![]() | This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(February 2022) |
Te Deum | |
---|---|
by Arvo Pärt | |
![]() The composer | |
Style | tintinnabuli |
Text | Te Deum |
Language | Latin |
Composed | 1984 |
Scoring |
|
Premiere | |
Date | 19 January 1985 |
Location | Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Cologne |
Te Deum is a setting of the Latin Te Deum text, also known as the Ambrosian Hymn attributed to Saints Ambrose, Augustine, and Hilary, by Estonian-born composer Arvo Pärt, commissioned by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne, Germany, in 1984. Dedicated to the late Alfred Schlee of Universal Edition, the WDR Broadcast Choir premiered the Te Deum under the direction of conductor Dennis Russell Davies on January 19, 1985. The Te Deum plays an important role in the services of many Christian denominations, including the Paraklesis (Moleben) of Thanksgiving in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Because of the unusual instrumentation Pärt employs, his Te Deum is not suited for use within the Orthodox Church. It was recorded on the ECM New Series label in 1993 by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Tõnu Kaljuste. The piece is approximately thirty minutes long.
Te Deum employs Pärt's signature tintinnabuli compositional style. Tintinnabuli is often described as a minimalistic compositional technique, as its harmonic logic departs from that of the tonal tradition of Western classical music, creating its own distinct harmonic system. Tintinnabulation is a process in which a chosen triad encircles a melody, manifesting itself in specific positions in relation to the melody according to a predetermined scheme of adjacency. In its most rudimentary form, Pärt's tintinnabuli music is composed of two main voices: one carries the usually stepwise melody (M-voice) while the other follows the trajectory of the melody but is limited to notes of a specific triad (T-voice). In the case of Te Deum, it is a D triad that is featured in the T-voice, and as such provides the harmonic basis for the entire piece.
The work is scored for three choirs (women's choir, men's choir, and mixed choir), prepared piano, divisi strings, and wind harp. According to the Universal Edition full score, the piano part requires that four pitches be prepared with metal screws and calls for "as large a concert grand as possible" and "amplified". The wind harp is similar to the Aeolian harp, its strings vibrating due to wind passing through the instrument. Manfred Eicher of ECM Records "recorded this 'wind music' on tape and processed it acoustically." The two notes (D and A) performed on the wind harp are to be played on two separate CD or DAT recordings. According to the score preface, the wind harp functions as a drone throughout the piece, fulfilling "a function comparable to that of the ison in Byzantine church music, a repeated note which does not change pitch."
On an ECM records leaflet, Pärt wrote that the Te Deum text has "immutable truths", reminding him of the "immeasurable serenity imparted by a mountain panorama." His composition sought to communicate a mood "that could be infinite in time—out of the flow of infinity. I had to draw this music gently out of silence and emptiness." (Hillier 140)
The Latin text of the Te Deum is made up of 29 lines of verse, each of which is the subject of one section of Pärt's composition. These 29 sections are not considered movements in the sense of traditional choral works because they are not separated by silences or pauses. Each line of text is introduced as plainsong before its augmentation in either a choral or instrumental texture. Although each of the piece's 29 sections follow this pattern, they function differently from the movements of traditional choral works because they are not punctuated by silences or pauses. With the notable exception of three silences, each section of the Te Deum flows directly into the succeeding one, with the wind-harp drone often serving as part of the sonic bridge between.
Pärt harmonizes the melody (M-voice) of Te Deum using his signature tintinnabuli process. As is common in Pärt's choral works, the melodic contour of the M-voice is subject to a kind of compositional serialization based directly on the text. In the case of Te Deum, the melody is tied to the text's syllabic and grammatical features. All words either begin or end on a given pitch, and the number of syllables in each word determines how far from that pitch the melody deviates. For example, if a word has three syllables and the pitch center is A, then the first note might be A, the second note B and third note C.
The melodic contours of Te Deum are thus strictly tied to the rhythms of the text. The text, by engendering the melody that then dictates the harmony, becomes fundamental to all aspects of the piece. Not only does the text provide linguistic meaning, but also it informs the musical form itself in a way that is uncharacteristic of traditional text-setting practices.
Paul Hillier theorizes these syllabically derived melodies in terms of four different modes, outlined below. (All examples assume that the M-voice is written in C major with C as the pitch center. The five notes given in each example also assume a five-syllable word; fewer or more syllables would lead to a larger or smaller number of pitches, respectively.)
