Arvo Pärt

Estonian composer (born 1935)

"Pärt" redirects here. For the Estonian handballer, see Armi Pärt. For the Estonian music producer, see Michael Pärt.

Arvo Pärt

Pärt at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, 2008

Born|  (1935-09-11) 11 September 1935 (age 89)

Paide, Järva County, Estonia

Alma mater| Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
Occupation| Composer
Works| List of compositions
Spouse| Nora Pärt
Awards|

* American Academy of Arts and Letters
* Order of the National Coat of Arms
* Brückepreis
* Léonie Sonning Music Prize
* Légion d'honneur

Arvo Pärt (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈɑrvo ˈpært]; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. 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). From 2011 to 2018, and again in 2022, Pärt was the most performed living composer in the world, and the second most performed in 2019, after John Williams. The Arvo Pärt Centre, in Laulasmaa, was opened to the public in 2018.

## Early life, family and education

[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 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 military 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] 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.

## Career

[edit]

As a student, Pärt composed music for film and the stage, creating scores for over fifty movies. Although filmmaking and film music were not primary sources of inspiration for him, these compositions provided a medium for exploring serial and tonal techniques—an amalgamation that would later influence his collage works of the 1960s.[6] From 1957 to 1967, he worked as a sound producer for the Estonian public radio broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling.

Tikhon Khrennikov criticized Pärt in 1962 for employing serialism in Nekrolog (1960), the first 12-tone music written in Estonia,[7] which exhibited his "susceptibility to foreign influences". But nine months later Pärt won First Prize in a competition of 1,200 works, awarded by the all-Union Society of Composers, indicating the Soviet regime's inability to agree on what was permissible.[8] His first overtly sacred piece, Credo (1968), was a turning point in his career and life; on a personal level he had reached a creative crisis that led him to renounce the techniques and means of expression used so far; on a social level the religious nature of this piece resulted in him being unofficially censured and his music disappearing from concert halls. For the next eight years he composed very little, focusing instead on study of medieval and Renaissance music to find his new musical language. In 1972 he converted from Lutheranism to Orthodox Christianity.[9][10]

Pärt reemerged as a composer in 1976 with music in his new compositional style and technique, tintinnabuli.[10]

On 10 December 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Pärt a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture for a five-year renewable term.[11]

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". 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 national epic, Kalevipoeg, even in his early works. Pärt said, "My Kalevipoeg is Jesus Christ."[7]

## Music

[edit]

See also: List of compositions by Arvo Pärt

### Overview

[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.[12] He is considered a pioneer of the latter style, along with contemporaries Henryk Górecki and John Tavener.[13] 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.

### Development

[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 Soviet censors banned early works, 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."[14]

In his work Credo (1968), written for solo piano, orchestra, and chorus, he employed avant-garde techniques. This work differed in its forms and context from his earlier atonal and tintinnabula works. Inspired by 14th and 16th century liturgical music, he used a poly-stylistic compositional technique to express his faith in God while incorporating avant-garde techniques of the 20th century. By definition, a credo expresses beliefs and guides religious action, and in his work it represents his faith in God. The Soviets eventually banned the work due to its clear religious context, even though it incorporated avant-garde and a constructivist procedure.[15]

The spirit of early European polyphony informed the composition of Pärt's transitional Third Symphony (1971); after that, 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 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. In this technique, each syllable of a word is assigned to a pitch and a duration. Once two or three words have been connected, a phrase has been made.[16] 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 Berliner Messe, St. John Passion and Te Deum; the author of the famous text of Litany is the 4th-century theologian John Chrysostom.[17] Choral works from this period include Magnificat and The Beatitudes.[4]

## Reception and later compositions

[edit]

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Pärt was the most performed living composer in the world from 2011 to 2018, but then the second-most performed composer, after John Williams.[18] In 2022, Arvo was back to the top in Bachtrack. 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.[19]

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. Pärt wrote Cecilia, vergine romana on an Italian text about life and martyrdom of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, for choir and orchestra on a commission for the Great Jubilee in Rome, where it was performed, close to her feast day on 22 November, by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Myung-whun Chung.

