prevailing themes in Pärt scholarship
and to bring new themes into the conversation.1 A second collection
of essays (edited by Laura Dolp) greatly expands the breadth and depth
of inquiry, breaking new ground on tropes about Pärt and his music.2 This
current text is part of these contributions to Pärt scholarship published by
Cambridge University Press. It came about because, although Pärt is
widely written about in the press, there are surprisingly few book-length
treatments of his life and work. The first monograph in English devoted
exclusively to Pärt’s music contains much useful information but is now
outdated because it does not refer to any works composed after 1996.3 The
only other recently published books are a collection of the texts used by
Pärt (compiled and published by the Pärt Centre in Estonia) and an
extended essay by Peter Bouteneff published under the auspices of The
Arvo Pärt Project, an enterprise sponsored by St. Vladimir’s Seminary in
New York, which has begun to tackle issues associated with the Orthodox
Christian tradition that has guided Pärt’s work since the early 1970s.4
It is extraordinary that the only other information and critical engagement with Pärt’s music comes from short articles and book chapters, some
unofficial websites, a few unpublished theses and dissertations, and a few
larger texts not in English.5 Some influential articles in the 1970s and 1980s
helped to establish Pärt’s reputation, describing the tintinnabuli technique
and naming many of the choral or organ works, but these are also now out
1
3
4
5
2
Shenton (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt.
Dolp (ed.), White Light.
Hillier, Arvo Pärt. My text therefore includes more than half of Pärt’s output, which was not
available to Hillier for his text.
Rosma et al. (eds.), In Principio, and Bouteneff, Out of Silence.
See, for example, www.arvopart.org. Examples of the larger texts include Kautny, Arvo Pärt
zwischen Ost und West; Restagno, Arvo Pärt allo specchio; and Restagno et al., Arvo Pärt im
Gespräch, translated by Robert Crow as Arvo Pärt in Conversation.
xv
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xvi
Preface
of date.6 Some recent theses and dissertations have covered aspects of style,
analysis, and basic performance practice in selected works.7 In this text
I therefore refer to scholarship on significant compositions to provide
wider dissemination of some of the good work that is being done, and
I include an extensive bibliography. Eventually the Pärt Centre will be a
principal source for material on the composer and his work. At present any
primary source material beyond scores and recordings is limited; however,
a few DVDs have been produced that have the direct involvement of Pärt
himself, and these are discussed further in this book. Eventually we can
hope that there will be monographs on all the major works, biographies of
the composer, and comprehensive analyses of the music. Much of this will
happen once the Pärt Centre is open and scholars have access to Pärt’s
notes and manuscripts.
The emphasis of this book is Pärt’s choral and organ music (contextualized within his complete oeuvre), because it is the largest and arguably
most significant portion of his output and has not yet received any
systematic and detailed treatment. According to Pärt, “Vocal music is the
main root of music . . . the first and most perfect instrument,” so in these
works we see not only the development of the tintinnabuli principles but
also more recent music in which tintinnabulation is barely present.8 It is
humbling to be writing about such music at this early stage in Pärt studies,
and there are many ways this could have been done. I hope my readers will
understand my intention and forgive my execution if they find it lacking.
My text doesn’t attempt to cover everything; however, it has several
specific goals outlined in the introduction. It is both compendium and
guide, and to that end I have included at least a brief description of every
piece that is written for, or can be played on the organ and every work that
includes one or more singers. I have also included, for context, reference to
Pärt’s instrumental works. Certain pieces receive greater description and
analysis because they demonstrate important aspects of Pärt’s style and
technique. I try to show the core for each piece, what Pärt called the
“nucleus.”9 The pieces are linked by reference to those aspects of Pärt’s
6
7
8
9
For example, Schenbeck, “Discovering the Choral Music of Estonian Composer Arvo Pärt.”
