What occurs once you deal with the easy C main scale as a diatonic tone row?
The reply could be heard in Solfeggio, the primary a cappella choral work of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935). Composed in 1963, the identical yr as Pärt’s Symphony No. 1, Op. 9, “Polyphonic,” Solfeggio anticipates the composer’s later meditative tintinnabuli model.
Solfeggio unfolds with a way of cosmic timelessness. Serene clusters of sound type and dissipate as every vocal line enters successively in several octaves. The textual content consists of the syllable names of the notes (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si). Dissonances give method magically to sudden sudden triads. Conductor and early music scholar Paul Hillier feedback that it’s “as if the composer received caught up in a secret backyard, however is just not but prepared to know its magnificence, which is ideal unto itself.”
The construction of this elegant, haunting music emerges from strict adherence to formal guidelines and predetermined algorithms.
Recordings
- Pärt: Solfeggio, Polyphony, Stephen Layton Amazon
Featured Picture: Solfège, preliminary cowl design for Petit Solfège Illustré (c. 1891-1893), Pierre Bonnard