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 Bach cantatas and one by 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 composition, Für Lennart, written for the memory of the Estonian President, Lennart Meri, was played at Meri's funeral service on 26 March 2006.[20]

Pärt with his wife Nora in 2012

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."[21]

Pärt was honoured as the featured composer of the 2008 Raidió Teilifís Éireann Living Music Festival[22] in Dublin, Ireland. He was also commissioned by Louth Contemporary Music Society[23] to compose a new choral work based on "Saint Patrick's Breastplate", which premiered in 2008 in County Louth, Ireland. The new work, The Deer's Cry, is his first Irish commission, and received its debut in Drogheda and Dundalk in February 2008.[24]

Pärt's 2008 Fourth Symphony is named Los Angeles and was dedicated to Mikhail Khodorkovsky. It was Pärt's first symphony written since his Third Symphony of 1971. It premiered in Los Angeles, California, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on 10 January 2009,[25] and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in 2010.[26]

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.[27] Describing aspects of Pärt's music as "glocal" in approach, Estonian musicologist Kerri Kotta noted that the composer "has been able to translate something very human into sound that crosses the borders normally separating people."[28]

## Awards

[edit]

* 1996 – American Academy of Arts and Letters Department of Music[29]
* 1996 – Honorary Doctor of Music, University of Sydney[30]
* 1998 – Honorary Doctor of Arts, University of Tartu[31]
* 2003 – Honorary Doctor of Music, Durham University[32]
* 2006 – Order of the National Coat of Arms 1st Class[33]
* 2007 – Brückepreis[34]
* 2008 – Léonie Sonning Music Prize, Denmark[35]
* 2008 – Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class[36]
* 2009 – Foreign Member, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts[37]
* 2010 – Honorary Doctor of Music, University of St Andrews[38]
* 2011 – Chevalier (Knight) of Légion d'honneur, France[39]
* 2011 – Membership of the Pontifical Council for Culture[40]
* 2013 – Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate[41]
* 2014 – Recipient of the Praemium Imperiale award, Japan[42]
* 2014 – Honorary Doctor of Sacred Music, Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary[43]
* 2016 – Honorary Doctor of Music, University of Oxford[44]
* 2017 – Ratzinger Prize, Germany[45]
* 2018 – Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis, Poland[46][47]
* 2018 – Honorary Doctor of Music, Fryderyk Chopin University of Music[48]
* 2019 – Cross of Recognition, 2nd Class, Latvia[49]
* 2020 – Frontiers of Knowledge Award, BBVA Foundation, Spain[50]
* 2021 – Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany[51]
* 2022 – Officer of the Order of the Oak Crown, Luxembourg[52]
* 2023 – Polar Music Prize, Sweden[53]
* 2024 – Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society[54]

## Personal life

[edit]

He converted to Orthodox Christianity in 1972 upon marrying his second wife, Nora.[9]

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 in 1981. He returned to Estonia around the turn of the 21st century and for a while lived alternately in Berlin[55] and Tallinn.[4] He now resides in Laulasmaa, about 35 kilometres (22 mi) from Tallinn.[56] He speaks fluent German as a result of living in Germany since 1981.[57][58][59]

In 2010, the Pärt family established the Arvo Pärt Centre, an institution responsible for maintaining his personal archive, in the village of Laulasmaa. A new building of the centre opened to the visitors on 17 October 2018, containing a concert hall, a library, and research facilities. The centre also offers educational programmes for children and operates as an international information centre on Pärt's life and work.[60]

In April 2020, although Pärt rarely gives interviews, he spoke to the Spanish newspaper ABC about the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that it was a "mega fast" and reminded him to follow the example of John Updike, who "once said that he tried to work with the same calm as the masters of the Middle Ages, who carved the church pews in places where it was impossible to see them".[61]

## See also

[edit]

* List of Estonian composers

## Citations and references

[edit]

