Tintinnabuli I. Fundamentals


Tintinnabuli (singular. tintinnabulum; from the Latin tintinnabulum, "small thinkling bell") is a compositional style created by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, introduced in his Für Alina (1976), and used again in Spiegel im Spiegel (1978) and in many of his other compositions. Tintinnabulation  means  This simple style was mainly influenced by the composer's mystical experiences with chant, medieval and renaissance music. Musically, Pärt's tintinnabular music is characterized by two types of voice, the first of which (dubbed the "tintinnabular voice") arpeggiates the tonic triad, which we will name T-voice. And the second of which moves diatonically in mostly stepwise motion. Which will be referenced as M-voice. (Hillier 1993)

 

 The works often have a slow and meditative tempo, and a minimalist approach to both notation and performance, which was one of the main elements that drew me to this music. Pärt's compositional approach has expanded somewhat in the years since 1970, but the overall effect remains largely the same, ever growing. 

 

I have divided Tintinnabuli into two chapters. The first one will be explaining the main principles and some simple building blocks, without many creative inputs. I believe it is essential to understand the fundamentals to proceed into more in depth concepts. The second chapter will be covering more advanced ideas that I have discovered through Arvo Pärt's music and how I adapted into my compositions.

 

The main components of his style, on a very fundamental level, has two elements. The M-voice(mode) and the T-voice (Tintinnabuli). I will be referring to them as M and T voices. 

 

In a simplified approach, the M voice derives from any standard mode. For the sake of these examples, I will be choosing A minor scale.  Starting from the degrees of the tonic triad, in this case the notes A-C-E can be selected as starting points. These are also referred toas modes Playing the same pattern combinations with different starting points creates different outputs which Part effectively used in his combinations, blurring the sense of tonality, not in the sense of atonality but obscuring the common roles traditional progressions. Mostly in stepwise motion and occasional jumps, any note belonging to the scale can be chosen as an auxiliary. Depending on the chosen tonality, there are also examples of altered notes within scales and even polymodal approaches, one voice following a different tonality/modality than the other. There are 4 ways of variations to approach the M voice (image 1).

 Another distinct quality of his music is an understanding of a contemporary tonality. The traditional harmonic function start acting in a non-functional way. The cadences or scale degrees lose their importance and act in a more natural environment. I have experimented with this approach in certain compositions that will be presented in the upcoming chapters, where the traditional functions of harmonies and scale degrees start fading away with the effect of overlapping notes, obscuring their traditional roles. I find this quality essential in this music where it helps with the eerie and floating quality of the music, enhancing the contemplative elements.  

  

Another common treats of approaching M-voice and T-voice is Part’s usage of permutation, multiplication and mirrored images. This is a great approach to create intricate output with a very limited material. For example, in his work Solfeggio, the entire procedure is dividing the C major scale into 4 acapella voices in an ascending form. To note make it as obvious as it sounds, every voice follows a different starting position in different octaves. This creates a very beautiful, everchanging and intertwined C major sonority, constantly expanding. A detailed analysis of this piece will be presented in its relative section.

  With T voice however, only the tonic triad must be used as a source of notes. In the case of A minor, A-C-E are available. There are 2 options available with T voices, superior or inferior. Superior refers to the T voices above the M voice and inferior refers to the voices below the T voice. T voice follows the melody, only limitation is that in close positions, it plays to closest note from the A minor triad and in open position it plays the second available note from the A minor triad. There are numerous combinations of the following T voices, the most common ones being; 


  1. Always Inferior 

  1. Always Superior 

  1. Alternating 

 

This creates a very distinctive sound that is now connected to Arvo Part. Two voices represent very specific ideas. For Part; 

 

“In one of our discussions about tintinnabuli, Pärt described to me his view that the M-voice always signifies the subjective world, the daily egoistic life of sin and suffering; the T-voice, meanwhile, is the objectiverealm offorgiveness. The M-voice may appear to wander, but is always held firmly by the T-voice. This can be likened to the eternal dualism of body and spirit, earth and heaven; but the two voices are in reality one voice, a twofold single entity. This can be neatly though enigmatically represented by the following equation: 

 

                                1 + 1 = 1. 

  Proposed by Mrs Pärt, and warmly endorsed by the composer. (Hillier 1997)

 

 

 

Very rarely, he uses the M-voice in a simplified manner like this. Often, there many variations and combinations of the main 4 versions. Alternating or gradually increasing and decreasing the phrases in the same direction, or alternating directions, are some of his melody building methods.

 

In some pieces, there are also doubling the melody in 3rds,6ths, and 10ths to create layers.

 

A very common method he uses is his symmetric approach to creating M-voices. 

 

These mentioned and many more are under Tintinnabuli II. Meditations Chapter

I - From, descending 

II - From, descending

III - Towards, ascending 

IV- Towards, descending  

These 4 approaches have been used in his works thoroughly to create unique melodic frameworks, symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns and lingering melodies. (image 1)

→

Tintinnabuli II. Meditations

The red notes represent T-voices in their respected positions. I have also added the possible alternating versions but alternating could be randomised or following a pattern as well. (image 2)

Alternative position applications. (image 3)