Da pacem Domine (Pärt)

The work was commissioned by Jordi Savall for a peace concert in Barcelona on 1 July 2004. Pärt began the composition two days after the 2004 Madrid train bombings, in memory of the victims. It was first recorded on 29 March 2005 by the Hilliard Ensemble 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 {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=2 Kings|chapter=20|verse=19}}, {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=2 Chronicles|chapter=20|verse=12|range=,15}} and {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Psalm|chapter=72|verse=6|range=-7}}. {{lang|la|Da pacem Domine}} 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 Universal Edition. The first performance for the version for voices and string orchestra was in Tallinn on 18 May 2007 at the Niguliste Church, with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste.

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 mentioned the composer's "temporal rootlessness" and continued: {{quote|On the surface these are slow-moving, meditative scores. “Da Pacem Domine” (2004), a prayer for peace, is cast in sustained tones with little harmonic growth and hardly any momentum, yet a listener is drawn inexorably into its hypnotic four-part unaccompanied vocal texture.}}

• {{lang|la|Arvo Pärt: Lamentate / Da Pacem Domine & Lamentate}}, Hilliard Ensemble, 2005{{citation | last1=Pärt | first1=Arvo | last2=Leonard | first2=Sarah | last3=Li︠u︡bimov | first3=Alekseĭ Borisovich | last4=Boreiko | first4=Andrei | author5=Hilliard Ensemble | author6=SWR Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart | title=Da pacem Domine ; Lamentate | publisher=ECM | publication-place=München | year=2005 | oclc=1083546357 | language=la | page=}}
• {{lang|la|Da pacem}}, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Paul Hillier, 2006{{citation | last1=Pärt | first1=Arvo | last2=Urb | first2=Kaia | last3=Kogerman | first3=Tiit | last4=Talvik | first4=Aarne | last5=Hillier | first5=Paul | last6=Bowers-Broadbent | first6=Christopher | author7=Eesti Filharmoonia Kammerkoor | title=Da pacem | publisher=Harmonia Mundi France ; Production USA | publication-place=[Arles, France], Burbank, CA | year=2006 | oclc=71780230 | language=la | page=}}
• {{lang|la|In principio}}, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tõnu Kaljuste, 2009{{citation | last1=Pärt | first1=Arvo | last2=Kaljuste | first2=Tõnu | author3=Eesti Filharmoonia Kammerkoor | author4=Tallinna Kammerorkester | author5=Eesti Riiklik Sümfooniaorkester | title=In principio La Sindone ; Cecilia, vergine romana ; Da pacem Domine ; Mein Weg ; Für Lennart in memoriam | publisher=ECM Records | publication-place=München | year=2009 | oclc=605395592 | language=la | page=}}

{{Reflist

| colwidth = 30em

| refs =

{{cite news

| last = Kozinn

| first = Allan

| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/arts/music/08kozi.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0

| title = Elusive Preaching, and a Beatle's Conservative Classicism

| newspaper = The New York Times

| date = 8 October 2006

| accessdate = 10 November 2014

}}

{{cite web

| last = Vernier

| first = David

| url = http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-13110/

| title = Elusive Preaching, and a Beatle's Conservative Classicism

| publisher = classicstoday.com

| date = 4 October 2006

| accessdate = 10 November 2014

}}

{{cite web

| url = http://www.hymnary.org/text/da_pacem_domine_in_diebus_nostris

| title = Da pacem Domine, in diebus nostris

| publisher = hymnary.org

| accessdate = 10 November 2014

}}

{{cite web

| url = http://www.universaledition.com/Arvo-Paert/composers-and-works/composer/534/work/11549

| title = Arvo Pärt / Da pacem Domine

| publisher = Universal Edition

| accessdate = 10 November 2014

| archive-date = 10 November 2014

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141110160450/http://www.universaledition.com/Arvo-Paert/composers-and-works/composer/534/work/11549

| url-status = dead

}}

{{cite web

| url = http://www.universaledition.com/Arvo-Paert/composers-and-works/composer/534/work/12829

| title = Arvo Pärt / Da pacem Domine

| publisher = Universal Edition

| accessdate = 10 November 2014

}}

{{cite book

| url =

| title = In principio

| publisher = EMI

| date = 2009

}}

{{cite web

| url = http://www.audivivocem.org/he/disc.php?did=ecmns1930

| title = Arvo Pärt: Lamentate

| publisher = audivivocem.org

| accessdate = 10 November 2014

}}

}}

• [http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Da_pacem,_Domine Da pacem Domine] text and translations in the Choral Public Domain Library
• [http://ecmreviews.com/tag/arvo-part/ between sound and space / Arvo Pärt: Lamentate (ECM New Series 1930)] ECM Records resource, 2014

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Category:Choral compositions by Arvo Pärt

Category:2004 compositions

Category:Contemporary classical compositions