1. ^ "Sounds emanating love – the story of Arvo pärt". EstonianWorld.com. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
2. ^ "Arvo Pärt". sinfinimusic.com. Sinfini Music. Archived from the original on 4 September 2013.
3. ^ "Arvo Pärt – Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
4. ^ a b c d e "Program Notes". Playbill. New York City Ballet. January 2008.
5. ^ Hillier, P. (1997). Arvo Pärt. p. 27.
6. ^ Cizmic, Maria (5 December 2011). Performing PainMusic and Trauma in Eastern Europe. Oxford University Press. p. 110\. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734603.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-973460-3.
7. ^ a b Allison, John (12 December 2014). "Arvo Pärt interview: 'music says what I need to say'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
8. ^ Misiunas, Romuald J.; Rein, Taagepera (1983). The Baltic States, Years of Dependence, 1940–1980. University of California Press. p. 170\. ISBN 978-0-520-04625-2.
9. ^ a b Robin, William (18 May 2014). "His Music, Entwined With His Faith". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
10. ^ a b "Arvo Pärt Biography". Arvo Pärt Centre. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
11. ^ "Nomina di Membris del Pontifico Consiglio Della Cultura" [Appointment of Members of the Pontifical Council for Culture]. press.catholica.va (in Italian). Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
12. ^ For example, in an essay by Christopher Norris called "Post-modernism: a guide for the perplexed," found in Gary K. Browning, Abigail Halcli, Frank Webster, Understanding Contemporary Society: Theories of the Present, 2000.
13. ^ Thomas, Adrian (1997). Górecki. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 135\. ISBN 978-0-19-816393-0.
14. ^ P. Hillier, Arvo Pärt, 1997, p. 64.
15. ^ Medić, Ivana (2010). "I Believe… in What? Arvo Pärt's and Alfred Schnittke's Polystylistic Credos". Slavonica. 16 (2): 96–111\. doi:10.1179/136174210X12814458213727. ISSN 1361-7427. S2CID 159776256.
16. ^ Muzzo, Grace Kingsbury (2008). "Systems, Symbols, & Silence: The Tintinnabuli Technique of Arvo Pärt into the Twenty-First Century". The Choral Journal. 49 (6): 22–35\. ISSN 0009-5028. JSTOR 23557279.
17. ^ "Litany". arvopart.ee. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
18. ^ "Arvo Pärt was the world's second most performed living composer in 2019". Estonian world. 7 January 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
19. ^ Hodgkinson, Will. "The Reich stuff". The Guardian, 2 January 2004. Retrieved, 18 February 2011.
20. ^ "Für Lennart in memoriam – Arvo Pärt Centre". www.arvopart.ee. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
21. ^ "Arvo Pärt commemorates Politkovskaja" (PDF). Universal Edition Newsletter (Winter 2006/2007). Universal Edition: 13. 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
22. ^ "Arvo Pärt describes RTÉ Living Music Festival as 'best festival of my life'" (Press release). Raidió Teilifís Éireann.
23. ^ "Baltic Voices in Ireland: Arvo Pärt's World Premiere – Louth Contemporary Music Society". Retrieved 12 October 2018.[permanent dead link]
24. ^ "Premiere of "The Deer's Cry" by Arvo Pärt in Ireland". Music News. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
25. ^ In Detail: Arvo Pärt's Symphony No. 4 'Los Angeles'. Retrieved 27 January 2009.
26. ^ "Arvo Part". 22 May 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
27. ^ Arvo Pärt's "Adam's Lament" wins Grammy Award in the Best Choral Performance category!. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
28. ^ Kotta, Kerri (2018). Mixed identities in Arvo Pärt's Adam's Lament. In David G. Hebert & Mikolaj Rykowski, eds., Music Glocalization: Heritage and Innovation in a Digital Age. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, p.133.
29. ^ "Arvo Pärt – Estonian composer". britannica.com. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
30. ^ "Honorary Awards: University of Sydney". Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
31. ^ Shenton, Andrew (17 May 2012). The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-49566-1.
32. ^ "Arvo Pärt: Doctor of Music" (PDF). 15 October 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2008.
33. ^ "President Arnold Rüütel jagab heldelt üliharuldast ordenit". Postimees. 12 January 2006. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
34. ^ "Internationaler Brückepreis geht an: / 2007 – Arvo Pärt / Estnischer Komponist" [International Brückepreis goes to: / 2007 – Arvo Pärt/ Estonian composer] (in German). 2007. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
35. ^ "Arvo Pärt". Léonie Sonnings Musikpris. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
36. ^ "DiePresse.com". 9 May 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
37. ^ "Endre Süli elected Foreign Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts". Mathematical Institute. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
38. ^ "Honorary Degrees June 2009". 17 June 2009. Archived from the original on 24 June 2009. Retrieved 18 June 2009.
39. ^ "Le compositeur Arvo Pärt décoré de l'ordre de la Légion d'Honneur". ambafrance-ee.org. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
40. ^ "Vatican information service". 12 December 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
41. ^ "Arvo Pärt Receives Distinction from Patriarch Bartholomew". 9 September 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
42. ^ "Arvo Pärt, Athol Fugard among recipients of Praemium Imperiale awards". Los Angeles Times. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
43. ^ "Honorary Degrees May 2014" (PDF). svots.edu. 31 May 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014. Alt URL Archived 15 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
44. ^ "Oxford announces honorary degrees for 2016". ox.ac.uk. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
45. ^ "An Orthodox, a Lutheran, and a Catholic win the 2017 Ratzinger Prize". Crux. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
46. ^ Łozińska, Olga (26 November 2018). "Kompozytor Arvo Part uhonorowany Złotym Medalem Zasłużony Kulturze Gloria Artis". dzieje.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 27 November 2018.
47. ^ "Lista laureatów Medalu Zasłużony Kulturze Gloria Artis" (in Polish). Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego. Archived from the original on 1 March 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
48. ^ "Two eminent prizes to Arvo Pärt from Poland". 25 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
49. ^ "Estonian composer Arvo Part decorated with Latvia's Cross of Recognition, 2nd Class". The Baltic Course. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
50. ^ "Arvo Pärt receives Frontiers of Knowledge Award". Arvo Pärt Centre. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
51. ^ "Bundesverdienstkreuz für Arvo Pärt". Deutschlandfunk Kultur (in German). 13 November 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
52. ^ "Arvo Pärt awarded the state order of Luxembourg".
53. ^ "2023 Laureate – Arvo Pärt". Polar Music Prize. 28 March 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
54. ^ "RPS awards Gold Medal to Arvo Pärt".
55. ^ "Radio :: SWR2" (PDF). SWR.de. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
56. ^ Clements, Andrew (19 April 2018). "Arvo Pärt: The Symphonies review – the Parts that make the whole". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
57. ^ Hillier, P. (1997). Arvo Pärt. p. 33.
58. ^ "Arvo Pärt Special 1: How Sacred Music Scooped an Interview". theartsdesk.com. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
59. ^ Bohlman, P. The Music of European Nationalism: Cultural Identity and Modern History. p. 75.
60. ^ "About the Centre". Arvo Pärt Centre. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
61. ^ Rodrigo, Inés Martín (7 April 2020). "Arvo Pärt: 'El virus demuestra que somos un único organismo'" [Arvo Pärt: 'The virus shows that we are a single organism'] (in Spanish).

