Arvo Pärt

The Deer's Cry (Pärt)

The Deer's Cry is a sacred motet by Arvo Pärt, set to text from a traditional Irish lorica for a four-part choir a cappella. He composed the piece on a commission from the Ireland's Louth

History#

The work was commissioned by the Louth Contemporary Music Society. and is often attributed to the saint. Pärt wrote his setting in modern English, beginning with “Christ with me”, composed for a four-part choir a cappella. It was published by Universal Edition in 2007, and was first performed by the State Choir Latvija, conducted by Fergus Sheil, in Drogheda on 13 February 2008. The Deer’s Cry is in a single movement and takes about five minutes to perform.

Text#

Pärt set an excerpt of the prayer, its conclusion, and repeated the first line of that section (“Christ with me”) in the end:

Music#

The music is in A minor, consisting of slow, marked crotchets at 72 per minute. The bars contain different even numbers of beats, from two, often used for general rests, to eight. The lower voices begin with divided altos and basses, which sing “Christ with me” four times in homophony with long rests in between. While they keep that pattern, the sopranos enter in the seventh bar to deliver the following text. From bar 17, the lower voices also take part in the text, singing “Christ in me”. They are often juxtaposed with the sopranos, such as with “arise” vs. “sit down”. A climax is reached in bar 33 when all the voices sing in homophony, and every one divided: “Christ in the heart …”. After the text is completed, followed by a general rest, all voices sing, similarly to the beginning: “Christ with me”, once softly, finally very soft and diminishing.

Performance and recording#

In 2016, the Sixteen choir named a program of music by William Byrd and Pärt The Deer’s Cry, which they performed in several venues A collection of choral music by Pärt by the Estonian vocal group Vox Clamantis, conducted by Jaan-Eik Tulve, was performed under the same name. In 2021, Chamber Choir Ireland and conductor Paul Hillier recorded a performance of The Deer’s Cry for President Michael D. Higgins at Ireland’s presidential residence Áras an Uachtaráin, for release on the President’s online channels.

Composer: Arvo Pärt