Estonian Composer Arvo Pärt
Russian Catholic Orthodoz Church draws from minimalism, Perotin and Medieval Gregorian chants as inspiration.
Aug 2, 2006
In the 1970s, after an earlier period characterized by serialism ended in a creative dryspell, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt joined the Russian Orthodox Church and delved into the rich tradition of religious music preserved in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
His later (and more popular) compostions drew heavily from Medieval styles including plainsong and Gregorian chant, but absorbed them into a 20th-century minimalist sound. And Pärt was not the only 20th-century composer to create new out of the old. Other minimalist composers owe a great debt to Medieval and Renaissance music: one of Steve Reich's favorite composers was the 12th-century Frenchman Pérotin.
The prolonged and expansive bass notes of 12th and 13th-century organum's cantus firmus and its semi-mysterical mood of contemplation fit into the minimalist aesthetic of sparsity and gradual change quite well. But Pärt's incorporation of Medieval styles more overtly preserved and referenced the religious roots of his musical mentors.
He called his development of austere harmonies comprised of single notes and plain triads tintinnabuli, or "like the ringing of bells." Most of Pärt's later works are also vocal or choral works setting religious texts in either Latin or Slavonic. Interestingly enough, though Pärt is often listed under nationalistic composers, he did little to highlight his native Estonia, preferring instead to draw on languages preserved in and thus specific to the Church.
He is more accurately described as a religious composer, then, rather than an ethnic or national one. Listeners may find themselves looking for a stained glass cathedral when they sit down with one of Arvo Pärt's compositions. The beauty of both go together.
