Passio

Born near Tallinn in Estonia in 1935, Arvo Pärt emigrated in 1980 and settled in Berlin. Soon afteremigrating, Pärt completed the St John Passionwhich he based on his new- found tintinnabuli principle that “the melody and the accompaniment is one”. Settings of the Passion are part of a very early tradition in the Church, and in Pärt’s setting it is the text itself which determines the musical structure and even the duration of the silences between the words. Using the most concentrated of means, Pärt communicates the depth and powerof the ancient Passion story in a new and compelling way.