Symposium of Contemporary Music, 1998

cJllinoi.l' CUJe.l'leljan O!4nivet,sillj rlt"e.l'ent.l' SYMPOSIUM OF

M�sic of the Spirit Director

.$fJavi'r)?»aljo Guest Composer

�l:})O cf}Jiit:t Sponsors: School of Music Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Delta Omicron Sigma Alpha Iota IWU Student Chapter, AmericalJ Choral Directors' Association

ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY

Tuesday, February 17, 1998

Presser Hall 258 and Evelyn Chapel

Arvo Part was born in Paide, Estonia in 1935. Part's musical studies began in 1954 at the Tallinn Music Middle School, but were interrupted less than a year later while he fulfilled his National Service obligation as oboist and side-drummer in an army band. He returned to Middle School for a year before advancing tei the Tallinn Conservatory in 1957, where his composition teacher was Professor Heino Eller.

Piirt started work as a recording engineer with Estonian Radio, wrote music for the stage and received numerous commissions for film scores so that, by the time he graduated from the Conservatory in 1963, he could already be considered a profes­ sional composer. A year before leaving, he won first prize in the All-Union Young Composers' Competition for a children's cantata, Our Garden, and an oratorio, Stride of the World.

Living in the old Soviet Union, Part had little access to what was happening in contemporary Western music; but despite such isolation, the early 1960's in Estonia saw many new methods of composition being brought into use and Part was at the forefront: his Nekrolog of 1960 was the first Estonian composition to employ twelve-tone technique. He continued with serialism through to the mid 60's in pieces such as the 1 st and 2nd Symphonies and Perpetuum Mobile, but ultimately tired of its rigors and moved on to experiment with collage techniques in such works as Collage on B-A-C-H.

Official judgment of Part's music veered between extremes, with certain works being praised while others, for example the

Credo of 1968, banned. The Credo

would prove to be the last of his collage pieces. After its composition, Part chose to enter the first of several periods of contemplative silence, also using the time to study French and Franco-Flemish choral music from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries- Machaut, Ockeghem, Obrecht, and Josquin. At the very beginning of the 1970's, he wrote a few transitional compositions in the spirit of early European polyphony, the

3rd Symphony of 1971 being an example: "a joyous piece of music"

but not yet "the end of my despair and search."

Part turned again to self-imposed silence, during which time he delved back through the medievalism of his

3rd Symphony and through plainchant to the very

dawn of musical invention. He re-emerged in 1976 after a transformation so radical as to make his previous music almost unrecognizable as that of the same composer.

The technique he invented, or discovered, and to which he has remained loyal, practica\.ly without exception, he calls tintinnabuli (from the Latin, little bells), which he describes thus: "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, two voices. I build with primi足 tive materials-with the triad, with one specific tonality. The three notes of a triad are like bells and this is why I call it tintinnabuli."

The basic guiding principle behind tintinnabulation of composing two simultane足 ous voices as one line- one voice moving stepwise from and to a central pitch, first up then down, and the other sounding the notes of the triad- made its first public appearance in the short piano piece,

Fur Alina. While typically in tintinnabuli the

melodic voice is based on an abstract procedure or derived from text, here the melody is freely composed, but with the two voices irrevocably joined according to the tintinnabuli principle. The right hand plays notes from the scale of B minor, while the left hand plays notes from the B minor .triad. There is only one exception, marked by a single flower drawn in the score, where the left hand plays a new note-a C sharp.

Having found his voice, there was a subsequent rush of new works and three of the 1977 pieces

(Fratres, Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten and Tabula Rasa) are

still amongst his most highly regarded. As Part's music began to be performed in the West and he continued to struggle against Soviet officialdom, his frustration ulti足 mately forced him, his wife Nora and their two sons, to emigrate in 1980. They never made it to their intended destination of Israel, but with the assistance of his publisher in the West settled first in Vienna, where he took Austrian citizenship.

One year later, with a scholarship from the German Academic Exchal1ge, he moved to West Berlin, where he still lives.

Since leaving Estonia, Part has concentrated on setting religious texts for various forces. Large scale works include 1993) and

S1. John Passion (1982), Te Deum (1984-86, rev.

