Tacit Texts: Considerations on Pärt’s Settings of the Word

Abstract

As Arvo Pärt scholarship continues to deepen, considerable attention has been paid to the role of the text in Pärt’s compositions. Most of his tintinnabuli works are textual settings, and there are enough quotations from the composer to indicate that the texts are extremely important to him and his work. This essay investigates the compositions in which the text shapes the music but is not sung, and poses questions about why the composer chooses to leave certain texts unheard, how this music is received, and whether or not the text can be said to play a role in that reception.