Arvo Pärt was born in Paide (in central Estonia) on 11 September 1935. An only
child, his parents divorced when he was three, and he was brought up by his mother
(a kindergarten teacher) and stepfather. With piano lessons from the age of eight
(after the family had moved to a house in Rakvere in the north east of Estonia
containing a concert grand), he received his rudimentary musical education at
the Rakvere Children's Music School between 1946-1953. Finding that the repertoire
of piano pieces he was given to play did not tax him fully enough he soon began
writing his own short pieces, mainly for piano, although he also composed songs.
Studies continued in 1954 at Rakvere Secondary School and Tallinn Music
School, where he studied composition and music theory. Whilst at Secondary
School in Rakvere he was able to hear classical orchestral music from recordings
transmitted over the public loudspeaker system in the town square, extending his
somewhat limited musical horizons by cycling round and round the square on these
occasions. His composition teachers at the Tallinn Music School were Harri Otsa
(b.1926) and Veljo Tormis (b.1930), study that was interrupted by two years of
compulsory military service during which he worked as a snare drummer in an army
band. It was not until autumn 1957 that he was finally able to enrol as a
postgraduate student at the Tallinn Conservatory.His composition teacher there
was Heino Eller (1887-1970), who had himself studied composition at the St
Petersburg Conservatory under Glazunov (whom Pärt acknowledges as his musical
grandfather) and who played a central role in the development of Estonian music
both as composer and teacher.
Pärts first works, two piano Sonatinas and a Partita, were neoclassical
student pieces. Then in 1960 he became the first Estonian composer to espouse
serialism (Nekrolog) and, using other avant-garde techniques including
pointillism and aleatoricism, explored its potential in a number of experimental
works Perpetuum Mobile (1963), Symphony No.1 (1964), Diagrams
(1964), Musica Sillabica (1964), and Solfeggio (1964). In an
attempt to extricate himself from what soon became a musical impasse, his next
works adopted (and played with) baroque and classical forms and incorporated
borrowed tonal gestures the brief Quintettino (1964), Collage on
B-A-C-H (1964) and the cello concerto Pro et Contra (1966). With the
composition of Credo (1968), the quintessential work of the early period
and the first to set a religious text, Pärt finally reached the impasse that had
been threatening, created by the fact that his own compositional voice had
effectively been eclipsed by that of Bach.
Orchestral Music
In 1976 Pärt wrote a moving tribute to Benjamin Britten, Cantus in Memory of
Benjamin Britten, for string orchestra and bell. His Cello Concerto, Pro et
Contra and three symphonies reflect the course his music has taken.
Chamber Music
A wind Quintetino of 1965 has been followed by the interesting work
Fratres, for violin and piano, and Spiegel im Spiegel ('Mirror in
the Mirror') for cello and piano.
Vocal and Choral Music
Pärt has made a particularly strong impression with works such as his
Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secondum Johannem ('St John Passion'),
his Stabat Mater, for three solo voices and string trio, his
Miserere of 1989 and the Biblical Sarah was ninety-years old.
Instrumental Music
Music for smaller ensembles and solo instruments by Pärt includes his 1977
Fratres for violin and piano and Spiegel im Spiegel for cello and
piano, together with his organ Pari intervalli.
