Arvo Pärt

Arvo Pärt at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin in 2008

Arvo Pärt (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈɑrvo ˈpært]; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of classical and religious music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-invented compositional technique, tintinnabuli. Pärt's music is in part inspired by Gregorian chant. His most performed works include Fratres (1977), Spiegel im Spiegel (1978), and Für Alina (1976). Since 2010 Pärt has been the most performed living composer in the world.

Life[edit]

Pärt was born in Paide, Järva County, Estonia and was raised by his mother and stepfather in Rakvere in northern Estonia.^[1] He began to experiment with the top and bottom notes of the family's piano as the middle register was damaged.^[2] Pärt's musical education began at the age of seven when he began attending music school in Rakvere. By the time he reached his early teenage years, Pärt was writing his own compositions. His first serious study came in 1954 at the Tallinn Music Middle School, but less than a year later he temporarily abandoned it to fulfill military service, playing oboe and percussion in the army band.^[3] After his service he attended the Tallinn Conservatory, where he studied composition with Heino Eller^[4] and it was said of him, "he just seemed to shake his sleeves and the notes would fall out".^[5] As a student, he produced music for film and the stage. During the 1950s, he also completed his first vocal composition, the cantata Meie aed ('Our Garden') for children's choir and orchestra. He graduated in 1963. From 1957 to 1967, he worked as a sound producer for the Estonian public radio broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling.

Pärt was criticized by Tikhon Khrennikov in 1962, for employing serialism in Nekrolog (1960), the first 12-tone music written in Estonia,^[6] which exhibited his "susceptibility to foreign influences". But nine months later he won First Prize in a competition of 1,200 works, awarded by the all-Union Society of Composers, indicating the inability of the Soviet regime to agree consistently on what was permissible.^[7] In the 1970s, Pärt studied medieval and Renaissance music instead of focusing on his own composition. About this same time, he converted from Lutheranism to Orthodox Christianity.^[8]

In 1980, after a prolonged struggle with Soviet officials, he was allowed to emigrate with his wife and their two sons. He lived first in Vienna, where he took Austrian citizenship and then relocated to Berlin, Germany, in 1981. He returned to Estonia around the turn of the 21st century and for a while lived alternately in Berlin^[9] and Tallinn.^[4] Nowadays he lives in Laulasmaa, about 35 kilometres (22 mi) from Tallinn.^{[citation needed]} He speaks fluent German and has German citizenship as a result of living in Germany since 1981.^[10][11][12]

In 2014 The Daily Telegraph described Pärt as possibly "the world's greatest living composer" and "by a long way, Estonia’s most celebrated export". But when asked how Estonian he felt his music to be, Pärt replied: "I don’t know what is Estonian... I don’t think about these things." Unlike many of his fellow Estonian composers, Pärt never found inspiration in the country’s epic poem, Kalevipoeg, even in his early works. Pärt said "My Kalevipoeg is Jesus Christ."^[6]

Musical development[edit]

Familiar works by Pärt are Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten for string orchestra and bell (1977) and the string quintet Fratres I (1977, revised 1983), which he transcribed for string orchestra and percussion, the solo violin "Fratres II" and the cello ensemble "Fratres III" (both 1980).

Pärt is often identified with the school of minimalism and, more specifically, that of mystic minimalism or holy minimalism.^[13] He is considered a pioneer of the latter style, along with contemporaries Henryk Górecki and John Tavener.^[14] Although his fame initially rested on instrumental works such as Tabula Rasa and Spiegel im Spiegel, his choral works have also come to be widely appreciated.

In this period of Estonian history, Pärt was unable to encounter many musical influences from outside the Soviet Union except for a few illegal tapes and scores. Although Estonia had been an independent state at the time of Pärt's birth, the Soviet Union occupied it in 1940 as a result of the Soviet–Nazi Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact; and the country would then remain under Soviet domination—except for the three-year period of German wartime occupation—for the next 51 years.

Compositions[edit]

Pärt at the Estonian Foreign Ministry in 2011

Pärt's works are generally divided into two periods. He composed his early works using a range of neo-classical styles influenced by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Bartók. He then began to compose using Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique and serialism. This, however, not only earned the ire of the Soviet establishment but also proved to be a creative dead-end. When early works were banned by Soviet censors, Pärt entered the first of several periods of contemplative silence, during which he studied choral music from the 14th to 16th centuries.^[4] In this context, Pärt's biographer, Paul Hillier, observed that "he had reached a position of complete despair in which the composition of music appeared to be the most futile of gestures, and he lacked the musical faith and willpower to write even a single note."^[15]

The spirit of early European Polyphony informed the composition of Pärt's transitional Third Symphony (1971); thereafter he immersed himself in early music, reinvestigating the roots of Western music. He studied plainsong, Gregorian chant and the emergence of polyphony in the European Renaissance.

The music that began to emerge after this period was radically different. This period of new compositions included the 1977 works Fratres, Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten and Tabula Rasa.^[4] Pärt describes the music of this period as tintinnabuli—like the ringing of bells. Spiegel im Spiegel (1978) is a well-known example which has been used in many films. The music is characterised by simple harmonies, often single unadorned notes, or triads, which form the basis of Western harmony. These are reminiscent of ringing bells. Tintinnabuli works are rhythmically simple and do not change tempo. Another characteristic of Pärt's later works is that they are frequently settings for sacred texts, although he mostly chooses Latin or the Church Slavonic language used in Orthodox liturgy instead of his native Estonian language. Large-scale works inspired by religious texts include St. John Passion, Te Deum, and Litany. Choral works from this period include Magnificat and The Beatitudes.^[4]

Pärt has been the most performed living composer in the world for seven consecutive years.^[16] Of Pärt's popularity, Steve Reich has written: "Even in Estonia, Arvo was getting the same feeling that we were all getting ... I love his music, and I love the fact that he is such a brave, talented man ... He's completely out of step with the zeitgeist and yet he's enormously popular, which is so inspiring. His music fulfills a deep human need that has nothing to do with fashion."^[17] Pärt's music came to public attention in the West largely thanks to Manfred Eicher who recorded several of Pärt's compositions for ECM Records starting in 1984.

