' (Give peace, Lord) is a choral composition by

Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in pa ...

on the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

prayer for peace

Da pacem Domine (Give peace, Lord) is the incipit of two different Latin texts, a hymn and an introit. Both have been the base for compositions to be used in church liturgy, beginning with chant. Paraphrased versions of the hymn were created by Martin Luther in G ...

, first composed in 2004 for four voices. Different versions, also for and with string instruments, were published by

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-base ...

History

The work was commissioned by

Jordi Savall Jordi Savall i Bernadet (; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol family of ...

for a peace concert in Barcelona on 1 July 2004. Pärt began the composition two days after the

2004 Madrid train bombings The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11M) were a series of coordinated, nearly simultaneous bombings against the Cercanías Madrid, Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004—three days ...

, in memory of the victims. It was first recorded on 29 March 2005 by the

Hilliard Ensemble The Hilliard Ensemble was a British male vocal quartet originally devoted to the performance of early music. The group was named after the Elizabethan miniaturist painter Nicholas Hilliard. Founded in 1974, the group disbanded in 2014. Although ...

in St. Gerold, Austria. In Spain, it has been performed annually to commemorate the victims. The text is a 6th or 7th-century hymn based on biblical verses , and . ' is in one movement and takes about five minutes to perform. It was originally set for four voices. Pärt later wrote several versions, also for voices and string orchestra, and for instruments alone, string quartet or string orchestra. They were published by

. The first performance for the version for voices and

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first ...

was in Tallinn on 18 May 2007 at the Niguliste Church, with the

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) is a professional choir based in Estonia. It was founded in 1981 by Tõnu Kaljuste, who was its conductor for twenty years. In 2001, Paul Hillier followed Kaljuste's tenure, becoming the EPCC's princi ...

and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, conducted by

Tõnu Kaljuste Tõnu Kaljuste (born August 28, 1953) is an Estonian conductor. Born in Tallinn, Kaljuste is the son of Heino Kaljuste (1925–1989), an Estonian choral conductor, and Lia Kaljuste, a radio journalist. Tõnu sang in his father's choirs as a chil ...

. The music critic and writer David Vernier commented on the composer's subtle techniques of composition, forming the structure of the music from "elemental materials" such as "sonority, voicing, and rudimentary harmonies". Vernier noted "an almost complete subordination of rhythmic influence and the relegation of melody to a more or less implied presence". A review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' mentioned the composer's "temporal rootlessness" and continued:

Recordings

* ',

, 2005 * ',

Paul Hillier Paul Douglas Hillier OBE (born 9 February 1949) is an English conductor, music director and baritone. He specializes in both early and contemporary classical music, especially that by composers Steve Reich and Arvo Pärt. He was a co-foun ...

, 2006 * ', Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir,

, 2009

References

External links

Da pacem Domine
text and translations in the

Choral Public Domain Library The Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL) is a sheet music archive which focuses on choral and vocal music in the public domain or otherwise freely available for printing and performing (such as via permission from the copyright holder). It is a ...

between sound and space / Arvo Pärt: Lamentate (ECM New Series 1930)
ECM Records resource, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Da pacem Domine (Part) Compositions by Arvo Pärt 2004 compositions Choral compositions Contemporary classical compositions