Mode 1: ascending away from the pitch center (e.g.: C-D-E-F-G) Mode 2: descending away from the pitch center (e.g.: C-B-A-G-F) Mode 3: descending toward the pitch center (e.g.: G-F-E-D-C) Mode 4: ascending toward the pitch center (e.g.: F-G-A-B-C)
Additionally, stressed syllables in multisyllabic words are brought forward in the melody by writing them melismatically (the technical term for when a single syllable that is split between two pitches). This melisma can take one of two forms.
The first is a simple splitting on a syllable over two adjacent pitches. In these cases, a stressed syllable first takes the pitch assigned it by the syllabic system described above, but then it also anticipates the pitch of the word's subsequent syllable. For example, if the three-syllable word "Dominum" were written accordingly (in Mode 1 with a pitch center of C) it would look like this:
"Do-" would be sung first on C, then would ascend to D "-mi-" would be sung on D "-num-" would be sung on E
The other sort of melisma Pärt uses on the stressed syllables of Te Deum is one in which two notes of the tintinnabuli chord melodically surround the melodic pitch. In this case, the "Do-" of "Dominum" might be sung on C (the melodic note), drop down to a G a fourth below, and jump up to an E (both notes of the C tintinnabuli triad) before descending to the D on which the syllable "-mi-" is sung.
Tintinnabuli harmony consists of a reaction in the harmonic line (or T-line) to the M-line, such that the former follows the contour of the latter, but makes use only of pitches of the tintinnabuli triad.
The most prominent tintinnabuli line in Te Deum is 1st position alternating.
The harmony in the piece is principally based on the triads of D major and D minor, with appearances of A minor interspersed throughout.
An important feature of the harmonic language of Te Deum is the prominence of drones. Although not part of Pärt's tintinnabulation style, drones are very much part of the chant aesthetic to which Pärt alludes throughout the piece. Although mainly a D drone, there are moments where an A drone dominates the texture.
Te Deum arguably bears more resemblance to early Christian music than to the choral works of the past three hundred years. The structure of the sections, which present a chant followed by its elaboration in multiple voices, mimics a structure common in Renaissance polyphonic masses. The wind harp drone, on the other hand, can be likened to the ison (or drone voice) found in Byzantine chant. Byzantine chant was not monophonic like its Latin counterparts, but featured two voices: one melody and one drone. The drone was particularly significant in the Orthodox Church because it spoke to the unchanging, underlying reality behind worship. Hillier considers the drone in Te Deum similar to this Orthodox precedent, calling it the "spiritual force" that unites the piece and functions as its foundation.
The drone can thus be thought of less as a part of the piece itself than it is a part of the environment in which the choirs and strings perform. Pärt himself wrote that the text of Te Deum bears for him "immutable truths" that remind him of the "immeasurable serenity imparted by a mountain panorama" (Te Deum liner notes). His composition sought to communicate a mood "that could be infinite in time—out of the flow of infinity. I had to draw this music gently out of silence and emptiness." (Hillier, 140) The music in many ways evokes this mountain panorama. Not only does the foundational drove function similarly to the base of a mountain (143), but the piece also features many other unchanging elements that imply an immutable, spiritual force. The tintinnabuli process, founded on the constant reiteration of the notes of a single, unchanging triad, is one such constant element.
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian composer of classical and religious 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, Pärt was the most performed living composer in the world, and the second most performed in 2019. The Arvo Pärt Centre, in Laulasmaa, was opened to the public in 2018.
The Hamrahlid Choir or Hamrahlíðarkórinn as it is called in Icelandic was founded in 1981 by Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir, who remains its conductor. The choir consists of alumni of Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð in Iceland who were formerly members of The Choir of Hamrahlid College, conducted by Ingólfsdóttir until 2017.
Kanon Pokajanen is a 1997 composition by Arvo Pärt for four-part (SATB) choir. The text is the "Canon of Repentance to Our Lord Jesus Christ", an Orthodox hymn. The text is sung in Church Slavonic and following the tradition of Russian sacred choral music, it is sung a cappella.
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) is a professional choir based in Estonia. It was founded in 1981 by Tõnu Kaljuste, who was its conductor for twenty years. In 2001, Paul Hillier followed Kaljuste's tenure, becoming the EPCC's principal conductor and artistic director until September 2008, when Daniel Reuss took over the task. Since 2014 the choir's principal conductor has been Kaspars Putniņš. The repertoire of the EPCC ranges from Gregorian Chant to modern works, particularly those of the Estonian composers Arvo Pärt and Veljo Tormis. The group has been nominated for numerous Grammy Awards, and has won the Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance twice: in 2007 with Arvo Pärt's Da pacem and in 2014 with Pärt's Adam's Lament, the latter was shared with Tui Hirv & Rainer Vilu, Sinfonietta Riga & Tallinn Chamber Orchestra; Latvian Radio Choir & Vox Clamantis. In 2018 Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir won the prestigious Gramophone Award with its recording of Magnificat and Nunc dimittis by Arvo Pärt and Psalms of Repentance by Alfred Schnittke.