Invited by Walter Fink, Pärt was the 15th composer featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2005 in four concerts. Chamber music included Für Alina for piano, played by himself, Spiegel im Spiegel and Psalom for string quartet. The chamber orchestra of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra played his Trisagion, Fratres and Cantus along with works of J.S. Bach. The Windsbach Boys Choir and soloists Sibylla Rubens, Ingeborg Danz, Markus Schäfer and Klaus Mertens performed Magnificat and Collage über B-A-C-H together with two cantatas of Bach and one of Mendelssohn. The Hilliard Ensemble, organist Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, the Rostock Motet Choir and the Hilliard instrumental ensemble, conducted by Markus Johannes Langer (de), performed a program of Pärt's organ music and works for voices (some a cappella), including Pari intervallo, De profundis, and Miserere.

A new composition, Für Lennart, written for the memory of the Estonian President, Lennart Meri, was played at Meri's funeral service on 2 April 2006.

In response to the murder of the Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow on 7 October 2006, Pärt declared that all of his works performed in 2006 and 2007 would be in honour of her death, issuing the following statement: "Anna Politkovskaya staked her entire talent, energy and—in the end—even her life on saving people who had become victims of the abuses prevailing in Russia."^[18]

Pärt with his wife Nora in 2012

Pärt was honoured as the featured composer of the 2008 RTÉ Living Music Festival^[19] in Dublin, Ireland. He was also commissioned by Louth Contemporary Music Society^[20] to compose a new choral work based on "St. Patrick's Breastplate", which premiered in 2008 in Louth, Ireland. The new work is called The Deer's Cry. This is his first Irish commission, having its debut in Drogheda and Dundalk in February 2008.

Pärt's 2008 4th symphony is named Los Angeles and was dedicated to Mikhail Khodorkovsky. It was Pärt's first symphony written since his 3rd symphony written in 1971. It premiered in Los Angeles, California, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on 10 January 2009,^[21] and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

On 10 December 2011, Pärt was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture for a five-year renewable term by Pope Benedict XVI.^[22]

On 26 January 2014, Tõnu Kaljuste, conducting the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, the Sinfonietta Riga, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Latvian Radio Choir and the Vox Clamantis ensemble, won a Grammy for Best Choral Performance for a performance of Pärt's Adam's Lament.^[23]

Personal life[edit]

Pärt has credited his second wife Nora, a trained musicologist, with helping him to find his identity.^[24]

International centre[edit]

The Arvo Pärt Centre is located in the Estonian village of Laulasmaa. The centre is responsible for maintaining the composer's archive. A new building of the centre to be opened in October 2018 will include in addition to the archives a library, a museum, research facilities, an education centre, and a concert hall.^[25]

Awards[edit]

• 1996 – American Academy of Arts and Letters Department of Music
• 1996 – Honorary Doctor of Music, University of Sydney^[26]
• 1998 – Honorary Doctor of Arts, University of Tartu
• 2003 – Honorary Doctor of Music, University of Durham^[27]
• 2006 – Order of the National Coat of Arms 1st Class^[28]
• 2007 – Brückepreis, an international prize for people whose life's work improved understanding among nations in Europe (Völkerverständigung)^[29]
• 2008 – Léonie Sonning Music Prize
• 2008 – Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class^[30]
• 2009 – Foreign Member, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
• 2010 – Honorary Doctor of Music, University of St Andrews^[31]
• 2011 – Chevalier (Knight) of Légion d'honneur^[32]
• 2011 – Membership of the Pontifical Council for Culture^[33]
• 2013 – Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate^[34]
• 2014 – Recipient of the Praemium Imperiale award, Japan^[35]
• 2014 – Honorary Doctor of Sacred Music, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary^[36]
• 2016 – Honorary Doctor of Music, University of Oxford^[37]
• 2017 – Ratzinger Prize^[38]

See also[edit]

• List of Estonian composers

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Hillier, Paul. (1997). Arvo Pärt. Oxford : Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-816616-0 (paper)

Further reading[edit]

• Chikinda, Michael (2011). "Pärt's Evolving Tintinnabuli Style". Perspectives of New Music 49, no. 1 (Winter): pp. 182–206
• Arvo Pärt, Enzo Restagno, Leopold Brauneiss and Saala Kareda (2012). Arvo Pärt in Conversation, translated from the German by Robert Crow. Estonian Literature Series. Champaign, IL: Dalkey Archive Press ISBN 9781564787866
• Shenton, Andrew (ed.) (2012). The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ISBN 9780511842566

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Arvo Pärt

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arvo Pärt.

• Arvo Pärt biography and works on the UE website (publisher)
• Arvo Pärt discography at Classical Net
• Arvo Pärt Conference at Boston University
• Arvo Pärt – extensive site
• David Pinkerton's Arvo Pärt archive – yet another extensive site, with some good analytical writing.
• Biography in MUSICMATCH Guide – Small biography and list of works.
• Arvo Pärt and the New Simplicity – Article by Bill McGlaughlin, with audio selections
• Steve Reich about Arvo Pärt, in an interview with Richard Williams, The Guardian, 2 January 2004
• Spike Magazine Interview
• Lancing College Commission Original Claudio Records Recording in the presence of the composer – Review/Information (dead link)
• Arvo Pärt Centre – most up-to-date info and more
• Arvo Pärt on IMDb