For example, Cargile, “An Analytical Conductor’s Guide to the SATB A Cappella Works of Arvo
Pärt”; Davidson, “Ancient Texts, New Voices”; and Kongwattananon, “Arvo Pärt and Three
Types of His Tintinnabuli Technique.”
Margaret Throsby, interview with Pärt; cited in Greenbaum, “Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum.”
“In the compositional process I always have to find the nucleus first from which the work will
eventually emerge. First of all I will have to get to this nucleus.” Quoted in Smith, “Sources of
Invention,” 20.
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Preface
xvii
biography that are relevant, but in general I do not deem this to be a
necessary element to understand his music. I have instead concentrated on
providing a broad but comprehensive survey. I utilize and develop interdisciplinary methodologies drawing on media, cultural, and theological
studies as well as different analytical approaches to music, including my
own innovative approach to analysis of the tintinnabuli style.
At this stage in Pärt studies scholars have developed numerous themes
regarding the composer and his work, and this work has influenced most
of the major writings so far. These themes include his personal (Orthodox)
faith, the wider spirituality of his music and its ecumenical influence, the
mechanics of tintinnabulation and the lack of satisfactory methods of
analysis, the influence of ECM Records, his reticence speaking about his
life or music, and his public persona. To this I add the topic of performance practice, which has become increasingly relevant (and complex) as
more performers tackle this revolutionary new music.
These tropes have often been quite narrow in their discussion. For
example, much has been said and written about Pärt and contemporary
spirituality and, in particular, about the special way Pärt’s music resonates
with so many people on a mystical or spiritual level, but it has tended to
repetition of certain basic connections with fairly superficial characteristics
of the music. The relationship with spirituality is an important aspect of
Pärt’s appeal; however, here I have taken a more theological approach,
dealing specifically with the texts Pärt sets and how Christians and nonChristians alike can interpret them. My work also explains certain aspects
of the Orthodox Christian Church, of which Pärt is a member, analyzing
how this influences both his thinking and his composing.
Pärt’s music is mostly published by Universal Edition, and their web site
for the composer contains a great deal of information concerning his
music, including, in many cases, access to select pages of the scores.10
I have not duplicated all this material, but have referred to it throughout.
This text does not include translations for texts such as the Magnificat,
which are easily available online; however, it does include some that are
not so easily available.
Each chapter provides the most accurate information currently available
about each work, including the commission (where applicable), composition, and premiere. For each piece, I include (where available and relevant): the title (and a translation into English), the date of composition
10
www.universaledition.com/composers-and-works/Arvo-Paert/composer/534.
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xviii
Preface
and of any revisions, details of the text (translated into English), scoring,
length, publisher, commission, dedication, premiere, and recordings. Each
work has a short descriptive and analytical essay that provides useful
information for both performers and listeners, especially about the compositional procedures employed. Where appropriate, connections are
made to other works by Pärt and cross-referenced.
The principal work in this current text has been done directly with the
published scores, which are almost exclusively published by Universal
Edition. Most scores include revisions (which are often acknowledged in
subsequent editions), and many have been rescored or reworked in other
ways. Numerous sources confirm that Pärt continued to make changes to
the music during the rehearsal period or recording period.11 The information presented here corrects errors in previously published catalogs and
notes, especially the revisions that Pärt has made to different pieces and the
various versions of pieces that currently exist.12 Detailed work on every
piece is beyond the scope of this book, and much work remains to be done;
however, it is clear that Pärt is perfectly comfortable with continued
revisions to his work, many of which are made for performances or
recordings. What this means for performers is confirmation that a variety
of interpretations of the notes are possible, and this is explored further in
Chapter 7.
The text is organized chronologically because in this way I can attempt to
convey a developmental history of Pärt’s style and technique. It would have
been revealing to have discussed works grouped, for example, by subject
(the Psalms, for example) or by language (the works in Estonian such as
Meie Aed and many of the songs for children); however, at this foundational
stage in Pärt studies a chronological approach makes more sense.
