Anthem of St John the Baptist

The genesis of this composition is related to St. John’s College in Oxford who commissioned a new anthem for the college from Pärt. The previous anthem was composed in the 17th century by the outstanding English composer Orlando Gibbons, based on John 1: 19–23. For the new work, the commissioners selected another passage from John 1 as the text of the anthem, this time lines 29–34.

Arvo Pärt completed his work for mixed choir and organ in January 2004 and has later described it a kind of small chamber opera. “There is activity, something is going on, someone saw, came, said something… It is a narrative of events that took place two thousand years ago, not a theory or philosophy. In fact, it is not a long time at all, but it still seems as if on the other side of the mountains …

The genesis of this composition is related to St. John’s College in Oxford who commissioned a new anthem for the college from Pärt. The previous anthem was composed in the 17th century by the outstanding English composer Orlando Gibbons, based on John 1: 19–23. For the new work, the commissioners selected another passage from John 1 as the text of the anthem, this time lines 29–34.

Arvo Pärt completed his work for mixed choir and organ in January 2004 and has later described it a kind of small chamber opera. “There is activity, something is going on, someone saw, came, said something… It is a narrative of events that took place two thousand years ago, not a theory or philosophy. In fact, it is not a long time at all, but it still seems as if on the other side of the mountains – the mountains we lift up our eyes to.”

Pärt has created a varied and imaginative musical material that contains delicate sound references to the events of the gospel. For example, the music of the opening bars of the organ part, is marked by the composer with the keyword “desert music” in his sketchbook, building a bridge to Sarah Was Ninety Years Old from decades earlier. It also prepares the words of St. John as the voice crying in the wilderness. Another useful example are the words “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove…” sung by the choir that finds a reflection in the triad motifs of the organ in high register.

The first and last meeting of Jesus and John in in the earthly life is represented as a dualistic musical tension field where Pärt juxtaposes pure triadic harmonies with ascending and descending chromatic melody lines. Both the solemnly festive, as well as humble and inward-looking modes of expression are present in the composition.

The premieres took place on 18 March 2004 in the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, and during the evening service on 19 March in St. John’s College Chapel.