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1、Arvo Prt: The Credo of Eternal TruthAmong the worlds living creatures, only humans have the ability to rationally explain ideas through the use of language. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the quest of humankind has been to escape the burdens of the material world through discourse focused upo
2、n the eternal realities of a higher, more spiritual realm. Men such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagorus sought to discover the eternal attributes of the universe through rhetoric, and it is not surprising that these spoken words became joined with music, the ethereal creation of man intend
3、ed to transcend and reflect the harmony of the cosmos. Even the ancient Greek term mousik has long been understood as the inseparable union of words and music. Ultimately, the early Christian church also adopted this concept, which is apparent in musical settings of the liturgy. Deep spirituality ha
4、s thus become linked with vocal repetitions of beliefs; and with the recent resurgence in popularity of early music and Gregorian chant, it is difficult to imagine devoutly religious music without the simplicity of medieval music. However, in modern societys obsession with the complexities of the un
5、iverse and many peoples disillusionment with religion, simplicity is sometimes forgotten. This overabundance of perplexity in the twentieth century has perhaps instigated a renewal in the final years of the century of the timeless idea of uncomplicated truth, one which is exemplified in music by the
6、 works of the Estonian composer Arvo Prt. In a world where the search for new complexity attempts to drive the century forward, society finds itself gasping for one simple and pure breath. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the earth has appeared simultaneously increasingly small and imme
7、nse to the mind. With the ever-increasing speed with which information is processed, interpreted, and communicated to the world, it is apparent that the wealth of information in the universe is vast beyond imagination, and consequently beyond the processing abilities of our high-tech machines. The c
8、omplete knowledge of any single subject seems limitless and incomprehensible. The senses are under constant bombardment by each change in the world; our overwhelmed minds desperately search for respite. We find ourselves turning towards simpler times, the good old days perhaps, in which life did not
9、 move in such a blur. The search for simplicity is perhaps intrinsic to human nature; and as soon as an attainable object or idea presents itself, we cling to it for support. However, many composers in the twentieth century fail to provide even the most minuscule amount of graspable material. One re
10、sult of the search for complexity by modernist In this essay, the term modern is used in reference to the artistic and philosophical movement begun during the first half of the twentieth-century, rather than the more frequent meaning of contemporary. composers (and arguably some composers in this po
11、st-modern era) was the isolation of the audience from the music. Though perhaps not intentional, the composers expression of self in such complex pieces alienated most listeners. It seemed that composers were making it their goal to make sure they were not understood so that they could legitimise th
12、emselves as artists. There is a limit to the inordinate number of complexities that can be distinguished by the human ear, and the audience, starved for something onto which they could grasp, began to turn to other, more digestible material. Whether or not it was planned to fill solely the audiences
13、 need, a new breed of composers has begun to fill the void left by the modernists. Perhaps it is because the composers, who also live in this complicated world, have a need of their own to be accepted and understood by their fellow baffled earth-dwellers. In this age of light-speed technology, the l
14、owly human seems to be left in emotional and spiritual darkness, reaching out in desperation for some thread of non-scientific truth. Arvo Prts creation of a new type of music based upon the simplicity of the primary constituents of music itself the scale and the triad is perhaps the most successful
15、 and effective demonstration of this post-modern human necessity. In 1988, Arvo Prt said, Gregorian chant has taught me what a cosmic secret is hidden in the art of combining two or three notes. . . . Thats something twelve-tone composers have not known at all. Schwarz, R.K. Minimalists (London: Pha
16、idon Press Limited, 1996), 211. His most recent and enduring compositional style of tintinnabulation centres around the triad, the combination of three notes. This is a drastic change from his earlier serialist style, the one which knew not at all the beauty in simplicity. Born in Estonia in 1935, A