### Cited 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
* Pärt, Arvo; Enzo Restagno; Leopold Brauneiss; Saala Kareda (2012). Arvo Pärt in Conversation, translated from the German by Robert Crow. Estonian Literature Series. Champaign, IL: Dalkey Archive Press ISBN 978-1-56478-786-6
* Shenton, Andrew (ed.) (2012). The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-0-511-84256-6
* Shenton, Andrew (2018). Arvo Pärt's Resonant Texts: Choral and Organ Music 1956–2015. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
* Sildre, Joonas (2024). Between Two Sounds: Arvo Pärt’s Journey to His Musical Language. Walden: Plough Publishing House.
* Dolp, Laura (ed.) (2019). Arvo Pärt's White Light: Media, Culture, Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
* Bouteneff, Peter; Jeffers Engelhardt; Robert Saler (eds.) (2020). Arvo Pärt: Sounding the Sacred. New York: Fordham University Press

## 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
* Between Two Sounds: Graphic novel about Arvo Pärt's life and musical journey.
* Biography in MUSICMATCH Guide – small biography and list of works.
* Arvo Pärt and the New Simplicity Archived 22 October 2003 at the Wayback Machine – 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 (archived)
* Arvo Pärt Centre – most up-to-date info and more
* Arvo Pärt at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Arvo Pärt

List of compositions

Vocal and Choral|

* Summa
* De profundis (1980)
* Te Deum (1984)
* Stabat Mater (1985)
* Passio (1989)
* Magnificat (1989)
* Berliner Messe (1990)
* Kanon Pokajanen (1997)
* Cecilia, vergine romana (2000)
* Nunc dimittis (2001)
* Salve Regina (2001)
* Da pacem Domine (2004)
* The Deer's Cry (2007)
* Adam's Lament (2009)

Orchestral|

* Symphony No. 1 (Polyphonic)
* Symphony No. 2
* Symphony No. 3
* Fratres
* Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
* Symphony No. 4 (Los Angeles)
* Tabula Rasa
* Festina lente
* Lamentate

Instrumental|

* Für Alina (piano)
* Spiegel im Spiegel (violin & piano)
* Pari intervallo (unspecified instrumentation)

Related|

* Tintinnabuli
* Holy minimalism
* Reich Richter Pärt

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Léonie Sonning Music Prize Laureates

1950s|

* Igor Stravinsky (1959)

1960s|

* Leonard Bernstein (1965)
* Birgit Nilsson (1966)
* Witold Lutosławski (1967)
* Benjamin Britten (1968)
* Boris Christoff (1969)

1970s|

* Sergiu Celibidache (1970)
* Arthur Rubinstein (1971)
* Yehudi Menuhin (1972)
* Dmitri Shostakovich (1973)
* Andrés Segovia (1974)
* Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1975)
* Mogens Wöldike (1976)
* Olivier Messiaen (1977)
* Jean-Pierre Rampal (1978)
* Janet Baker (1979)

1980s|

* Marie-Claire Alain (1980)
* Mstislav Rostropovich (1981)
* Isaac Stern (1982)
* Rafael Kubelík (1983)
* Miles Davis (1984)
* Pierre Boulez (1985)
* Sviatoslav Richter (1986)
* Heinz Holliger (1987)
* Peter Schreier (1988)
* Gidon Kremer (1989)

1990s|

* György Ligeti (1990)
* Eric Ericson (1991)
* Georg Solti (1992)
* Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1993)
* Krystian Zimerman (1994)
* Yuri Bashmet (1995)
* Per Nørgård (1996)
* András Schiff (1997)
* Hildegard Behrens (1998)
* Sofia Gubaidulina (1999)

2000s|

* Michala Petri (2000)
* Anne-Sophie Mutter (2001)
* Alfred Brendel (2002)
* György Kurtág (2003)
* Keith Jarrett (2004)
* John Eliot Gardiner (2005)
* Yo-Yo Ma (2006)
* Lars Ulrik Mortensen (2007)
* Arvo Pärt (2008)
* Daniel Barenboim (2009)

2010s|

* Cecilia Bartoli (2010)
* Kaija Saariaho (2011)
* Jordi Savall (2012)
* Simon Rattle (2013)
* Martin Fröst (2014)
* Thomas Adès (2015)
* Herbert Blomstedt (2016)
* Leonidas Kavakos (2017)
* Mariss Jansons (2018)
* Hans Abrahamsen (2019)

2020s|

* Barbara Hannigan (2020)
* Unsuk Chin (2021)
* Pierre-Laurent Aimard (2022)
* Evelyn Glennie (2023)
* Emmanuel Pahud (2024)
* Danish String Quartet (2025)

* v
* t
* e

Herder Prize laureates

1964–1970|

* 1964: Oto Bihalji-Merin
* Jan Kott
* Stanisław Lorentz
* Lucijan Marija Škerjanc
* 1965: Tudor Arghezi
* Manolis Hatzidakis
* Emanuel Hruška
* Zoltán Kodály
* László Németh
* Hugo Rokyta
* Hristo Vakarelski
* 1966: Ján Cikker
* Dezső Dercsényi
* Zlatko Gorjan
* Aleksander Kobzdej
* Anton Kriesis
* Niko Kuret
* Dimiter Statkov
* 1967: Iván Fenyő
* Vladimír Kompánek
* Witold Lutosławski
* Spyridon Marinatos
* Alexandru A. Philippide
* Mihai Pop
* Svetozar Radojčić
* 1968: Constantin Daicoviciu
* Roman Ingarden
* Miroslav Krleža
* Ludvík Kunz
* Anastasios Orlandos
* Lajos Vayer
* Pancho Vladigerov
* 1969: Jolán Balogh
* Albín Brunovský
* Bohuslav Fuchs
* Mihail Jora
* Marijan Matković
* Ksawery Piwocki
* France Stele
* 1970: Jan Białostocki
* Jan Filip
* Zoltán Franyó
* Milovan Gavazzi
* Gyula Illyés
* Yiannis Papaioannou
* Zeko Torbov

1971–1980|

* 1971: Jiří Kolář
* Blaže Koneski
* Georgios Megas
* Kazimierz Michałowski
* Mihail Sokolovski
* Zaharia Stancu
* Bence Szabolcsi
* 1972: Dragotin Cvetko
* Atanas Dalchev
* Branko Maksimović
* Gyula Ortutay
* Jaroslav Pešina
* Henryk Stażewski
* Virgil Vătășianu
* 1973: Veselin Beshevliev
* Stylianos Harkianakis
* János Harmatta
* Zbigniew Herbert
* Eugen Jebeleanu
* Petar Lubarda
* Jan Racek
* 1974: Władysław Czerny
* Ivan Duichev
* Ivo Frangeš
* László Gerő
* Stylianos Pelekanidis
* Ján Podolák
* Zeno Vancea
* 1975: Józef Burszta
* Hristo M. Danov
* Stanislav Libenský
* Maria Ana Musicescu
* Gábor Preisich
* Pandelis Prevelakis
* Stanojlo Rajičić
* 1976: Jagoda Buić
* Marin Goleminov
* Ioannis Kakridis
* Dezső Keresztury
* Nichita Stănescu
* Rudolf Turek
* Kazimierz Wejchert
* 1977: Nikolaos Andriotis
* Riko Debenjak
* Emmanuel Kriaras
* Albert Kutal
* Máté Major
* Krzysztof Penderecki
* Anastas Petrov
* Ion Vladutiu
* 1978: Eugen Barbu
* Đurđe Bošković
* Kazimierz Dejmek
* Stoyan Dzudzev
* Béla Gunda
* Jiří Hrůza
* Yiannis Spyropoulos
* 1979: Magdalena Abakanowicz
* Ferenc Farkas
* Zdenko Kolacio
* Atanas Natev
* András Sütő
* Pavel Trost
* Apostolos E. Vacalopoulos
* 1980: Gordana Babić-Đorđević
* Iván Balassa
* Kamil Lhoták
* Manousos Manousakas
* Vera Mutafchieva
* Alexandru Rosetti
* Wiktor Zin

1981–1990|

* 1981: Emil Condurachi
* Sándor Csoóri
* Stefka Georgieva
* Dimitrios Loukatos
* Vjenceslav Richter
* Eugen Suchoň
* Elida Maria Szarota
* 1982: Athanasios Aravantinos
* Ana Blandiana
* Vojislav J. Đurić
* Sona Kovacevicová
* Aleksandar Nichev
* Jan Józef Szczepański
* Imre Varga
* 1983: Władysław Bartoszewski
* Géza Entz
* Jozef Jankovič
* Gunther Schuller
* Zdenko Škreb
* Stefana Stoykova
* C. A. Trypanis
* 1984: Emilijan Cevc
* Konstantinos Dimaras
* Karel Horálek
* György Konrád
* Constantin Lucaci
* Krasimir Manchev
* Krzysztof Meyer
* 1985: Branko Fučić
* Růžena Grebeníčková
* Adrian Marino
* Demetrios Pallas
* Károly Perczel
* Simeon Pironkov
* Andrzej Wajda
* 1986: Georgi Baev
* Tekla Dömötör
* Boris Gaberščik
* Konrad Górski
* Johannes Karayannopoulos
* Jiří Kotalík
* Anatol Vieru
* 1987: Roman Brandstaetter
* Doula Mouriki
* József Ujfalussy
* Vladimir Veličković
* Velizar Velkov
* Gheorghe Vrabie
* 1988: Roman Berger
* Christos Kapralos
* Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga
* György Györffy
* Donka Petkanova
* Mieczysław Porębski
* Edvard Ravnikar
* 1989: Maria Banuș
* Ákos Birkás
* Jerzy Buszkiewicz
* Václav Frolec
* Nikolai Genchev
* Petar Miljković-Pepek
* Nikos Gabriel Pentzikis
* 1990: Liviu Calin
* Bronisław Geremek
* Aris Konstantinidis
* Dejan Medaković
* Virginia Paskaleva
* Adriena Šimotová
* András Vizkelety

