Arvo Prt

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Arvo Prt in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, 2008

Arvo Prt (Estonian pronunciation: [rvo prt]; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer
of classical and sacred music.[1] Since the late 1970s, Prt has worked in a minimalist style that
employs his self-invented compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music is in part inspired by
Gregorian chant. As of 2013, Prt had been the most performed contemporary composer in the
world for three years in a row.[2]

Contents

1 Life

2 Musical development
o 2.1 Compositions

3 Works

4 Awards

5 International centre

6 References

7 Sources

8 Further reading

9 External links

Life
Prt was born in Paide, Jrva County, Estonia, and was raised by his mother and stepfather in
Rakvere in northern Estonia. He began to experiment with the top and bottom notes as the
family's piano's middle register was damaged.[3] His first serious study came in 1954 at the
Tallinn Music Middle School, but less than a year later he temporarily abandoned it to fulfill
military service, playing oboe and percussion in the army band. While at the Tallinn
Conservatory, he studied composition with Heino Eller. As a student, he produced music for film
and the stage. During the 1950s, he also completed his first vocal composition, the cantata Meie
aed ('Our Garden') for children's choir and orchestra. He graduated in 1963. From 1957 to 1967,
he worked as a sound producer for Estonian radio.
Although criticized by Tikhon Khrennikov in 1962, for employing serialism in Nekrolog (1960),
because of his "susceptibility to foreign influences", nine months later he won First Prize in a
competition of 1,200 works, awarded by the all-Union Society of Composers, indicating the
inability of the Soviet regime to agree consistently on what was permissible.[4] In the 1970s, he
studied medieval and Renaissance music rather than to focus on his own music. About this same
time, he converted from Lutheranism to the Russian Orthodox faith.[5]
In 1980, after a prolonged struggle with Soviet officials, he was allowed to emigrate with his
wife and their two sons. He lived first in Vienna, where he took Austrian citizenship and then
relocated to Berlin, Germany, in 1981. He returned to Estonia around the turn of the 21st century
and now lives alternately in Berlin[6] and Tallinn.[7] He speaks fluent German and has German
citizenship as a result of living in Germany since 1981.[8][9][10]

Musical development
Familiar works by Prt are Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten for string orchestra and bell
(1977) and the string quintet "Fratres I" (1977, revised 1983), which he transcribed for string
orchestra and percussion, the solo violin "Fratres II" and the cello ensemble "Fratres III" (both
1980).
Prt is often identified with the school of minimalism and, more specifically, that of mystic
minimalism or holy minimalism.[11] He is considered a pioneer of the latter style, along with
contemporaries Henryk Grecki and John Tavener.[12] Although his fame initially rested on
instrumental works such as Tabula Rasa and Spiegel im Spiegel, his choral works have also come
to be widely appreciated.
Prt's musical education began at age seven. He began attending music school in Rakvere, where
his family lived. By the time he reached his early teenage years, Prt was writing his own

compositions. While studying composition with Heino Eller at the Tallinn Conservatory in 1957,
[7]
it was said of him that "he just seemed to shake his sleeves and the notes would fall out".[13]
In this period of Estonian history, Prt was unable to encounter many musical influences from
outside the Soviet Union except for a few illegal tapes and scores. Although Estonia had been an
independent Baltic state at the time of Prt's birth, the Soviet Union occupied it in 1940 as a
result of the Soviet-Nazi Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; and the country would then remain under
Soviet dominationexcept for the three-year period of German wartime occupationfor the
next 51 years.

Compositions

Arvo Prt in 2011

Prt's works are generally divided into two periods. He composed his early works using a range
of neo-classical styles influenced by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Bartk. 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, Prt entered the first of several periods of contemplative
silence, during which he studied choral music from the 14th to 16th centuries.[7] In this context,
Prt's biographer, Paul Hillier, observed that "He had reached a position of complete despair in
which the composition of music appeared to be the most futile of gestures, and he lacked the
musical faith and willpower to write even a single note."[14]
The spirit of early European polyphony informed the composition of Prt's transitional Third
Symphony (1971); thereafter he immersed himself in early music, reinvestigating the roots of
Western music. He studied plainsong, Gregorian chant and the emergence of polyphony in the
European 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.[7] Prt
describes the music of this period as tintinnabulilike the ringing of bells. Spiegel im Spiegel
(1978) is a well-known example which has been used in many films. The music is characterised
by simple harmonies, often single unadorned notes, or triads, which form the basis of Western
harmony. These are reminiscent of ringing bells. Tintinnabuli works are rhythmically simple and

