Arvo Pärt

Arvo Pärt (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈɑrvo ˈpært]; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of classical and sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-invented compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music is in part inspired by Gregorian chant. Pärt has been the most performed living composer in the world for 5 consecutive years.

Life

Pärt was born in Paide, Järva 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. 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.

The Tallis Scholars

The Tallis Scholars is a British professional early music vocal ensemble normally consisting of two singers per part, with a core group of ten singers. They specialise in performing a cappella sacred vocal music.

History

The group was formed in 1973 by Peter Phillips, who in 1972-1975 was an organ scholar at St John's College, Oxford and studied music with David Wulstan and Denis Arnold. Philips invited the members of chapel choirs from Oxford and Cambridge to form an amateur Renaissance vocal music ensemble, which turned professional after ten years of concert-giving. From the first performance in the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, Oxford on November 3, 1973, Phillips aimed to produce a distinctive sound, influenced by choirs he admired, in particular the renowned Clerkes of Oxenford, directed by David Wulstan. Since winning a Gramophone Award in 1987, the Tallis Scholars have been recognised as one of the world's leading ensembles in Renaissance polyphony.

Concerts

The Tallis Scholars singers tour widely, performing some 70 concerts a year, in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. In April 1994, they sang Allegri's Miserere mei, Deus in the newly restored Sistine Chapel in Vatican, and performed in February 1994 in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome to commemorate Palestrina's 400th anniversary.

Peter Phillips

Peter Mark Andrew Phillips (born 15 November 1977) is the first child and only son of Anne, Princess Royal, and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips. He is the eldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Phillips holds no royal title or style and is currently 13th in line to succeed his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth II. After graduating from university in 2000, he worked for Jaguar followed by WilliamsF1. In 2003, while working for WilliamsF1 in Canada, he met Autumn Kelly, whom he married in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in 2008. Phillips keeps a low public profile and for the most part, carries out no royal duties; for many years he has worked in the sports sponsorship and management fields.

Early life and education

Da pacem Domine

Da pacem Domine (Give peace, Lord) is the incipit of two different Latin texts, a hymn and an introit. Both have been the base for compositions to be used in church liturgy, beginning with chant. Paraphrased versions of the hymn were created by Martin Luther in German in 1524, Verleih uns Frieden, also frequently set by composers. In English, the hymn entered the Book of Common Prayer, Give peace in our time, O Lord.

The hymn

Latin

The text is a 6th or 7th-century hymn based on biblical verses 2 Kings 20:19, 2 Chronicles 20:12,15 and Psalms 72:6-7.

Settings of the Latin hymn include Da pacem Domine by Arvo Pärt (2004).

German

Martin Luther wrote a paraphrase in German, "Verleih uns Frieden". Settings include a motet in the collection Geistliche Chormusik by Heinrich Schütz (published 1648).

English

A version in English, ""Give peace in our time, O Lord", is part of the Book of Common Prayer. The similar phrase Peace for our time has been used in political context.

The introit

A different text with the same first line is the Introit for Pentecost XVIII, based on Sirach 36:18 and Psalms 122:1 (Psalm 121 in the Vulgate)