Litany (1994). Works for SATB choir such as Magnificat (1989) and T he

Beatitudes (1990) have proved popular with choirs around the world and there is a growing oeuvre of works for string orchestra and various chamber ensembles; numer足 ous versions of Fratres (1976-date), Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten (1977/80) Festina Lente (1988) and Siloun's Song (1991). Among his champions in the West

have been Manfred Eicher's ECM Records who released the first recordings of Part's music outside the Soviet bloc; Paul Hillier's Hilliard Ensemble (and later, Theatre of Voices) who have premiered several of the vocal works; and Neeme Jarvi, a long­ time collaborator of Part who conduc'ted the premiere of Credo in Tallinn in 1968 and has, as well as recording the tintinnabuli pieces, introduced Pii.rt's earlier com-, positions through performances and recordings. Part's achievements were honored in his 61st year by his election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

-Doug Maskew (used by permission)

@4 @lVote 6l:om the �ympo.sium dfiJil:ectol: In music, as in so many other realms of human endeavor, the road to the future

often leads first to the past. Beethoven, in his late years, found Renaissance music to - be a revelation. The serene, timeless quality of many of Beethoven's late slow move­ ments, and his conscious use of an ancient church mode in his "Holy Song of Thanksgiving, in the Lydian Mode" (from one of the late string quartets) came directly out of his involveme�t with Rel;1aissance music and help his late composi­ tions to remain utterly fresh-sounding to this day. Anton von Webern, hailed posthumously in the 1950's as the founding father of the international avant-garde, made frequent use in his own music of Renaissance canonic devices he had encoun­ tered during his graduate studies in musicology. In our own era, American composer Steve Reich has acknowledged his debt to the rhythmic devices and layered textures of much medieval and Renaissance music.

As recounted above by Doug Maskew, Arvo Part's stylistic breakthrough also came about from steeping himself in early music. In the crucible of his creativity Part has fashioned a style which connects directly with the musical past without apeing it, and which in its own contemporary way evokes the eternal as vividly as the music written centuries ago for Gothic cathedrals and Renaissance masses.

In addition to being acclaimed worldwide by the concertgoing and CD-buying public (in my estimation, among living classical composers only Philip Glass has an equally Widespread following), Arvo Part is also a composers' composer. Many com­ position students pay him the sincerest form of flattery; I recall one of my fellow graduate students at the University of Michigan whose Part-style piece was the reso­ lution of a long struggle to connect himself with music's spiritual wellsprings. Part is also deeply admired by his colleagues. His appearance at our Symposium owes much to the esteem in which he is held by Joseph Schwantner, our 1997 guest. Because he did not have any choral music himself, Mr. Schwantner suggested programming one of Part's choral works instead. The resulting performance of

Magnificat by the

Chamber Singers under Prof. J. Scott Ferguson led to a groundswell of enthusiasm for inviting Mr. Part as our next Symposium guest. We at the School of Music are delighted to have him here-indeed, we are still pinching ourselves in disbelief at our good fortune - and we look forward to sharing his profound and luminous music with you.

-David Vayo

6}Jtesset d}eaLL 258 4:00 P.M.

�naLyses ot �l:J}O 6}Jiitt's (§l/tusic Presentations by Illinois Wesleyan students

Arbos for brass and percussion Robert Bennett, Erik Heine, Steven Kallstrom

MIIll'd/iCllt for chamber choir Landon Alvey, Derek Dahlke, Guy Kelpin

Frlltres for violin, strings and percussion Peter Gilbert, Kendra Kranz, Jason Mondello, Lauren Sopocy

·

.

(§veLyn crJhapeL 7:30 P.M.