do not change tempo. Another characteristic of Prt'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.[7]
Of Prt's popularity, Steve Reich has written: "Even in Estonia, Arvo was getting the same
feeling that we were all getting ... I love his music, and I love the fact that he is such a brave,
talented man ... He's completely out of step with the zeitgeist and yet he's enormously popular,
which is so inspiring. His music fulfills a deep human need that has nothing to do with
fashion."[15] Prt's music came to public attention in the West largely thanks to Manfred Eicher
who recorded several of Prt's compositions for ECM Records starting in 1984.
Invited by Walter Fink, Prt was the 15th composer featured in the annual Komponistenportrt of
the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2005 in four concerts. Chamber music included Fr Alina for
piano, played by himself, Spiegel im Spiegel and Psalom for string quartet. The chamber
orchestra of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra played his Trisagion, Fratres and Cantus
along with works of J.S. Bach. The Windsbach Boys Choir and soloists Sibylla Rubens, Ingeborg
Danz, Markus Schfer and Klaus Mertens performed Magnificat and Collage ber B-A-C-H
together with two cantatas of Bach and one of Mendelssohn. The Hilliard Ensemble, organist
Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, the Rostock Motet Choir and the Hilliard instrumental ensemble,
conducted by Markus Johannes Langer, performed a program of Prt's organ music and works
for voices (some a cappella), including Pari Intervallo, De profundis, and Miserere.
A new composition, Fr Lennart, written for the memory of the Estonian President, Lennart
Meri, was played at Meri's funeral service on 2 April 2006.
In response to the murder of the Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow
on 7 October 2006, Prt declared that all of his works performed in 2006 and 2007 would be in
honour of her death, issuing the following statement: "Anna Politkovskaya staked her entire
talent, energy andin the endeven her life on saving people who had become victims of the
abuses prevailing in Russia."[16]

Arvo Prt and Nora Prt in 2012

Prt was honoured as the featured composer of the 2008 RT Living Music Festival[17] in Dublin,
Ireland. He was also commissioned by Louth Contemporary Music Society[18] to compose a new
choral work based on "St. Patrick's Breastplate", which premiered in 2008 in Louth, Ireland. The
new work is called The Deers Cry. This is his first Irish commission, having its debut in
Drogheda and Dundalk in February 2008.
Prt's 2008 Symphony No. 4 is named "Los Angeles" and was dedicated to Mikhail
Khodorkovsky. It was Prt's first symphony written since his Symphony No. 3 written in 1971. It
premiered in Los Angeles, California, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on 10 January 2009,[19]
and has been nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
On 10 December 2011, Prt was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture for a
five-year renewable term by Pope Benedict XVI.[20]
On 26 January 2014, Prt's Adam's Lament won a Grammy for Best Choral Performance.[21]

Works
Main article: List of compositions by Arvo Prt

Awards

1996 American Academy of Arts and Letters Department of Music

1996 Honorary Doctor of Music, University of Sydney[22]

1998 Honorary Doctor of Arts, University of Tartu

2003 Honorary Doctor of Music, University of Durham[23]

2006 - Order of the National Coat of Arms 1st Class[24]

2008 Lonie Sonning Music Prize

2008 Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class[25]

2009 Foreign Member, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

2010 Honorary Doctor of Music, University of St Andrews[26]

2011 Chevalier (Knight) of Lgion d'honneur[27]

2011 Membership of the Pontifical Council for Culture[28]

2013 Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate[29]

2014 Recipient of the Praemium Imperiale award, Japan[30]

2014 Honorary Doctor of Sacred Music, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological

Seminary[31]

International centre
The International Arvo Prt Centre is located in the Estonian village of Laulasmaa. The centre
includes a research institute, an education and music centre, a museum, a publishing facility, and
an archive of Prt's works.[32]

References
1.
Arvo Part Answers
The Bachtrack Stats 2013
Arvo Prt, Sinfini Music website
Misiunas, Romuald J., Rein Taagepera (1983). Khrennikov Arvo
Prt&pg=PA170#v=onepage&q=Tikhon Khrennikov Arvo Prt&f=false The Baltic States,
Years of Dependence, 19401980, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-04625-0
Peter Quinn. Arvo Prt, classical-music.com, the official website of BBC Music
Magazine
"Radio :: SWR2 - SWR.de". swr.online. Retrieved 25 September 2014.

