Arvo Pärt (11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of classical and sacr… Read Full Bio ↴Arvo Pärt (11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of classical and sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-invented compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music is in part inspired by Gregorian chant. Pärt has been the most performed living composer in the world for 5 consecutive years.

Arvo Pärt was born in Paide, Järva County, Estonia. His musical studies began in 1954 at the Tallinn Music Secondary School, interrupted less than a year later while he fulfilled his National Service obligation as oboist and side-drummer in an army band. He returned to Middle School for a year before joining the Tallinn Conservatory in 1957, where his composition teacher was Professor Heino Eller. Pärt started work as a recording engineer with Estonian Radio, wrote music for the stage and received numerous commissions for film scores so that, by the time he graduated from the Conservatory in 1963, he could already be considered a professional composer. A year before leaving, he won first prize in the All-Union Young Composers' Competition for a children's cantata, Our Garden, and an oratorio, Stride of the World.

Today Arvo Pärt is best known for his choral works, which he started to produce in the 1980s, after his emigration from the former Soviet Union to Germany, Berlin. Before that he had written his most recognised works from the 1970s, Fratres, Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, and Tabula Rasa. In 1978 Pärt composed Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror).

Pärt's oeuvre is generally divided into two periods. His early works ranged from rather severe 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 early works were banned by Soviet censors, Pärt entered the first of several periods of contemplative silence, during which he studied choral music from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries.

The spirit of early European polyphony informed the composition of Pärt's transitional third symphony (1971); thereafter he immersed himself in early music, re-investigating the roots of western music. He studied plainsong, Gregorian chant, and the emergence of polyphony in the Renaissance. The music that began to emerge after this period was radically different. This period of new compositions included Fratres, Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, and Tabula rasa.

Pärt describes it as tintinnabuli: like the ringing of bells. The music is characterised by simple harmonies, often single unadorned notes, or triad chords which form the basis of western harmony. These are reminiscent of ringing bells. Tintinnabuli works are rhythmically simple, and do not change tempo. The influence of early music is clear. 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 St John Passion, Te Deum, and Litany. Choral works from this period include Magnificat and The Beatitudes.

A new composition, Für Lennart, written for the memory of the Estonian President Lennart Meri, was played at his funeral service on 2nd April 2006. In response to the murder of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow on 7th October 2006, Pärt declared that all his works performed in 2006-2007 would be in commemoration of her death.

Pärt was honoured as the featured composer of the 2008 RTÉ Living Music Festival in Dublin, Ireland. He was also recently commissioned by Louth Contemporary Music Society to compose a new choral work based on St Patrick's Breastplate, to be premiered in 2008 in Louth, Ireland.

Procedentem sponsum
Arvo Pärt Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Procedentem sponsum Procedentem sponsum de thalamo; Laude digna prolem cum matre pracreatam sine patre, Laudemus omnes cum iubilo.
Quem progress um divina gratia; Laus Domino resonet omni cum iubilo, Qui condolens homini perdito
Natus est Mariae virginis utero.
Ergo benedicamus domino; Cuius ortus est de virgine sine virili semine, Laudemus omnes cum iubilo.
Ei quoque agamus gratias; Laus Domino resonet omni cum iubilo, Qui condolens homini perdito
Natus est Mariae virginis utero.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Arvo Pärt's song Procedentem sponsum are in Latin and are a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The first verse describes the arrival of the groom from the bridal chamber, which is a reference to the traditional Jewish wedding ceremony where a groom would leave the bridal chamber to go and meet his bride. In this context, it refers to Jesus leaving the spiritual realm to come into the physical world. The verse then goes on to praise the mother and child, who were created without a father, a reference to the miracle of the virgin birth.

The second verse praises God for his divine grace and mercy, expressing gratitude for his compassion towards humanity, which led to the birth of Jesus. The verse ends with a call for all to praise God with joyful singing. The final verse is a call to bless and give thanks to God for the miracle of Jesus' birth from a virgin mother. The lyrics express a deep sense of gratitude and awe towards God for the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Line by Line Meaning

Procedentem sponsum de thalamo;
The groom proceeds from the bridal chamber;

Laude digna prolem cum matre pracreatam sine patre,
Worthy of praise is the son created with his mother without a father,

Laudemus omnes cum iubilo.
Let us all praise with joy.

Quem progress um divina gratia;
Whom divine grace progresses;

Laus Domino resonet omni cum iubilo,
Let all praise the Lord with joy,

Qui condolens homini perdito
Who, sympathizing with lost man,

Natus est Mariae virginis utero.
Was born of the Virgin Mary's womb.

Ergo benedicamus domino;
Therefore let us bless the Lord;

Cuius ortus est de virgine sine virili semine,
Whose birth was from a virgin without the seed of man,

Laudemus omnes cum iubilo.
Let us all praise with joy.

Ei quoque agamus gratias;
Let us also give thanks to Him;