Sonatina No. 2

Instrumentation

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Musical Terms (3)

• melodic voice Latin
  In Pärt's tintinnabuli style, the M-voice is the stepwise melodic line that moves through the notes of a given scale, often expanding and contracting symmetrically around a central pitch.
  Follow the melodic line with a singing, connected tone. Each stepwise ascent or descent should feel inevitable, as if the melody is growing organically from silence.
• tintinnabuli Latin
  Pärt's self-invented compositional technique first used in 1976, named after the Latin word for 'little bells'. Each passage consists of two voices: a melodic (M-voice) moving stepwise and a tintinnabuli (T-voice) restricted to the notes of a tonic triad. The two voices move together as an inseparable whole.
  Allow the long sustained resonances of the piano to ring fully. Avoid rushing — the silence between notes is as important as the notes themselves. The pedal is essential to let overtones accumulate.
• tintinnabuli voice Latin
  In Pärt's tintinnabuli style, the T-voice is the accompanying voice restricted exclusively to the notes of the tonic triad. It shadows the M-voice by always sounding the nearest triad tone below (or above, depending on the work).
  The T-voice should never dominate. Balance it slightly softer than the M-voice so the tonal pillar is felt rather than heard. Its bell-like resonance should seem to emerge from the instrument's overtones.