Much writing about Pärt to date (including the Pärt Companion) has
been biographical, or about the tintinnabuli style, or through the lens of
cultural studies, or concerning Pärt and spirituality. This text is firmly
rooted in the repertoire and provides information on many pieces that
have so far not been written about at all. In addition, by working on issues
of performance practice and interpretation, it endeavors to bridge the
traditional gap between scholars and performers.
11
12
See, for example, the note on the UE website for Littlemore Tractus: www.universaledition.com/
Arvo-Paert/composers-and-works/composer/534/work/7124.
Pärt has frequently revised his work, providing different arrangements and improving or
correcting individual pieces. This is an interesting concept, and the current text will examine it
as a philosophy as well as a musical practice, and I detail essential changes in select works.
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Preface
xix
Principally it addresses directly the largest group of people who encounter Pärt’s music: the audience. The text is specifically aimed at the listening
experience. Pärt once said: “I could compare my music to white light,
which contains all colors. Only a prism can divide the colors and make
them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener.” By providing
biographical context, analyses, and interpretation, this book provides listeners with tools to be able to hear even more colors in this music. The
experience is perhaps paralleled in the cover picture to this book by
Gerhard Richter.13 In the foreground broken lines form a transparent grid
to the piece. They fade, however, and reveal an extraordinary depth to the
painting in the same way that the tintinnabulation lines can be heard and
are evidently structural; however, they too fall away to reveal music of great
depth and beauty.
13
Richter, Abstract Painting, 1995.
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Contents
List of Figures [page viii]
List of Tables [ix]
List of Music Examples [x]
Preface [xv]
Acknowledgments [xx]
Author’s Notes [xxi]
1 Prelude: Resonant Texts
[1]
2 Credo: 1956–1976 [11]
3 Interlude: Audible Light [30]
4 Passio: 1976–1982 [48]
5 Interlude: The Numinous Encounter [88]
6 Kanon: 1982–1997 [105]
7 Interlude: Performance Practice [172]
8 Lamentate: 1997–2003 [189]
9 Adam’s Lament: 2003–2015 [221]
10 Postlude [264]
Appendices [269]
Bibliography [275]
Index [285]
vii
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1
Prelude: Resonant Texts
There is a resounding beauty to Pärt’s music. Performers and listeners have
responded to it in huge numbers, making Pärt one of the most significant
and popular contemporary composers. According to statistics provided
by the website Bachtrack (based on their comprehensive concert listings),
he was the most performed living composer in the world between 2010
and 2016.1 His fan base is large and diverse and includes segments of the
population not normally inclined toward classical music (who call themselves “Pärtisans” and accord the composer the status of pop icon). This
success is principally because of a new compositional technique he developed
around 1976 called “tintinnabulation.” There is, however, much more to Pärt
than the small number of pieces that have become canonic, such as Spiegel im
Spiegel and Cantus. To date Pärt has written more than sixty pieces for choir
and/or organ and many orchestral works in his unique style.
The principal aim of this book is to survey the horizons of Pärt’s choral
and organ music, paying special attention to the texts on which they are
based, and contextualizing it within his complete oeuvre. By careful analysis
of Pärt’s tintinnabuli style and technique, I demonstrate how he is literally
re-sounding the music of a previous age in a contemporary reimagining.
First, “resounding” in the sense of “ringing” (which matches Pärt’s tintinnabuli style). Second, in the sense of “unqualified,” because although some
critics may have concerns about the implications of Pärt’s music, very few of
them seem to actively dislike it, and it has clear and unambiguous popular
success on many levels. Finally, in the sense of “re-sounding” musical
materials derived from chant, and from Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque musical techniques. This perceptual resonance is also applicable to the
texts Pärt uses, which are intensified and enriched by the sonorous splendor
of his music.
My text is, of necessity, limited. It does, however, have several goals: first,
an analysis of the choral and organ repertoire (with reference to Pärt’s other
music), using different techniques; second, provision of descriptions of this
1
https://bachtrack.com/statistics-more-top-tens-january-2017.