 New York City Ballet program notes in Playbill, January 2008.

P. Hillier, Arvo Prt, 1997, p. 33.
"Arvo Prt Special 1: How Sacred Music Scooped an Interview". Retrieved 25
September 2014.
P. Bohlman, The Music of European Nationalism: Cultural Identity and Modern History,
p. 75.
For example, in an essay by Christopher Norris called "Post-modernism: a guide for the
perplexed," found in Gary K. Browning, Abigail Halcli, Frank Webster, Understanding
Contemporary Society: Theories of the Present, 2000.
Thomas, Adrian. Grecki. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press,
1997. 135. ISBN 0-19-816393-2
P. Hillier, Arvo Prt, 1997, p. 27.
P. Hillier, Arvo Prt, 1997, p. 64.
Hodgkinson, Will. "The Reich stuff". The Guardian, 2 January 2004. Retrieved, 18
February 2011.
"Arvo Prt commemorates Politkovskaja". Universal Edition Newsletter (Universal
Edition) (Winter 2006/2007): 13. 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
RT website
Louth website
In Detail: Arvo Prt's Symphony No. 4 'Los Angeles'. Retrieved: 27 January 2009.
NOMINA DI MEMBRI DEL PONTIFICIO CONSIGLIO DELLA CULTURA
Arvo Prts Adams Lament wins Grammy Award in the Best Choral Performance
category! Retrieved: 26 January 2014.
"Honorary Awards: University of Sydney". Archived from the original on 4 December
2008. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
"Arvo Prt: Doctor of Music" (PDF). 15 October 2003. Retrieved 31 May 2008.
"President Arnold Rtel jagab heldelt liharuldast ordenit". Postimees. 12 January 2006.
Retrieved 25 September 2014.
"DiePresse.com". 9 May 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
"Honorary Degrees June 2009". 17 June 2009. Archived from the original on 24 June
2009. Retrieved 18 June 2009.
"Le compositeur Arvo Prt dcor de l'ordre de la Lgion d'Honneur". Retrieved 3
November 2011.
"Vatican information service". 12 December 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
"Arvo Prt Receives Distinction from Patriarch Bartholomew". 2013-09-09. Retrieved
2013-09-09.
"Arvo Prt, Athol Fugard among recipients of Praemium Imperiale awards". Los Angeles
Times. 2014-07-16. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
"Honorary Degrees May 2014". 31 May 2014. Archived from the original on 6 June
2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
1.

Sources

"Arvo Prt Center". Retrieved 25 September 2014.

Hillier, Paul. (1997). Arvo Prt. Oxford : Oxford University Press. 10-ISBN 0-19816616-8; 13-ISBN 978-0-19-816616-0 (paper)

Further reading

Andrew Shenton (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Prt (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2012).

Chikinda, Michael (2011). "Prt's Evolving Tintinnabuli Style". Perspectives of New

Music 49, no. 1 (Winter): 182206.

Prt, Arvo (author) Crow, Robert (translator). Arvo Prt in Conversation (Dalkey
Archive Press, 2012). 182 pp.

External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Arvo Prt
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arvo Prt.

Arvo Prt biography and works on the UE website (publisher)

Arvo Prt discography at Classical Net

Arvo Prt discography at MusicBrainz

Arvo Prt Conference at Boston University

Complete listing of Arvo Prt's works - Internet edition compiled by Onno van Rijen

Arvo Prt extensive site

arvopart.info another comprehensive site with current news

David Pinkerton's Arvo Prt archive yet another extensive site, with some good
analytical writing.

Biography in MUSICMATCH Guide Small biography and list of works.

Arvo Prt and the New Simplicity Article by Bill McGlaughlin, with audio selections

Steve Reich about Arvo Prt, in an interview with Richard Williams, The Guardian, 2
January 2004

Spike Magazine Interview

Lancing College Commission 'Original' Claudio Records Recording in the presence of

the composer Review/Information

International Arvo Prt Centre most up-to-date info and more

[show]

Arvo Prt
[show]

Lonie Sonning Music Prize Laureates

[show]

Minimal music
Categories:

1935 births

20th-century classical composers

21st-century classical composers

ECM Records artists

Composers for pipe organ

Eastern Orthodox Christians from Estonia

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People from Paide

Postmodern composers

Postminimalist composers

Benjamin Britten

Recipients of the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 1st Class

Recipients of the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 2nd Class

Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni

Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Protestantism

Members of the Pontifical Council for Culture

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