Book contents
- Frontmatter
- 1 Introduction: the essential and phenomenal Arvo Pärt
- 2 A narrow path to the truth: Arvo Pärt and the 1960s and 1970s in Soviet Estonia
- 3 Perspectives on Arvo Pärt after 1980
- 4 Musical archetypes: the basic elements of the tintinnabuli style
- 5 Analyzing Pärt
- 6 Arvo Pärt: in his own words
- 7 Bells as inspiration for tintinnabulation
- 8 Arvo Pärt and spirituality
- 9 The minimalism of Arvo Pärt: an ‘antidote’ to modernism and multiplicity?
- 10 Arvo Pärt in the marketplace
- Appendix A Radiating from silence: the works of Arvo Pärt seen through a musician's eyes
- Appendix B Greatly sensitive: Alfred Schnittke in Tallinn
- Appendix C Remembering Heino Eller
- Appendix D Acceptance speech for the International Bridge Prize of the European City of Görlitz
- Appendix E Acceptance speech for the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2008
- Appendix F Works list
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Cambridge Companions to Music
- Index
7 - Bells as inspiration for tintinnabulation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- 1 Introduction: the essential and phenomenal Arvo Pärt
- 2 A narrow path to the truth: Arvo Pärt and the 1960s and 1970s in Soviet Estonia
- 3 Perspectives on Arvo Pärt after 1980
- 4 Musical archetypes: the basic elements of the tintinnabuli style
- 5 Analyzing Pärt
- 6 Arvo Pärt: in his own words
- 7 Bells as inspiration for tintinnabulation
- 8 Arvo Pärt and spirituality
- 9 The minimalism of Arvo Pärt: an ‘antidote’ to modernism and multiplicity?
- 10 Arvo Pärt in the marketplace
- Appendix A Radiating from silence: the works of Arvo Pärt seen through a musician's eyes
- Appendix B Greatly sensitive: Alfred Schnittke in Tallinn
- Appendix C Remembering Heino Eller
- Appendix D Acceptance speech for the International Bridge Prize of the European City of Görlitz
- Appendix E Acceptance speech for the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2008
- Appendix F Works list
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Cambridge Companions to Music
- Index
Summary
Many descriptions have been employed by musicians and popular media to characterize the austere, timeless qualities of tintinnabuli. Being both a spiritual and artistic métier, its most quintessential declaration is often quoted from Arvo Pärt himself: “The three notes of a triad are like bells. And that is why I called it tintinnabulation.” What Pärt describes as something “like bells” is a musical essence that transcends its own comparison. The full reference from his debut ECM recording provides us with a fuller context:
Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers – in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity. What is it, this one thing, and how do I find my way to it? Traces of this perfect thing appear in many guises – and everything that is unimportant falls away. Tintinnabulation is like this. Here I am alone with silence. I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me. I work with very few elements – with one voice, with two voices. I build with the most primitive materials – with the triad, with one specific tonality. The three notes of a triad are like bells. And that is why I called it tintinnabulation.
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- The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt , pp. 128 - 139Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
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