1
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2
Arvo Pärt’s Resonant Texts: Choral and Organ Music 1956–2015
entire repertoire designed specifically for the listener; third, a survey and
dissemination of scholarly literature on Pärt and critical engagement with it
based on current tropes about his life and work; fourth, essays interspersed
between the descriptive and analytical work that develop themes about
Pärt and theology, and about the issues of performing Pärt; and fifth,
situating tintinnabulation in the narrative of metamodernism (a term that
has become a viable substitute for the clumsier “post-postmodernism”). My
framework for this is based on the definitions of the term by Timotheus
Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker, who situate metamodernism “epistemologically with (post) modernism, ontologically between (post) modernism, and historically beyond (post) modernism.”2
To this end, Chapters 2, 4, 6, 8, and 9 are a chronologically organized
discussion of the music. Unlike previous biographical essays on Pärt, they
include some information on the circumstances of the composition and
premieres of the choral and organ music, but only as they relate to analysis
and interpretation of the music or to issues of performance practice. The
text is organized chronologically to convey a developmental history of
Pärt’s style and technique.
Each of these analytical chapters is titled for a significant work that
represents a culmination of specific compositional phases in Pärt’s life and
that is discussed in detail. What I am effectively doing is dividing Pärt’s
compositions into five developmental phases:
Phase 1: Pre-tintinnabulation
Juvenilia (1956) to Credo (1968) – A period of learning and development as a
professional composer.
Phase 2: Tintinnabulation
Für Alina (1976) to Passio (1982) – A period of development of tintinnabulation and
of strict adherence to its compositional rules.
Phase 3: Expanded tintinnabulation
Es sang vor langen Jahren (1984) to Kanon Pokajanen (1997) – A period in which the
rules of tintinnabulation are less rigorously applied and in which experimentation in
form and timbre are apparent.
Phase 4: Synthesized tintinnabulation
The Woman with the Alabaster Box (1997) to Lamentate (2002) – A period in which
tintinnabulation is still present in the sound but synthesized with other
compositional features that denote a mature style.
Phase 5: Freedom
In Principio (2003) to Kleine Litanei (2015) – A period in which there are few if any
constraints to composition as Pärt draws on a lifetime of training and experience.
2
Vermeulen and Akker, “Notes on Metamodernism,” 2.
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Prelude: Resonant Texts
3
The change in writing style after Credo is clear-cut and dramatic. After
that, distinguishing alterations in compositional style is a difficult task.
I therefore do not present these phases as categorical or immovable, merely
as an expedient way of presenting the material for this volume.
The order in which I present the works follows the chronological listings
on the Pärt Centre site, which does not always follow the same chronology
as the Universal Edition web site with regard to pieces that were composed
in the same year.3 The aim of this chronological description is manifold:
• to provide an overview of his entire oeuvre to date
• to move beyond the few works that have become canonic or representative and to expose other pieces that are worth performing and hearing
• to view changes and developments in the use of tintinnabulation
• to demonstrate the extraordinary diversity and flexibility of tintinnabulation and its integration with other compositional techniques.
Some information on Pärt’s biography is included, based on previously
published accounts that have been authenticated by Pärt himself. This
information is limited partly due to issues of space, but principally because
I do not believe that biographical details add much to our real understanding of a piece of music. As George Steiner correctly notes, “To invoke
biographical, historical or cultural context, in order to make out and
stabilize possible meanings, is a naïve subterfuge. There can be no determination of texts by contexts.”4 Pärt has indirectly given his own approval
of this approach. In conversation with musicologist Stuart Greenbaum he
noted with regard to analysis of his music, “it is one thing for me to do this,
but how it is interpreted by the listener is another thing altogether, and a
third person writes an analysis that reflects yet another interpretation
again.”5 Other background material is included where relevant so that we
are able to situate the individual works not only within the context of Pärt’s
own life, but also in a broader cultural and historical framework.
