Summa

Although Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) was born in a free Estonia, his country endured Soviet occupation from 1940 until 1991. He could easily have been stifled by the narrow-minded artistic dictates that filtered out from Moscow. But early work as an engineer with Estonian Radio brought him into contact with influential musicians and filmmakers. He hungered for exposure to western Europe’s avant-garde and remained on the cutting edge among Estonian composers.
From the initial influences of Prokofiev and Shostakovich, Pärt soon delved into serialism—perhaps the most strictly controlled compositional system—before shifting into free collage principles. Reception was mixed. Pärt felt some discomfort with his new direction, so he entered a period of self-imposed “contemplative silence” (1968-71) during which he studied Medieval and Renaissance vocal music. His style changed noticeably, but it was the second such hiatus (1972-76) that proved life altering. In those pivotal years Pärt found his voice: mystical, minimalist, and completely original, what he calls tintinnabulation.
Tintinnabulation comes from “tintinnabula” meaning “a bell”. Pärt’s music composed in this style is built upon simple recurring harmonies and rhythms, and usually is set to sacred texts. Summa was first composed for voice and employs the text of the Christian Credo. The work is structured mathematically around the idea of the Holy Trinity, through meticulous arrangement of intervals and phrases, relating to the number 3. Pärt later rewrote Summa for various formations of string ensembles.

(c) Jason Stell