1991–2000|

* 1991: Maja Bošković-Stulli
* Gerard Labuda
* Andor Pigler
* Yorgos Sicilianos
* Emil Skála
* Marin Sorescu
* Stoimen Stoilov
* 1992: Manolis Andronikos
* Jenő Barabás
* Blaga Dimitrova
* Stefan Kaszynski
* Jiří Kořalka
* Zmaga Kumer
* Jon Nicodim
* 1993: Vasilka Gerasimova-Tomova
* Petro Kononenko
* György Kurtág
* Jerzy Tchórzewski
* Răzvan Theodorescu
* Elena Várossová
* Māra Zālīte
* Dionysis Zivas
* Viktor Žmegač
* 1994: István Borzsák
* Dževad Juzbašić
* Ștefan Niculescu
* Andrzej Szczypiorski
* Jitka and Květa Válová
* Takis Varvitsiotis
* Zigmas Zinkevičius
* 1995: Sándor Kányádi
* Mirko Kovač
* Milcho Lalkov
* Michael G. Meraklis
* Mindaugas Navakas
* Wisława Szymborska
* Jaan Undusk
* 1996: Tamás Hofer
* Karel Hubáček
* Konstantin Iliev
* Marin Mincu
* Jože Pogačnik
* Pēteris Vasks
* Marian Zgórniak
* 1997: Tasos Athanasiadis
* Bogdan Bogdanović
* Oskár Elschek
* Ferenc Glatz
* Lech Kalinowski
* Jaan Kross
* Dunja Rihtman-Auguštin
* 1998: Imre Bak
* Andrei Corbea-Hoișie
* Eliška Fučíková
* Ismail Kadare
* Justinas Marcinkevičius
* Dorota Simonides
* Elena Toncheva
* 1999: Svetlana Alexievich
* Vera Bitrakova-Grozdanova
* Mircea Dinescu
* István Fried
* Henryk Górecki
* Dževad Karahasan
* Ferdinand Milučký
* 2000: Ján Bakoš
* Ivan Čolović
* Nikola Georgiev
* Imre Kertész
* Milan Kundera
* Karolos Mitsakis
* Arvo Pärt

2001–2006|

* 2001: Yurii Andrukhovych
* Janez Bernik
* János Böhönyey
* Maria Kłańska
* Marek Kopelent
* Andrej Mitrović
* Evanghelos Moutsopoulos
* 2002: George Demetrius Bambiniotis
* Māris Čaklais
* Péter Esterházy
* Radost Ivanova
* Nedjeljko Fabrio
* Aurel Stroe
* Lech Trzeciakowski
* 2003: Vasil Gyuzelev
* Drago Jančar
* Károly Manherz
* Stanisław Mossakowski
* Ales Rasanau
* Ludvík Václavek
* Ana Maria Zahariade
* 2004: Theodore Antoniou
* Michał Głowiński
* Dušan Kováč
* Fatos Lubonja
* Éva Pócs
* Kazimir Popkonstantinov
* Romualdas Požerskis
* 2005: Károly Klimó
* Hanna Krall
* Primož Kuret
* Jiří Kuthan
* Andrei Marga
* Eimuntas Nekrošius
* Krešimir Nemec
* 2006: Włodzimierz Borodziej
* Nicos Hadjinicolaou
* Gabriela Kiliánová
* Ene Mihkelson
* Vojteh Ravnikar

* v
* t
* e

Laureates of the Polar Music Prize

1990s|

* Paul McCartney / the Baltic states (1992)
* Dizzy Gillespie / Witold Lutosławski (1993)
* Quincy Jones / Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1994)
* Elton John / Mstislav Rostropovich (1995)
* Joni Mitchell / Pierre Boulez (1996)
* Bruce Springsteen / Eric Ericson (1997)
* Ray Charles / Ravi Shankar (1998)
* Stevie Wonder / Iannis Xenakis (1999)

2000s|

* Bob Dylan / Isaac Stern (2000)
* Burt Bacharach / Robert Moog / Karlheinz Stockhausen (2001)
* Miriam Makeba / Sofia Gubaidulina (2002)
* Keith Jarrett (2003)
* B.B. King / György Ligeti (2004)
* Gilberto Gil / Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (2005)
* Led Zeppelin / Valery Gergiev (2006)
* Sonny Rollins / Steve Reich (2007)
* Pink Floyd / Renée Fleming (2008)
* Peter Gabriel / José Antonio Abreu / El Sistema (2009)