Of the intervening chapters in this text, Chapter 3 provides an overview of
the theoretical explanations of tintinnabulation, including a summary of
current scholarship, and presentation of some thoughts for advancement.
Chapter 5 is dedicated to a theological discussion of Pärt’s music. I broaden
the scope from Pärt’s personal theology to provide ways to engage with
Pärt’s music at different levels, including meditational and spiritual, and
suggest ways for non-Christians to understand and appreciate Christian
3
5
http://www.arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part-2/works/chronological/.
Greenbaum, “Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum,” 119.
4
Steiner, Real Presences, 123.
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4
Arvo Pärt’s Resonant Texts: Choral and Organ Music 1956–2015
texts. Chapter 7 is a discussion of performance practice because this has
become a complex issue by virtue both of our proximity to the composer and
of the implications of a radical new musical technique. In the final chapter I
propose four ways in which the discourse for Pärt and his music should be
reoriented in a way that coincides with notions of the metamodern.
In the remainder of this chapter I will define the scope of the ensuing
analytical work, discuss the implications of the Pärt Centre, explore the
current situation regarding Pärt’s sketchbooks, diaries, and reminiscences,
and acknowledge his large sphere of influence.
Analysis
In Chapter 2 I describe the choral and organ works that predate the
emergence of tintinnabulation, and I utilize traditional analytical techniques to explain both style and content. In Chapter 3 I deal with the
mechanics and analysis of tintinnabulation, presenting a summary of the
technique in ways that explain its essence, relating it to Pärt’s descriptions,
which are either technical or philosophical. An example of the latter is
Pärt’s notion that “The M-voice always signifies the subjective world, the
daily egoistic life of sin and suffering; the T-voice meanwhile, is the
objective realm of forgiveness . . . This can be likened to the eternal
dualism of body and spirit, heaven and earth; but the two voices are in
reality one voice, a twofold single entity.”6 In the remainder of the text
I engage with Pärt’s compositional philosophy as well as with his new
technique because the two are intrinsically linked in his own mind, and
both are required to fully understand his music. In the subsequent chapters
I provide various different analytical approaches to Pärt’s music, showing
especially the move away from strict procedures in the early tintinnabuli
works to a freer style.
Pärt takes an indirect approach to questions about his music. There are
many examples of quotations by the composer regarding the content of his
music (both spiritual and technical), but his response in an interview with
Stuart Greenbaum is typical in its genuine lack of both ability and desire to
comment further. Greenbaum asked a series of questions about the use of
major and minor modes in Te Deum, and the possible use of the wind drone
as a pedal point. Having not gotten very far with indirect questioning,
6
Hillier, Pärt, 96.
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Prelude: Resonant Texts
5
Greenbaum asked directly what Pärt thought about it. Pärt replied: “You
know it’s very difficult for me to say. It would be the same as to ask ‘why
does one hold some notes for longer than others,’ ‘why andante or why
allegro’ and what kind of function does this have. It is purely a musical
language, and a musical sensitivity. Even if I explain it with words, the
words mean nothing. This has for me absolutely no significance.”7
What Pärt does frequently allude to is deconstructive analysis, a kind of
reverse engineering being the secret to discovering the “truth” behind his
music. Regarding Te Deum, for example, he said:
Every note and every sentence (phrase?) has a reason and also a foundation, and its
form follows strict calculations, but I cannot explain these now, because although
I tried to find an old plan which explains the entire form structure, I could not find
it. In this is written exactly why a section is in minor key, and why others are in a
major key, why one section is in four voices/parts and why other sections in three
etc. etc. Why in one particular section a male chorus is used, and in others a female
chorus. This all has a regularity . . . the entire construction, but this can all be
realized in a correct analysis.8
Hopefully the compositional plan for Te Deum has been rediscovered and
is being archived by the Centre. If not, as Pärt notes, deconstructive
analysis will reveal how he conceived the piece.
