Born in 1935, Arvo Pärt emigrated from Estonia to Vienna in 1980 due to wranglings with the Soviet government. He returned to Estonia after Estonia gained its independence, and now lives in both Berlin and Tallinn.
One of his most often performed pieces, the Magnificat for chorus, was written in 1989. The text, which comes from the Gospel of Luke, is Mary's song of praise to God for the conception of Jesus:
Magnificat animea mea
Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salvatore meo.
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae.
Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes,
Quia fecit mihi magna,
Qui potens est.
Et sanctus nomen eius,
Et misericordia eius in progenies et progenies timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam in brachio suo,
Dispersit superbo mente cordis sui;
Deposuit potentes de sede
Et exaltavit humiles;
Esurientes implevit bonis et divites dimisit inanes.
Suscepit Israel puerum suum,
Recordatus misericordiae,
Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini eius in saecula.
My soul doth magnify the Lord
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaiden.
From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,
Because he who has done great things to me
Is mighty.
And holy is His name,
And his mercy is from generation to generation, unto those who fear Him.
He hath showed me strength in His arms,
He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their hearts;
He hath put down the mighty from their seat
And exalted the humble;
He hath filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.
He hath received Israel his servant,
Being mindful of His mercy,
As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever.
The Magnificat is an example of antiphonal music. Antiphony refers to two singers, or choirs, or instruments, that sing to each other back and forth across the stage, church, or performance area. It's like a musical game of catch - one group has the music for a while, then tosses it over to the other side. They do their thing, and toss it back again.
Have a listen:
In the Magnificat, the music alternates between the chorus and a small group of soloists. The piece starts with two soloists singing the first line of the text. There's two things that I think are really neat about the way the piece begins. One, it's very definitely plainchant inspired - you have the first soprano singing a melody that could easily have been written in the Middle Ages, singing against the second soprano, who has a drone. Very classic. But opening the Magnificat with a plainchant also looks forward to the Baroque and even Classical eras, where it was not at all uncommon for composers to begin a section of the Mass with plainchant before having the choir come in.
Two examples:
Dominico Scarlatti (Baroque era, 1685-1757) - Te Deum
Joseph Haydn (Classical era, 1732-1809) - Missa Brevis in B flat (Gloria)
There's two things I think are kinda interesting about how the piece unfolds. Pärt's use of harmony alternates between consonant (sounds nice) and dissonant (sounds clashy). There are a lot of minor seconds and tritones in here that composers in the MIddle Ages and Renaissance would have strictly avoided. (C against C# is an example of a minor second; C against F# is a tritone. I'll be covering scales and intervals in the next few posts.)
The other thing that is interesting is how Pärt decided not to use tone painting in this piece. The Magnificat text has been used many times by a great many composers. With opening lines like "My soul doth magnify the Lord", most composers choose to make a big celebratory deal out of it. Here's how Bach did it:
Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salvatore meo.
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae.
Quia fecit mihi magna,
Qui potens est.
Et misericordia eius in progenies et progenies timentibus eum.
Dispersit superbo mente cordis sui;
Deposuit potentes de sede
Et exaltavit humiles;
Esurientes implevit bonis et divites dimisit inanes.
Recordatus misericordiae,
Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini eius in saecula.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaiden.
Because he who has done great things to me
Is mighty.
And his mercy is from generation to generation, unto those who fear Him.
He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their hearts;
He hath put down the mighty from their seat
And exalted the humble;
He hath filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.
Being mindful of His mercy,
As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever.
In the Magnificat, the music alternates between the chorus and a small group of soloists. The piece starts with two soloists singing the first line of the text. There's two things that I think are really neat about the way the piece begins. One, it's very definitely plainchant inspired - you have the first soprano singing a melody that could easily have been written in the Middle Ages, singing against the second soprano, who has a drone. Very classic. But opening the Magnificat with a plainchant also looks forward to the Baroque and even Classical eras, where it was not at all uncommon for composers to begin a section of the Mass with plainchant before having the choir come in.
Dominico Scarlatti (Baroque era, 1685-1757) - Te Deum
Joseph Haydn (Classical era, 1732-1809) - Missa Brevis in B flat (Gloria)
There's two things I think are kinda interesting about how the piece unfolds. Pärt's use of harmony alternates between consonant (sounds nice) and dissonant (sounds clashy). There are a lot of minor seconds and tritones in here that composers in the MIddle Ages and Renaissance would have strictly avoided. (C against C# is an example of a minor second; C against F# is a tritone. I'll be covering scales and intervals in the next few posts.)
J. S. Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243
But Pärt forgoes the fanfare. He chooses not to match the music of his Magnificat with the text. Instead, the whole piece is like a meditation, and the words are just the mantra. The focus is on the music; the words are merely the carrier. Rather than impose a meaning on his music, Pärt leaves it up to the listener. Pärt once said about his music,
"I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener."
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