Sonic Ritual: Defending Theological Beauty in the Music of Arvo Pärt

Abstract

The theological groundedness of criticisms from MacMillan and Clarke prompts serious questions: is the beauty experienced when engaging with music of the Holy Minimalist tradition mere sentimentality? And what of the mass appeal to this music—does this speak to a larger cultural tendency towards sentimentalist ease? Through an examination of his musical attention to time and special consideration of ritual in relation to the Orthodox faith, this paper constructs a defense of theological beauty in the music of Arvo Pärt, responding to MacMillan’s critique by adjusting the criteria of what qualifies as the theologically beautiful in music.