In his essay “Analyzing Pärt,” theorist Thomas Robinson explored the
application of current analytical techniques to Pärt’s music and in particular
the difficulties of their application to tintinnabulation. In this text, therefore,
my basic discussion of each work uses the principles of style analysis as
outlined by Jan LaRue.9 His method suggests that we can account for the
constituent elements of music using five headings:
(1) Sound, which includes everything other than pitch or duration:
orchestration, timbre, register, dynamics, and “sonorous density.”
(2) Harmony, which is broadly defined to embrace not only the simultaneous occurrence of pitches but also the phenomenon of pitch successions that form a more or less cohesive, homogeneous entity. In the
case of tintinnabulation this includes the 1 + 1 = 1 formulation of
the pure tintinnabuli voices, but I also take it to mean something about
the succession of dissonance, which is at the heart of tintinnabulation.
(3) Melody, encompassing everything heard as line in a musical fabric.
7
9
Greenbaum, “Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum,” 119.
LaRue, Guidelines for Style Analysis.
8
Ibid., 120.
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Arvo Pärt’s Resonant Texts: Choral and Organ Music 1956–2015
(4) Rhythm, a vast, multifaceted category that includes all aspects of
duration.
(5) Growth (form). For Pärt this includes precompositional plans, especially those concerning text.
I also experiment with other types of analysis, presenting an array of analytical techniques paired with works that lend themselves in some way to a
specific approach. This does not preclude the fruitful application of other
techniques to any of these pieces. It does, however, offer a starting point.
Conscious that this entire volume could be devoted to just one piece and
still not say everything about it, I have therefore tried to avoid some of the
problems involved in analysis and interpretation: first, the supposition that
these pieces have meaning; second, fixing that meaning in a description
that both defines and (worse) confines its meaning for others; and third,
limiting the possibility for any piece to speak new truths to us in the future.
The Pärt Centre
At some point it occurred to Pärt that preservation of his estate would be
better started by him than left until after his death. So, in 2010 he and his
family took the bold and innovative step of founding the Arvo Pärt Centre,
which is currently housed in Laulasmaa, around thirty-five kilometers
from Tallinn, Estonia. The project began with the aim of “creating opportunities for preserving and researching the creative heritage of the composer in his native land, Estonia, and in the context of the Estonian
language.”10 It has developed into an exciting and groundbreaking initiative that will be “an open meeting place where the content of our activities
will harmonise with an architectural form that suits the local natural
environment.” To this end a competition was held for a new building
and won by Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano from Nieto Sobejano
Arquitectos, S.L.P. (Spain).11 The building opens to the public in 2018, the
year that Estonia celebrates the 100th anniversary of its independence. The
new building has a mandate to “work with researchers, organise educational programmes, hold exhibitions, conferences and film nights, and
[house] an auditorium [that] will accommodate concert and recording
possibilities.”12
10
www.arvopart.ee/en/.
11
www.arvopart.ee/en/kellasalu/about-kellasalu/.
12
Ibid.
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Prelude: Resonant Texts
7
The Pärt Centre has established a series of connections that speak to
some of the ambitions of the Pärts for the archive. These include partnerships with the institutions one would expect, including UE and ECM, but
also (more surprisingly) a strong relationship with the Estonian Tourist
Board. For many years Pärt has been one of Estonia’s biggest exports, and
the opportunity to join man and country has been seized at every chance.
The DVD Adam’s Passion, for example, includes a page devoted to publicizing the country under the tagline “Estonia – Positively surprising.”13
The Centre also has a series of sponsors, including Swedbank and Mercedes-Benz/SilberAuto.
The Centre has instituted a concordat with The Arvo Pärt Project at
St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York, which lends some theological and
musicological weight to Pärt studies.14 The Project was set up to investigate
the Orthodox foundation of Pärt’s music and is promoting a series of
concerts, lectures, and conversations with Pärt, and a number of publication projects.15 As with the Pärt Centre itself, the Project should, in years to
come, be able to add significantly to the literature on Pärt and his music.
It is an extraordinary advantage to future scholars that Pärt has chosen
to make use of technology to document his own life. Pärt’s tendency to
save and collect is a boon, but the Pärt Centre is just the culmination of a
long history of self-documentation and preservation that extends back to
the 1970s and is evidenced by the continued existence and availability of
the sketchbooks and diaries from his career. From the early notebooks
(most of which he kept and are now being preserved) to the more
recent work of the Centre’s archiving work, this documentation will be
an important source of material for future scholars and will, we hope,
mean that many questions that remain unanswered for other composers
will be answered by Pärt for himself.
So, in due course we are going to have unprecedented access to the life
and thoughts of this man. But what exactly does the archive contain? There
have been tantalizing glimpses of Pärt’s diaries and sketchbooks for his
compositions. Details from the Pärt Centre about the extent of the collection are not public though the Centre has confirmed what has been evident
(though in subtle ways) from a variety of sources. This includes information from Pärt himself, from their publications, and from details in the
13
14
15
Adam’s Passion (Accentus Music, ACC 20333, 2015).
www.arvopart.ee/en/2015/06/arvo-part-centre-and-st-vladimirs-orthodox-theologicalseminary-sign-a-concordat/.
http://arvopartproject.com.
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Arvo Pärt’s Resonant Texts: Choral and Organ Music 1956–2015
three widely distributed documentaries by Dorian Supin, an Estonian film
maker who is Pärt’s brother-in-law and has had unprecedented access to
the composer since the late 1970s.16 These films, though idiomatic and at
times frustrating (by virtue of their insistence on promoting an aesthetic
for Pärt rather than on discourse), have shown, for example, some of the
sketchbooks and some of the recorded interviews by journalist Immo
Mihkelson, who has been transcribing Pärt’s musical diaries.17 The interviews alone are extraordinary. What might in other instances have been
edited and collected into books are now just hours and hours of unedited
talking that scholars will be free to consult in due course.
The Pärt Centre is unwilling at present to allow publication of excerpts
from these primary sources, preferring instead (and justifiably) to reserve
that privilege for themselves. They have, however, begun to make some of
the information available in print. Most recently the collection of texts
used by Pärt (published under the title In Principio: The Word in Arvo
Pärt’s Music) contains several illustrations from his musical diaries and
sketches, including, for example, an outline for the “Sanctus” from his
Missa Syllabica from a contemporaneous musical diary dating from 1977.18
Of course, there are potential dangers to preserving information in any
archive, especially regarding rights to access. To date, scholars and critics
have largely been positive about Pärt’s music, but it will be interesting to
see how the Pärt Centre reacts to more critical engagement with the
composer in years to come, and how they will find ways to be impartial
in their sharing of materials while at the same time maintaining a certain
level of judicious engagement.
Authorial Intent
The notion of the “intentional fallacy,” that “the design or intention of
the author is neither available nor desirable as a standard for judging the
success of a work of art,” is a comparatively easy subject with regard to its
application to Pärt and his works since he has repeatedly stated that he
has no opinion on his music or that his opinion is only one of many
16
17
18
Dorian Supin: And Then Came Evening and Then Came Morning (1990); Arvo Pärt: 24
Preludes for a Fugue (2002); Even if I Lose Everything (2015). For a detailed list of films about
Pärt or that use his music (including other films by Supin) see www.arvopart.org/film.php.
Some of this can be seen in Supin’s film Even if I Lose Everything.
This text is hereafter referred to as The Word in Arvo Pärt’s Music to avoid confusion with
the piece In Principio. For the “Sanctus” diary page see the color illustrations, no. 8, and the cover.
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Prelude: Resonant Texts
9
possibilities.19 He entertains a multiplicity of possibilities regarding interpretation (in the broadest sense) of his music: “it is one thing for me to do
this, but how it is interpreted by the listener is another thing altogether,
and a third person writes an analysis that reflects yet another interpretation
again. This is all possible.”20 Pärt’s reticence in discussing his own music is
both a philosophical and theological position, which I discuss further in
Chapter 5.
