Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka

Instrumentation

Musical Terms (4)

• six variations German
  The Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka consists of six short variations on a simple rising and falling octave scale theme. The first three are in minor, the second three in major, reflecting a journey from illness toward recovery.
  Play the minor variations with gentle restraint and the major ones with slightly more brightness of touch, but never with undue sentimentality. The transition from minor to major should feel like a quiet turning toward the light.
• 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.