Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

One of the great themes of philosophy and theology alike is that of the relationship between unity and diversity. Believe it or not, it’s also a thematic undercurrent in music.

That sounds heady — and to be fair, it is a subtle topic — but it’s also practical. For instance, a piece of music can communicate an experience of unity through elements that remain consistent, while unique or differentiated sounds draw one’s attention away to a specific place.

Arvo Pärt’s music sometimes manages to emphasize both aspects at the same time. Take his anthem I am the true vine, based on the text of today’s Gospel lesson, John 15:1-14. Pärt organizes the musical materials in a set of mathematically precise repetitions, so that the music moves in a predictable path, and the ear recognizes familiar landmarks in the flow of the music. The unified text also continues to unfold in a linear fashion.

On the other hand, Pärt shares the text between voices. Thus the words move from the lower voices to the altos and sopranos, only to undulate back downwards. The result is that the music feels like it grows and moves like the roots and tendrils of the vine in the reading.

The result is a sense of a unified tradition being received by individuals, accepted, amplified uniquely, and handed on, unchanged. It is in fact a graceful experience — not really just an abstracted picture — of a living tradition that holds people together, while allowing them to be all that they were created to be.

Pärt follows a similar procedure in his Summa, which follows the text of the Nicene Creed, also to startling effect, whether incorporating sung text, or instruments alone.

The result, in my ears, is a distinct sense of being ‘heard’ as an individual, while also feeling that the content of my contemplation transcends me, putting me ‘into place’ in the greater scheme.

This music seems to me a particularly beautiful articulation of this truth.

Yours in Christ,
Justin