17、rvo Prt grew up under the rule of the Soviet government imposed in 1939 when the Nazi-Soviet Pact handed the country to Stalin. Kimberley, N. “Starting from scratch,” Gramophone (Harrow: Gramophone Publications Limited, vol. 74, no. 880, 1996), 14. Despite many harsh and restrictive conditions under
18、 Soviet rule, Prt was not prevented from having a rather liberal musical training. However, the acceptance and teaching style of his teacher, Heino Eller, may have inadvertently led to Prts frustration under the regime and eventual emigration in 1980. Prt remembers his teacher fondly: He gave me a p
19、ath, but this path was very broad. He didnt push in any direction, he supported you even if what you wrote wasnt exactly like his credo. Ibid. Ellers attitude helped instil a purpose in Parts composition, one which consists of writing what he himself has felt over the years rather than conforming to
20、 others desires. The frustrations which accompany this freedom when faced with severe governmental restrictions made it incredibly difficult to be a composer in Estonia at that time. At first, this did not significantly hinder Prts production of musical works, though performances of his music were d
21、ifficult to arrange. Under Soviet rule, every piece had to be shown to the Union of Composers before it was performed, Ibid. and religious works were forbidden under the state-sanctioned atheism. Due to an intensified campaign against religion by the government from 1957 onwards, Conquest, R. ed. Re
22、ligion in the USSR (London: The Bodley Head Ltd., 1968), 57. Part was forced to make sure the religious content was not overtly apparent in order to obtain permission for performances. In the case of many of his later works under the regime, pieces were presented under the cover of rather unobtrusiv
23、e titles which were later replaced with the original religious titles. For instance, the 1970 work Sarah Was Ninety Years Old was presented with the title Modus until 1990. In one particular incident, however, permission was not obtained from the Union. The conductor Neeme Jrvi recalls: I remember c
24、onducting his Credo in 1968, and of course it has a religious text. It was a huge success, but I didnt get a permit from the Union. Religious music was not permitted, so the next morning there was a big scandal. That was simply how it was then. Kimberley, 14.Prt has obviously always tried to create
25、something which he believed in, rather than catering to the public or, especially in his case, the government. However, it is impossible to make a living as a composer in a country where artistic expression, no matter how accepted it is by the public, is hindered by the government. Not only did Prts
26、 strong religious beliefs hinder his opportunities under Soviet rule, but his adoption of Western twelve-tone techniques were also unacceptable to the communist government. According to the composer, There was strong criticism of his serialist music from the highest circles. . . . Nothing was consid
27、ered more hostile than so-called influences from the West, to which twelve-tone music belonged. Schwarz, 210. His Credo was his last attempt for a time at producing a work which defied the beliefs of the regimental Soviet government. Although this complex work contains hints as to the solution to hi
28、s government restriction-induced emotional turmoil, it is most significantly the piece in which he expands tonality and atonality to the point after which either chaos or silence must ensue. In some of his earlier works, Prt created collage pieces in which the forces of tonality and atonality are se
29、t in opposition. Credo is the last of these of works, but also the first major choral work he wrote in nine years. Though not a setting of the liturgical Credo as might be expected, Prts choice of text explicitly illustrates his intent for the musical work. The piece opens with the words Credo in Je
30、sum Christum from the liturgical Credo, but the remainder of the text is taken from the Gospel according to St Matthew (5: 38-9). This consists of only two statements: Audivistis dictum: oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente (You have heard it said: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth), and Autem
31、 ego vobis dico: non esse resistendum injuriae (But I say unto you: do not resist evil). The conclusion restates the word Credo (I believe). These words, set in confrontation to one another, illustrate the works basis that the pacifist response to violence is ultimately stronger than violence itself
32、. Hillier, P. Arvo Prt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 59. The basic structure of the piece is provided by Bachs Prelude in C major from Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, and the piano piece itself is blatantly apparent in the settings of the first and third sections of text. The middle