Although some things Pärt has said are both useful and relevant to the
present work, I move away from recirculating many of the composer’s
quotes that have been overused. I have therefore largely avoided quoting
from published or private accounts of what Pärt has said and instead have
expanded on the possibilities for analysis and understanding of Pärt’s
music along the lines of current tropes and, I hope, have begun to point
out new directions. I have concentrated on what Beardsley and Wimsatt
describe as “internal evidence,” that is, the details present inside a given
work. Certainly some external and contextual evidence is useful; however,
my belief is that discussion of the composer (to update Beardsley and
Wimsatt) leads away from the composition, and the preference here is to
discuss the music. It is also the case that more than enough material is at
hand for the purpose of this text, which is intended both as a reference
work and an overview.
Pärt’s Sphere of Influence
Although not the focus of this text, it is important to acknowledge that
Pärt has an ever-growing presence in popular culture, and it is therefore
inevitable that his music is manifest in interesting ways. For example, an
idiosyncratic interview with Björk is available on YouTube, and many
musicians outside the classical sphere cite Pärt’s music as inspirational,
including Radiohead and Sigur Rós.21 Two specific examples demonstrate
the range of Pärt’s influence and the complex and multilayered associations brought about by his music.
One of the most interesting engagements with Pärt’s music is the use of
the Hilliard Ensemble’s recording of De Profundis by the Chicago hip-hop
19
20
21
Wimsatt and Beardsley, “The Intentional Fallacy.”
Greenbaum, “Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum,” 119.
http://classicalbumsundays.com/radiohead-kid-a-musical-lead-up-playlist/; www.scaruffi.com/
vol6/sigurros.html.
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Arvo Pärt’s Resonant Texts: Choral and Organ Music 1956–2015
artist Lupe Fiasco for the track “Little Weapon” (featuring Bishop G and
Nikki Jean) from his 1997 album, The Cool. The violent lyrics of this track
decry both gun violence and child soldiers, from those in Africa to high
school shooters. Pärt’s music is clearly heard twice in the 40 0600 track as a
sample; however, it is aurally present in the tonality and the beat, and the
alignment of the text of the psalm clearly mirrors the sentiment of Fiasco’s
lyrics.22
There are many fascinating uses of Spiegel im Spiegel, which has been
adopted as the sound track for numerous professional and personal videos.
It was effectively used for the official teaser trailer and extended trailer of
the 2013 movie Gravity, which won seven Oscars.23 Over spectacular shots
of the earth from space, Spiegel lent that familiar calmness and engaged
detachment that has become a trope with use of Pärt’s music by art house
directors. A few months after the movie was released, the couch gag
sequence in the opening titles of The Simpsons featured an homage to
the movie in which the weightless family struggle to make it on to the
couch.24 The parody references the movie trailers through use of a pastiche
version of Spiegel.
In the film world Pärt’s music has become for many the equivalent of an
Instagram filter, changing the emotional temperature, contrast, and saturation of many videos and films, especially at the amateur level. A systematic
analysis of representative writings on Pärt’s music, spanning his career,
contains many repeated key descriptors. These adjectives (“melancholy,”
“longing,” and so on) map onto specific works to provide descriptions of the
kind of Instagram filters that his music provides. Of course, several pieces by
other composers offer similar aural enhancements that have become both
cliché and codified (including “O Fortuna” from Orff’s Carmina Burana
and Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”). As a corollary, I suggest that Pärt’s
music is perhaps “colorized” by its associated CD artwork (especially the
ECM recordings), and this in turn impacts its use in sound tracks.
22
23
24
www.songlyrics.com/lupe-fiasco/little-weapon-lyrics/.
Alfonso Cuarón (dir.), Gravity, Warner Brothers, 2013.
Michael Polcino (dir.), “Yolo,” The Simpsons, episode 534, original air date November 10, 2013.
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