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Works

Summa

2011

Scored for

2 guitars

Duration

5–6 min

Short description

Summa is one of these tintinnabuli-works Pärt has composed in several versions. Initially created in 1977 for voices a cappella, the composition has later been scored for both vocal and instrumental ensembles. Due to the atheist cultural politics of the Soviet time, the title of the piece hides a coded message, in fact Summa is based on the text of the Latin Credo.

“I have developed a highly formalised compositional system, which I have been using to write my music for twenty years. Summa is the most strict and enigmatic work in this series,” Arvo Pärt said in 1994.

The seeming simplicity of the work masks its utmost complexity whereby the circular structure of the voices conveys a symbolic meaning.

Completion year

2011

Original version

1977

Scored for

2 guitars

Arranger

Hermann Conen

Duration

5–6 min

Publishers

Universal Edition

Source text

The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed as used in the Ordinary of the Mass

Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem coeli et terrae,
visibilium onmium et invisibilium.

Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum,
Filium Dei unigenitum.
Et ex Patre natum ante onmia saecula.

Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
Deum verum de Deo vero.
Genitum, non factum,
consubstantialem Patri:
per quem omnia facta sunt.

Qui propter nos homines,
et propter nostram salutem
descendit de coelis.
Et incarnatus est de
Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine:
Et homo factus est.

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis;
sub Pontio Pilato passus,
et sepultus est.
Et resurrexit tertia die,
secundum Scripturas.
Et ascendit in coelum:
sedet ad dexteram Patris.
Et iterum venturus est com gloria
judicare vivos et mortuos…
The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed as used in the Ordinary of the Mass

Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem coeli et terrae,
visibilium onmium et invisibilium.

Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum,
Filium Dei unigenitum.
Et ex Patre natum ante onmia saecula.

Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
Deum verum de Deo vero.
Genitum, non factum,
consubstantialem Patri:
per quem omnia facta sunt.

Qui propter nos homines,
et propter nostram salutem
descendit de coelis.
Et incarnatus est de
Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine:
Et homo factus est.

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis;
sub Pontio Pilato passus,
et sepultus est.
Et resurrexit tertia die,
secundum Scripturas.
Et ascendit in coelum:
sedet ad dexteram Patris.
Et iterum venturus est com gloria
judicare vivos et mortuos
cujus regni non erit finis.

Et in Spiritum Sanctum,
Dominum et vivificantem:
qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.
Qui cum Patre,
et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur:
qui locutus est per Prophetas.

Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et
apostolicam Ecclesiam.
Confiteor unum baptisma
in remissionem peccatorum.
Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum.
Et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.



I believe in one God, The Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ the
Only-begotten Son of God.
Born of the Father before all ages.

God of God, Light of Light,
true God of True God.
Begotten, not made,
of one substance with the Father.
By whom all things were made.

Who for us men
and for our salvation came
down from heaven.
And became incarnate by the
Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary:
And was made man.

He was also crucified for us,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
and was buried.
And on the third day He rose again
according to the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and
sits at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead and
His kingdom wil have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord and Giver of life,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Who together with the Father
and the Son is adored and glorified,
and who spoke through the prophets.

And one holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins
and I await the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
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