Pärt is known for his “economy of expression.” He is famous for saying “it is enough when one note is beautifully played.” His music is deeply contemplative, almost like an icon. His compositions often focus on a single element or concept, turning it over and over within musical space. Pärt seems to want to move the listener’s focus away from the music itself, so that she can meditate upon the divine.
One of his most evocative innovations is tinntinabuli music or tinntintabulation. It is called this because of the bell-like quality of the music (though this is not a literalistic ringing of bells).[2] “It is comprised of two musical lines that have a fixed relationship: one uses the notes of the ‘tonic’ triad, while the other moves largely by step.”[3] Pärt’s wife, Nora, a musicologist and conductor, analyzes this music as “1+1+1=1.” This is non-competitive space in that it is relational and mutually enhancing. There is a "moreness" to the relationship of the notes.
His first two compositions in this style were Für Alina in 1976 and Spiegel Im Spiegel (mirror in the mirror) in 1978. Für Alina was written for a friend who was separated from her young daughter, because the daughter was living in London with her father. (The mother was stuck in communist ruled Estonia at the time.) We can hear in this music the longing of a mother in the midst of a prolonged separation. There are two lines in this music. One line moves stepwise, the other stays on a triad, grounding the more fluid line in a foundational layer of sound.[4] As Pärt describes this music: “ ‘The two lines. One line is who we are, and the other line is who is holding and takes care of us. Sometimes I say … that the melodic line is our reality, our sins. But the other line is forgiving the sins.’ ”[5]
The other piece, Spiegel Im Spiegel (mirror in the mirror), exemplifies the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of deification, or that the human person stands before God like a mirror of God’s glory, only we reflect that glory dimly. Throughout our lives, the Spirit’s role in our lives is to polish us. The image of God is always there, we just reflect with more and more brilliance through the mediation of the Son and the Spirit.
Below is a video of Pärt talking about Für Alina. I love how he talks about how the magic of the line emerges with the relationship between the melodies. This is a capaciousness, a relational “moreness” in how he talks about the simplicity and the mutuality of the music. Evocative of the possibilities of freedom in relational space.
[1] I’m grateful for the recent lecture/recital by Andrew Shenton of Boston University on Pärt’s tintinnabuli technique: “Disclosing the Divine: Computer-Aided Analysis of Pärt’s Tininnabuli Technique,” at the Forum on Music in Christian Scholarship Conference, Calvin College, Saturday February 18, 2012.
[2] URL: http://www.arvopart.org/tintinnabulation.html (accessed on June 3, 2011).
[3] From Shenton’s abstract for the FMCS conference.
[4] ‘ “The first period was very strict,” Nora said. “It was very important for Arvo to give himself a system, rules and discipline. And over time, Arvo had more and more freedom.”
“I believed in myself more and more,” he said. Then he added: “It can be good or bad. It is dangerous, this freedom.”
“Without discipline, freedom is very dangerous,” Nora said, with emphasis.
“In some way, we go back to the tintinnabuli,” Arvo resumed. “One line is like freedom, and the triad line is like discipline. It must work together.” ’ (Arthur Lubow, “The Sound of Spirit,” The New York Times Magazine, October 15, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/17part-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (accessed October 23, 2012).
[5] Lubow, “The Sound of Spirit.” Lubow’s description: “The melody, which proceeds mainly in steps up and down the scale, might be compared to a child tentatively walking. The second line underpins each note of the melody with a note from a harmonizing triad (the fundamental chord of Western music) that is positioned as close as possible to the note of the melody, but always below. You could imagine this accompaniment to be a mother with her hands outstretched to ensure her toddler doesn’t fall.” Another favorite quote from Pärt in this article: ‘ “There is a good rule in spiritual life, which we all forget continually,” he said, “that you must see more of your own sins than other people’s.” He remarked that the sum of human sin has been growing since Adam’s time, and we all share some of the blame. “So I think everyone must say to himself, ‘We must change our thinking.’ We cannot see what is in the heart of another person. Maybe he is a holy man, and I can see only that he is wearing a wrong jacket.” ’
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