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Arvo Pärt's "Berliner Messe": An Approach To Understanding And Instructing Serial Techniques In A Minimalist Framework, Jesse Miller

Masters Theses

The music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is something of a phenomenon. Pärt’s music has made a profound connection with audiences, granting Pärt immense popularity and making him the most performed living composer in the world.1 Equally a phenomenon is his own unique tintinnabuli technique that lies at the heart of Pärt’s music and draws as much upon serialism as it does Gregorian chant. While much has been written on Pärt and his original tintinnabuli technique, this qualitative case study focuses on a major work ostensibly overlooked in scholarship, Arvo Pärt’s “Berliner Messe.” The study focuses on the serial aspects …