33、section, however, gradually introduces 12-note and aleatoric textures, distorting the purity of Christs teachings. On the superficial level, this work presents a battle between the forces of good and evil, but the situation is more complex than two sides simply working against one another. By basing
34、 his atonal 12-note series upon the circle of fifths (see Ex. A) All music excerpts of Prts works are extracted from Hillier. the most powerfully unifying element of tonality Prt sets the two extremes of order and disorder, good and evil . . . not as separate blocks of energy, but as linked forces,
35、each containing the seed of their opposite, with a continuum of gradual disintegration (and reconstitution) lying between them. Hillier, 59.Ex. AThroughout the Credo, this 12-note series methodically negates the tonality of the Bach, beginning with one repetition of the first note, gradually buildin
36、g to twelve repetitions of all twelve notes and a subsequent section of aleatoric chaos (represented by black blocks of sound on the page with directions for range, etc. See Ex. B). The chaos eventually recedes, and, in the appropriate fashion of the circle of fifths, tonality is re-established as t
37、he cycle revolves. Ex. BPrts treatment of the C major triad as the axis of the piece is premonitory of the basis for his new style to come, but the triad still is not separated from the entire wheel of tonality. Prts dilemma at this point was that of being irrevocably stranded in the eternal cycle o
38、f conflicting tonality and atonality. Because these alternately warring and peaceable factions are contained within one another, there seems to be no escape from the circle unless a revolution (!) occurs. The chaos created, not only in the piece itself but in the reaction of the government to it, le
39、d to Prts answer to this conflict silence. Prts eight year period of silence, beginning after Credo in 1968 and ending in 1976 (with the exception of his Symphony No. 3 in 1971 and a forgotten cantata Laul Armastatule which was withdrawn from his uvre), certainly did not imply a cessation of his mus
40、ical interest or study. Hillier, 65. On the contrary, he spent this time intensely studying early music going back to the basics if you will discovering the cosmic secret hidden in the music of the past. His abundant use of Bach throughout his Credo hinted at this need to refer back to earlier music
41、, but Prt felt drawn back even further to the beginnings of written tonal music the Gregorian plainsong. The structure and texture of medieval plainsong is perhaps the most easily linked aspect of early music to Prts tintinnabuli style. It is not surprising that he turned to the basic chant in his q
42、uest to learn how to walk again as a composer, Hillier, 74. for the Gregorian chant was the core of Western music for centuries. The subsequent development of polyphony not only used chant as the basis for melody and form, but also as a link to the original intent of religious worship. Prt studied p
43、lainsong to learn how to compose a single line of music, filling book after book . . . to fully assimilate all that might be meant by the idea of “monody”. Ibid. During this intense study and repetition of the ideals of plainsong, it is highly unlikely that the primary goal of communicating religiou
44、s text did not also become ingrained in Prts compositional knowledge and instinct. Prts setting of words and the significance that he has written nearly all of his tintinnabuli works either containing or based upon text essentially echo the style of syllabic and neumatic plainchant, in which there i
45、s one note per syllable and two to four notes per syllable, respectively. This importance of the structure of words is the basis for Prts tintinnabuli style. The strength in monodic music, as Paul Hillier states, resides in the purity and simplicity of its essence: one line outlining an area of soun
46、d built around either a single pitch centre or a collection of closely related pitches. Hillier, 80. The difference between the pitch centre in Gregorian chant and Prts style is that the triad the first, third, and fifth of the scale was not generally the focus of the earlier music. It was more like
47、ly that the emphasis was placed on intervals of a fourth, fifth, and minor seventh, rather than the triad. Hillier, 91. Prts study of the creation of a single line also led him to adopt a unified voice even when composing with two lines that used a strong triadic connection. In a sense, Prt is purel
48、y adding dimension to the monodic style of chant by combining the linear diatonic melody with the vertical tonal expression of the triad. This can be compared to the addition of perspective in painting, in which a formerly flat icon painting can be presented with the illusion of occupying space. Hillier, 17. Another aspect of the medieval chant which is perhaps the most inherent in Prts tintinnabuli works is the treatment of time. Chant is based upon ritual and the repetition of words which span centuries, and the fact that the tonal cen