Arbos (1977, revised 1986) Brian Niebuhr, Olivia Malin, Peter Weber, Amanda McCabe, trumpets Guy Kelpin, Mark Thomson, Kevin Van Prooyen, Sean Parsons, trombones Dan Solovitz, Dan Witte, Erik Heine, percussion Prof. Steven W. Eggleston, Conductor

Cantate Domino (1977, revised 1996) Chamber Singers, Prof. J. Scott Ferguson, Director Prof. Michael Keeley, organ

Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten (1980) Camerata, Prof. Vadim Mazo, Director

Solfeggio (1964, revised 1996) Bogor6ditse Djevo (1990) The Beatitudes (1990, revised 1991) Chamber Singers, Prof. J. Scott Ferguson, Director Prof. Michael Keeley, organ

eJn teem iss irJn Festina Lente (1988, revised 1990) Camerata, Vadim Mazo, Director

Magnificat (1989) Chamber Singers, Prof. J. Scott Ferguson, Director

Fratres (1977, revised 1992) Camerata, Prof. Steven W. Eggleston, Guest Conductor Prof.. Vadim Mazo, violin

�olloWing the concert, the audience is cordially invited to a reception in honor of Mr. Plirt, courtesy of Sigma Alpha Iota.

@nsembLe 8}JetsonneL Chamber Singers J. Scott Ferguson, Director

Soprano

Tenor

Rebekah Askeland

Derek Dahlke

Maria Fifelski

Alfred A. Hannon

Sadie Gaughan

Jared Johnson

Julie Guzowski

Gergory A. Tittle

Sarah Klusak Erin Tchoukaleff

Alto

Bass

Allison Atteberry

Landon Alvey

Jenny Boehm

John Bronston II

Liz Dierbeck

Richard Kaminski

Sarah Schlinder

Seth H. Keeton

Sarah Sipll

Camerata Vadim Mazo, Director

-

Steven W. Eggleston, Guest Conductor

Violin I

Viola

Gina Lauer, co-concertmaster

Erica Schambach, principal

Sharon Chung, co-concertmaster

Garnette Matteson

Erika Siaba

Benjamin Johnson (Cantus)

Laura Lulusa

Kimberly Nieminski (Cantus)

Marta Siaba (Cantus) Janna Rose (Cantus)

Cello Karl Knapp

Violin II

Bethany Von Behren

Luke Herman, principal Pam Parisi

Bass

Nobuhiro Sato

Jeremy Nichols, principal

Deborah Cha

Graham Czach

Christopher Callahan

Andrew Giller (Cantus)

Betsy Garver

Harp Percussion Kevin Nichols (Cantus, Fratres)

Christopher Callahan (Festina Lente)

eSymposium

06 �ontempol:al:y@41usic.

Guest Composers Performers 1954 .. 1998 •

•

Scholars

1954: Normand Lockwood, Robert Palmer 1955: Wallingford Riegger, Peter Mennin 1956: HunterJohnson, Ulysses Kay 1957: Ernst Krenek, William Bergsma 1958: Aaron Copland 1959: Paul Pi.sk, George Rochberg 1960: Roy Harris 1962: Robert Erickson, George Rochberg, Glenn Glasow 1963: Robert Wykes, Alabama String Quartet 1964: Robert Wykes, E. J. Ulrich, Salvatore Martirano, Herbert Brun, BenJohnston

1966: 1967: 1968: 1969: 1970: 1971: 1972: 1973: 1974: 1975: 1976: 1977: 1978: 1979: 1981: 1982: 1983: 1984: 1985: 1986: 1987: 1988: 1989: 1990: 1991: 1993: 1993:

Louis Coyner, Edwin Harkins, Philip Winsor, Edwin London Frederick Tillis, George Crumb lain Hamilton T he Loop Group, DePaul University Halim EI-Dabh, Oily Wilson EdwardJ.Miller Stravinsky Memorial Concert Courtney Cox, Phil Wilson Scott Huston David Ward-Steinman Donald Erb Lou Harrison, Ezra Sims M. William Karlins Leonard B.Meyer Walter S. Hartley David Ward-Steinman George Crumb Robert Bankert, Abram M. Plum, R. Bedford Watkins Michael Schelle Jean Eichelberger lvey Jan Bach John Beall Hale Smith Karel Husa Alice Parker

(Spring) Alexander Aslamazov (Fall) Leslie Bassett, John Crawford (Society of Composers, Inc. Region 5 Conference)

1995: David Diamond 1996: Morton Gould Memorial Concert 1997: Joseph Schwantner 1998: Arvo Part