Berliner Messe is a mass setting by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. Commissioned for the 90th Katholikentag in Berlin in 1990, it was originally scored for SATB soloists and organ. It was first performed at St. Hedwig's Cathedral on 24 May 1990, the Feast of the Ascension, with Paul Hillier conducting the Theatre of Voices. Pärt later (1997) revised the piece for chorus and string orchestra. Pärt uses his tintinnabuli technique throughout, with movements taking many forms within that style—flowing from quietly reverent duets between parts to full chorus proclamations of faith.
Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem is a passion setting by Arvo Pärt for solo baritone (Jesus), solo tenor (Pilate), solo vocal quartet (Evangelist), choir, violin, oboe, cello, bassoon and organ. The work lasts approximately 70 minutes and is a setting of the Latin text from the Gospel of John, chapters 18 and 19, plus a brief introduction and conclusion.
The Quattro pezzi sacri are choral works by Giuseppe Verdi. Written separately during the last decades of the composer's life and with different origins and purposes, they were nevertheless published together in 1898 by Casa Ricordi. They are often performed as a cycle, not in chronological sequence of their composition, but in the sequence used in the Ricordi publication:
Tõnu Kaljuste is an Estonian conductor.
Tabula Rasa is a musical composition written in 1977 by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The piece contains two movements, "Ludus" and "Silentium," and is a double concerto for two solo violins, prepared piano, and chamber orchestra.
Arvo Pärt set the Latin text of the Magnificat canticle in 1989. It is a composition for five-part choir (SSATB) a cappella, with several divided parts. Its performance time is approximately seven minutes. The composition is in tintinnabuli style, a style which Pärt had invented in the mid-1970s.
Symphony No. 4 Los Angeles is the fourth symphony by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. It is the first of his symphonies to be written post-1976 and is in his signature tintinnabuli style. It is the first of his pieces that focuses on larger scale, instrumental tintinnabulation. Previous pieces, such as Summa and Für Alina, were typically written for SATB choir or a smaller number of instruments. Composed in 2008, and premiered 10 January 2009, Symphony No. 4 was nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, although he did not receive the award.
The term "four-part harmony" refers to music written for four voices, or for some other musical medium—four musical instruments or a single keyboard instrument, for example—for which the various musical parts can give a different note for each chord of the music.
The Te Deum in C is a sacred choral composition by Benjamin Britten, a setting of the Te Deum on the English text from the Book of Common Prayer. Britten wrote it in 1934 between 11 July and 17 September, scored for treble solo, four-part choir (SATB) and organ.
Joep Franssens is a Dutch composer.
Da pacem Domine is a choral composition by Arvo Pärt on the Latin prayer for peace Da pacem Domine, first composed in 2004 for four voices. Different versions, also for and with string instruments, were published by Universal Edition.
De profundis is a choral composition by Arvo Pärt. He wrote the work in 1980, a setting of Psalm 130 in Latin for a four-part men's choir, percussion and organ. It was first performed at the Martinskirche, Kassel on 25 April 1981, conducted by Klaus Martin Ziegler. Pärt dedicated the work of around 7 minutes to Gottfried von Einem. It was published by Universal Edition. Pärt arranged it for chamber orchestra in 2008.
The Latvian Radio Choir is the professional chamber choir of Latvian Radio which was founded in 1940 by the Latvian conductor Teodors Kalnins. Following the musical direction by Edgars Račevskis (1963–1986) and Juris Kļaviņš. The choir has had two conductors ever since 1992 - musical director and principal conductor. The choir is currently of 24 singers under the leadership of Sigvards Kļava and Kaspars Putniņš.
Cecilia, vergine romana is a composition for mixed choir and orchestra by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, written in 2000 for the Great Jubilee in Rome. The Italian text deals with the life and martyrdom of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, and was first performed on 19 November 2000, close to her feast day on 22 November, by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Myung-whun Chung.
Arvo Pärt composed his Third Symphony in 1971. It is scored for symphony orchestra and was dedicated to Neeme Järvi.
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra is a chamber orchestra located in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia.