Introduction

T
his is a book about Arvo Pärt’s music, explored in terms
of his faith and life. Given that listeners so often speak of
the impact of his music in terms of spirituality, and given
Pärt’s own spiritual home in the Orthodox Church, it felt appro-
priate to draw some lines of correlation between his music and
the theology and experience of that Eastern Christian faith. One
goal of this book, then, is to bring listeners to a fuller appreciation
of what is going on in the composer’s work.

Conversations about this remarkable music, especially by its more

avid listeners, often feature a “my first encounter with Arvo Pärt”
story. On our way toward an immersion into that world, I thought
I would give you mine so that you might know whose company
you are keeping as you read this book.

I actually met the man before encountering his music. It was dur-
ing the early 1990s: Pärt and I found ourselves visiting the same
monastery for a week, where a mutual friend made sure to intro-
duce us. Pärt was, after all, a famous composer, and I had earned
degrees in both music and theology. But as it was, I had never
knowingly heard a note of his music. I had not actually even heard
of him. We spent hours walking together and talking on themes of
mutual interest, among them the phenomenon of “Holy Foolish-
ness” on which I had just written a thesis. At one point I asked him
about his music, what it was like, what kinds of ­instrumentation

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he employed. He chatted about it with no pretense or fanfare:

“Sometimes I write for choir, sometimes for orchestra. Or the
organ . . .” I had the sense that if he was famous—and it turned
out that by this time, he really was—he was probably enjoying
the opportunity to talk to someone who was neither an awe-
struck admirer nor a jaded music critic. I enjoyed his company
immensely, but what did his music sound like? What were the
chances that I would even like it?

Within a matter of weeks, upon my return to Oxford where I was

studying toward my doctorate, I noticed that Pärt’s Passio was
being performed in the New College Chapel, so I bought a ticket.
Readers familiar with this composition—a searingly intense and
dramatic 70-minute work with a breathtaking conclusion—can
only imagine how it served to introduce Pärt to a first-time lis-
tener. I will return to discuss the piece at this book’s conclusion,
but for the moment I will say that my experience of that concert
began a new relationship with music, a heightened understanding
of the possibilities of art.

I wondered: What would it be like, now, to meet Pärt again (as I

would some weeks later)? Inevitably it was more difficult to have
a conversation as if among peers: I had been transformed into one
of his rapt fans. Happily, that didn’t prevent us from having several
memorable encounters. One evening I went to his house with two
monks and a fellow layman from Russia, and we sang for Arvo
and his wife Nora a Georgian church hymn. After dinner Arvo
got out his portable CD player and played for us the just-released
Miserere, carefully adjusting the volume throughout, compensat-
ing for that composition’s broad dynamic range. He remained the
person I had already come to know: a completely unpretentious
and unassuming person, who talked about things that mattered

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 Introduction

but also knew how to joke and laugh. And who took music utterly
seriously, as he did the Church’s liturgical and prayer life.

This Book: For Whom, and Why?

In seeking to deepen people’s experience of Pärt’s music, another

goal of this study is to reach as much as possible his broadly diverse
audience. His listeners—religious believers, agnostics, atheists, the
“spiritual but not religious”—all draw from the same well, even if
they bring different vessels to it. However, not all of his audience is
convinced of the need for a discussion of the spiritual foundations
of the man and his music. That need is obvious to some, not to
all. The Arvo Pärt Centre currently being established in Estonia
reports frequent inquiries on this subject. Commentaries on Pärt
never fail to mention the composer’s affiliation with the Orthodox
Church, but rarely go into detail about it. They are either at a
loss for more to say or convinced that there is no more to say. Yet
when his music is so frequently called “spiritual,” either because
of or in spite of the predominantly sacred texts that underlie it,
are there really no connections to be explored, even if tentatively,
propositionally?

Forays in this direction already exist. Some have begun to ana-

lyze the spirituality of Pärt’s œuvre from a secular perspective—a
confessional tabula rasa, as it were.1 Others have begun to exca-
vate the Orthodox tradition and found some promising leads in
hesychasm and in the apophatic tradition.2 I have been ­encouraged
1
For example, Robert Sholl, “Arvo Pärt and Spirituality,” in The Cam-
bridge Companion to Arvo Pärt, ed. Andrew Shenton (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 2012).
2
Cf. Paul Hillier, Arvo Pärt, Oxford Studies of Composers (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997), 1–23.

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by a number of Pärt’s listeners, scholars, and critics who have

awaited a study on him from an Orthodox Christian perspective.
I realize, however, that others are entirely unconvinced that such
a study is necessary at all.

One music writer noted recently, “Arvo Pärt’s music has such uni-
versal appeal that it is easy to lose sight of the specific spiritual
traditions that feed it.”3 She has identified the paradox: universal
appeal, particular tradition. But once again, is it useful to poke
around the composer’s particular spiritual background? I would
begin the response with a focus on the role of “particularity” in
regard to spiritual traditions. And the fact here is that no theol-
ogy, no spirituality, exists disembodied from particular contexts.
Many themes are omnipresent in the great spiritual traditions
(e.g., the pursuit of unity and integration, the overcoming of evil
and suffering), but each is expressed by distinct people in distinct
settings, almost always as part of existing communities with cus-
toms, schools of thought, and practices. Each, then, makes its own
mark on these universal questions. On the matter of suffering, for
example, Christianity and Buddhism will say different, if periodi-
cally overlapping things. And within the Christian traditions of
the East and West you will find different emphases and insights
as well. The particular, then, is an inevitability.

On that basis I would argue that when a cultural figure professes

adherence to a specific faith tradition, and produces art that speaks
to some of its central themes, we are rightly interested in what that
tradition actually asserts. Consider some examples:

3
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, “ ‘Adam’s Lament’ and Other Choral
Works,” in The New York Times, October 28, 2012 (print).

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 Introduction

The appeal of the current Dalai Lama is broad. He exudes simul-

taneously compassion, playfulness, and seriousness. His teach-
ings bespeak wisdom with a practical applicability that reaches
vast audiences of all backgrounds. Yet if someone wanted to
come closer to his teaching, his word, his way, at some point she
would need to grapple with Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama
is through and through a Tibetan Buddhist—indeed he is the prin-
cipal personal representation of that faith.

The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky might serve as a more

pertinent example since, although an Orthodox Christian, he
does not fulfill the same iconic function. Broadly speaking, read-
ers receive The Brothers Karamazov as a riveting piece of litera-
ture. But a reader’s understanding of the conversation between
Ivan and Alyosha, of the Grand Inquisitor parable, and of the
episodes involving Staretz Zosima, are indisputably enriched
by understanding Orthodox Christian tradition, teaching, and
monasticism, not to mention Orthodox relations with Roman
Catholicism. These constitute Dostoevsky’s spiritual and intel-
lectual roots; these are what give rise to his narratives and his
dramatis personae.

Not all artists bring a particular faith to bear on their work, but
when they do, however diverse their results, studying these con-
nections makes sense. A serious student of the American com-
poser and music theorist John Cage will eventually be forced to
reckon with his relationship to Buddhism and the I Ching, which
influenced his aleatoric method. One who seeks to penetrate
the French composer and organist Olivier Messiaen cannot get
around his Roman Catholicism. Bereft of encounters with the
belief system and tradition that so influenced their output, their

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audiences may enjoy their artistry well enough, but not fathom
them as closely as they might.

So it is with Pärt. “To really understand his music,” Nora Pärt has
been quoted saying about her husband’s work, “you must first
understand how this religious tradition [Orthodox Christianity]
flows through him.” To which Arvo adds, “If anybody wishes to
understand me, they must listen to my music; if anybody wishes
to know my ‘philosophy’, then they can read any of the Church
Fathers.”4

Thus the critical principle underlying this book: insights from the
Orthodox Christian spiritual tradition are capable of shedding
important light on Arvo Pärt’s musical output. There is, however,
neither the need nor the possibility of establishing actual causality.
We are not here to establish that the Orthodox Church’s theology
has directly inspired or given rise to Pärt’s compositional style, his
impulse to compose in particular tonalities, or his understand-
ing of suffering and hope. But the possibilities of correlation are
compelling.

Methodology

Connecting Pärt’s art and his faith carries potential dangers that
I will seek at all costs to avoid. In that spirit, I will never say nor
imply that the music is only for the believer, or that Pärt composes
especially for religious believers. He himself emphasizes that his

4
Lewis Owens, “Arvo Pärt : Miserere : Miserere And Minimalism,”
Spike Magazine, June 1, 2000. Online at http://www.spikemagazine.com/
0600arvopart.php, accessed November 5, 2012. Nora is ever increasingly a
part of Arvo Pärt’s published interviews. The composer himself often turns
to her to help express aspects of his music.

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 Introduction

work is for everyone and anyone. I will likewise not claim that
Orthodox Christian theology holds the hidden key to Pärt’s music,
without which it cannot be appreciated. I will, however, suggest
that insights from Orthodox tradition, liturgy, and theology carry
relevance and affect a listener’s experience of the music. His faith
and the sacred texts on which much of his music is based are all
right there in front of us. It would be disingenuous to underplay
these factors.

Two more things I am not doing: I am not writing this in order to

preach Orthodox Christian theology, although I will be explain-
ing those aspects that are relevant to Pärt’s work. And I am not
setting out to be comprehensive or definitive. This book, consist-
ing in propositions and reflections, aims to elicit further work. As
far as my approach vis-à-vis musicology and theology, let me say
something about each.

Specialization and Terminology

Although its subject is ultimately music—specifically, music com-

posed according to particular principles and rules—this is not
primarily a musicological study. Such essays on Pärt’s work are
happily proliferating. The present book will periodically enter the
realms of theory, history, and music criticism as demanded by the
subject matter, but my analyses will not be technical enough to
depend on extensive musical training. The intention is that they
be just deep enough to satisfy the purposes of the book, alienating
neither the untrained ear nor the music professional.

As for spirituality and theology, it will be more challenging to

hit all the right notes, as it were. A few readers of this book may
be experienced theologians who find the treatment here to be

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l­ightweight; my hope is that the way I have configured these mate-

rials, in relation to Pärt’s life and work, will still be useful. But the
book is intended at least as much for people of different faiths
or none in particular, as well as people who are disenchanted by
the enterprise of organized religion. To such readers, I should say
up front that this book will periodically get theological, maybe
more (and specifically more Christian) than you will feel comfort-
able with. I ask your indulgence and hope you find it repaid. The
book will also reflect my own training and lived experience in
both music and in the theology, liturgy, and faith of the Orthodox
Church. I am working on the principle that a deep and personal
engagement in the things that are studied will serve, rather than
impede, my analysis.

Critical Detachment

On that score, a common presupposition in scholarship is that

the most useful study of a subject is the one coming from a place
of detachment, the idea being that a mind stripped of all preju-
dices and presumption will be best positioned to reach neutral
conclusions. This ideal, within both sciences and humanities, has
lately been dismantled by showing that some of the best research
and insightful observations come from those who are deeply and
personally involved in their subject, precisely by virtue of that
engagement.5 As you have seen, I am deeply engaged with the
subject, both musically and theologically. In this book we are not
looking for neutral conclusions; we are looking for involvement.

5
Andrew Louth, Discerning the Mystery: An Essay on the Nature of The-
ology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983) is especially helpful. See esp.
“Dissociation of Sensibility,” in ibid., 1–16.

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 Introduction

Authorial intent

Mid-twentieth-century literary theory has it that an author’s pro-

cess, life, and certainly his or her intent, properly has no bearing
or authority on the understanding of the art. Currents building
on the New Criticism place the entire onus of interpretation
on the audience.6 Either way, the art no longer belongs to the
artist, whose life, context, and motivations are held to be both
inscrutable and irrelevant. Even if one might temper this extreme
disregard for the person of the author, we must acknowledge a
certain disconnect between author and audience. If the disconnect
is obvious, its repercussions are not. As regards this matter, my
approach is similar to Pärt’s own: to give a sense of what that is,
I will let Pärt weigh in:

As often with art, you have the problem of the disconnect

between the creator/the creative process, and the observer/
listener. But is the disconnect complete? Moments of rec-
ognition between composer and listener happen somehow,
like sitting in two passing trains. You only make out the
person in the other train during a fleeting glance through
the window. We composers have our path to follow, and
the listeners theirs. [. . .] And still, we meet: through music,
let’s say.7

“And still we meet.” Pärt does not believe that the disconnect
is complete, neither do I, and chances are that neither do you,
6
A recent summary of the question, whose conclusions I agree with, may
be found in Robert C. Saler, Between Magisterium and Marketplace: A Con-
structive Account of Theology and the Church, Emerging Scholars (Minne-
apolis, MN: Fortress, 2014), 23–49.
7
Geoff Smith, “Sources of Invention: An Interview with Arvo Pärt,” The
Musical Times 140, no. 1868 (Autumn 1999).

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otherwise you would not be reading a book that seeks to give

insight into the music precisely by exploring the composer’s spiri-
tual universe. It follows that I will at points be drawing directly
on the composer’s experience, sometimes in his own words, and
in those of his wife Nora, herself a trained musician with impor-
tant insights into his work. They will not be invoked as the final
authority, but as voices eminently worth listening to.

Sources

Engagement will entail subjective opinions, listeners’ personal

impressions, sometimes including my own. Here too I would re-
emphasize Pärt’s singular ability to speak spiritually to a diverse
audience. I have likewise been interested in reaching and hearing
from a wide range of listeners, and so will be drawing on the exist-
ing scholarly literature, CD liner notes, music criticism, as well as
from comments found on social media.

Background and Acknowledgments

This book grew out of my longstanding relationship with Pärt’s

music. As mentioned earlier, that relationship has its founda-
tions in an association with the composer himself begun in
1990. In December 2011, St Vladimir’s Seminary, where I teach,
approached Arvo and Nora Pärt with a three-fold proposal: to
honor the composer academically with a doctoral degree, and to
celebrate him musically with concerts of the highest caliber in the
New York area. We discussed also an ongoing project that would
begin to explore the connection between his music and the Ortho-
dox tradition that he considers his spiritual home. Thus was born
the Arvo Pärt Project that has so far resulted in ­memorable and

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 Introduction

c­ ritically acclaimed concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Metropoli-

tan Museum of Art in New York,8 the John F. Kennedy Center and
the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC (the composer’s first
appearance on the US East Coast since 1984), courses, lectures,
and cross-­disciplinary panel discussions, and this book. It has
been a remarkable journey. Throughout, Arvo and Nora Pärt have
generously shared stories and insights with me that have proved
indispensable to this study.

The Arvo Pärt Project is lodged at St Vladimir’s Seminary, whose

dean and chancellor, staff, and trustees have courageously sup-
ported its work. My co-director in the Project, Nicholas Reeves,
has been a constant source of wisdom, musical advice, and cre-
ative friendship. The staff of the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa,
Estonia, were of great help as the book’s manuscript took shape—
with special thanks to Kristina Kõrver. Alexander Lingas made
many insightful comments on the draft, especially as regards the
relationship of music and text, and helped steer me away from
significant errors. Robert Saler reviewed the text and provided
many useful comments, and Patricia Fann Bouteneff, as editor,
played a crucial role in shaping my prose. I have benefited greatly
from exchanging ideas with many avid Pärt listeners and authori-
ties, notably Alex Ambrose, Laurie Anderson, Jeffers Engelhardt,
James Jordan, Alan Teder and Limor Tomer. Paul Hillier, whose
monograph on Pärt remains unsurpassed and whose association
with the composer has made an indelible mark on the sound of

8
May 31, 2014 at Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium (sold out), with
the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber
Choir, conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste. June 2, 2014, at the Temple of Dendur,
Sackler Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (sold out), with the Esto-
nian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste.

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his music, shared important insights with me early on in this study

and gave me generous encouragement. I have been fortunate to
draw on the ever-growing body of texts by scholars and critics
who know and love Pärt’s music and have articulated profound
insights about it; I refer to many of them throughout the book.
May their number continue to increase so that the conversation
might expand, and so that this remarkable music continues to get
the listening it deserves.

The organization of this book

In this study we will visit three broad spaces. In Part I my aim is

to set out first principles. Having addressed above why a study
of Pärt vis-à-vis Orthodox Christianity might be useful and for
whom, I will take that question further into an examination of
what is meant by “spirituality” and “religion,” as these subjects
are ever-present in reactions to Pärt’s work. Discussing the “Arvo
Pärt Phenomenon”—how Pärt’s music often reaches its listeners’
spiritual selves—will be a way of insuring that this book be guided
at least as much by those listeners as by my own preoccupations
and predilections. I will also discuss what people have begun to
say about Pärt’s Orthodox Christian affiliation, look at the com-
positions that reflect that affiliation explicitly, and recount some-
thing of how the composer came to find, and join, the Orthodox
Church.

This section will conclude with a more protracted study of the

role of text in people’s experience of Pärt’s work, and in the com-
poser’s own writing process. Most of Pärt’s work is texted; with
very few exceptions the texts are sacred. The repercussions of that
fact are significant, if sometimes surprising.

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 Introduction

Part II will explore the theme of silence. This will entail looking
into Pärt’s own “silent” years during which he composed little.
We will be looking at musical, political, and spiritual factors that
informed what came before and during that important transi-
tional period. Silence is often identified as being a quality inher-
ent in Pärt’s music; the music intentionally incorporates it. This
section will also feature an extended reflection on the nature of
silence and stillness in Orthodox Christian tradition: their differ-
ent characteristics and their role in the process of creativity and
in the cultivation of inner quietude and prayer.

The third space we will be visiting concerns dualities held in unity.

Pärt’s music is typically said to marry antinomies of sensibility:
lament and hope, sorrow and consolation, straying and stabil-
ity. The composer himself invokes other metaphors that carry
explicitly theological implications: sin and forgiveness, the human
and the divine. I will be endeavoring to trace this theme—the
yoking of dualities—running through the biblical, ascetical, and
theological tradition, right up to its profound expression in the
writings and life of the twentieth-century Orthodox staretz St
Silouan—to whom Pärt is so spiritually drawn. The twin voices
that constitute the tintinnabuli compositional style bear a clear
relationship to the affective realities being conveyed. This musi-
cal analysis will gain a deeper meaning through correlation with
theological principles.

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