2010s|

* Björk / Ennio Morricone (2010)
* Kronos Quartet / Patti Smith (2011)
* Paul Simon / Yo-Yo Ma (2012)
* Youssou N'Dour / Kaija Saariaho (2013)
* Chuck Berry / Peter Sellars (2014)
* Emmylou Harris / Evelyn Glennie (2015)
* Max Martin / Cecilia Bartoli (2016)
* Sting / Wayne Shorter (2017)
* Metallica / Afghanistan National Institute of Music (2018)
* Grandmaster Flash / Anne-Sophie Mutter / Playing for Change (2019)

2020s|

* Anna Netrebko / Diane Warren (2020)
* Iggy Pop / Ensemble intercontemporain (2022)
* Chris Blackwell / Angélique Kidjo / Arvo Pärt (2023)
* Nile Rodgers / Esa-Pekka Salonen (2024)
* Barbara Hannigan / Herbie Hancock / Queen (2025)

* v
* t
* e

Minimal music

Composers|

* John Adams
* Louis Andriessen
* Gavin Bryars
* Philip Glass
* Simeon ten Holt
* Tom Johnson
* Michael Nyman
* Steve Reich
* Terry Riley
* La Monte Young

Holy minimalism|

* Henryk Górecki
* Giya Kancheli
* Arvo Pärt
* Sofia Gubaidulina
* John Tavener

Techniques|

* Drone
* Phasing
* Process music
* Repetition

Compositions|

* Clapping Music
* Different Trains
* Doctor Atomic
* Eight Lines
* Einstein on the Beach
* Four Organs
* In C
* It's Gonna Rain
* Koyaanisqatsi
* Phrygian Gates
* Piano Phase
* A Rainbow in Curved Air
* Nixon in China
* The Well-Tuned Piano

Related articles|

* Maximalism
* Postminimalism
* Repetitive music
* Totalism

* v
* t
* e

Postmodernism

Literary arts|

| Literature|

* Atwood
* Auster
* Ballard
* Calvino
* Chabon
* Coupland
* Delillo
* Dick
* Eco
* Eggers
* Ellis
* Murakami
* Pekar
* Pynchon
* Rushdie
* Spiegelman
* Thompson
* Updike
* Vonnegut
* Wallace
* Wolfe

|

Works|

* On the Road (1957)
* Naked Lunch (1959)
* Catch-22 (1961)
* White Noise (1985)
* Watchmen (1986-87)
* American Psycho (1991)
* Infinite Jest (1996)

Visual arts|

| Film and
television|

* Allen
* Almodóvar
* Anderson (PT)
* Anderson (Wes)
* Bogdanovich
* Burton
* Carax
* Chazelle
* Coen
* Coppola
* Cox
* Craven
* Cronenberg
* Daniels
* Dante
* De Palma
* Ferrara
* Fincher
* Gondry
* Greenaway
* Haynes
* Hertzfeldt
* Jarmusch
* Jonze
* Kar-Wai
* Kaufman
* Kiarostami
* Leone
* Linklater
* Lynch
* Mann
* Maddin
* McQueen
* Nolan
* Peele
* Ramsay
* Refn
* Romero
* Scorsese
* Scott
* Smith
* Soderbergh
* Tarantino
* Verhoeven
* Wachowski
* Waters
* Weerasethakul
* Wright

|

Works|

* Blade Runner (1982)
* Blue Velvet (1986)
* Seinfeld (1989-1998)
* The Simpsons (1989-present)
* Twin Peaks (1990-91)
* Barton Fink (1991)
* Pulp Fiction (1994)
* The Matrix (1999)
* Mulholland Drive (2001)

Performing
arts|

| Music|

* Adams
* Berio
* Corigliano
* Daugherty
* Eno
* Feldman
* Glass
* Pärt
* Reich
* Xenakis
* Zorn

|

Related|

* Ambient music
* Beat Generation
* Extreme cinema
* Generation X
* Minimal music
* New Hollywood
* New wave music
* New Journalism
* Peak TV
* list of shows
* Pictures Generation
* Plunderphonics
* Pop art
* Postmodern horror
* Post-rock
* Punk rock
* Quality television
* Remix culture
* Social thriller
* Vulgar auteurism

Portals:

* Classical music
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Authority control databases

International|

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Academics|

* CiNii

Artists|

* MusicBrainz
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People|

* Trove
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Other|

* IdRef
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