Salve Regina

Salve Regina (2002) was commissioned by the cathedral chapter of Essen (Germany) to celebrate the 75th birthday of bishop Dr. Hubert Luthe at the Essen Dome Church and the 1150th anniversary of the town of Essen. Salve Regina is written for choir and organ, the choir developing from unison up to 8-voice polyphony accompanied by a quiet instrumental pulse. As in most of Pärt's work, text plays a crucial role in determining the structure of the composition. Depending on the rhyme of the text, Pärt uses ¾ time signature. The work was premiered on May 21st in 2002 by the Girl's Choir, Boy's Choir and Dome Choir of the Essen Dome Church, and Jurgen Kursawa (organ).

When Enzo Restagno invited Pärt to participate at the MITO 2011 SettembreMusica…

Salve Regina (2002) was commissioned by the cathedral chapter of Essen (Germany) to celebrate the 75th birthday of bishop Dr. Hubert Luthe at the Essen Dome Church and the 1150th anniversary of the town of Essen. Salve Regina is written for choir and organ, the choir developing from unison up to 8-voice polyphony accompanied by a quiet instrumental pulse. As in most of Pärt's work, text plays a crucial role in determining the structure of the composition. Depending on the rhyme of the text, Pärt uses ¾ time signature. The work was premiered on May 21st in 2002 by the Girl's Choir, Boy's Choir and Dome Choir of the Essen Dome Church, and Jurgen Kursawa (organ).

When Enzo Restagno invited Pärt to participate at the MITO 2011 SettembreMusica festival that was celebrating the 150th anniversary of united Italy, Pärt decided to set Salve Regina for this occasion for choir and orchestra. In the new version the organ part is replaced with string orchestra and a celesta. The new version of the work was premiered on September 9th and 10th in 2011 in Torino and Milano with Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI Torino and the Torino Vocalensemble, with Tito Ceccherini conducting.

Arvo Pärt: „A commission from Essen Cathedral in 2001 provided an opportunity for me to write a work linking all four of the church’s choirs with organ accompaniment. One children’s choir, male choir, female choir and mixed choir  were placed in the galleries around the church; that spatial and sonic combination impressed me, inspired me and awoke in me the emotion of communal singing – precisely that which brings the spirits and souls of a congregation together.

Musically, Salve Regina could be comparable to a funnel – and, like a funnel, the work begins with large circles, slowly turning and becoming more and more concentrated and grave until it reaches the deepest point. The mighty sonic mass on the one hand and the very sparsely used “simple” musical material in constant 3/4 metre on the other finally condense in the coda, like in an undertow until they reach the point of greatest possible concentration.” (CD Adam’s Lament (ECM 2012) booklet)