Fratres, meaning “brothers” in Latin, is a composition by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt exemplifying his tintinnabuli style of composition. It is three-part music, written in 1977, without fixed instrumentation — a “mesmerising set of variations on a six-bar theme combining frantic activity and sublime stillness that encapsulates Pärt’s observation that ‘the instant and eternity are struggling within us’.”
Structure and versions
Structurally, Fratres consists of a set of eight or nine chord sequences separated by a recurring percussion motif. The sequences themselves follow a pattern, and while the progressing chords explore a rich harmonic space, they appear to have been generated by means of a simple formula. Authorized versions of Fratres are as follows:
Three-part music with solo variations: 1980 for violin and piano
Three-part music with solo variations: 1989 for cello and piano
Three-part music with solo variations: 1992 for violin, strings and percussion
Three-part music with solo variations: 1993 for trombone, strings and percussion
Three-part music with solo variations: 1995 for cello, strings and percussion
Three-part music: 1982 for 4, 8, 12 cellos
Three-part music: 1983, rev. 1991, for strings and percussion
Three-part music: 1985, rev. 1989, for string quartet
Three-part music: 1990 for wind octet and percussion
Three-part music with solo variations: 2000 for guitar, strings and percussion
Three-part music with solo variations: 2002 for saxophone quartet
Three-part music with solo variations: 2003 for viola and piano
Three-part music with solo variations: 2006 for 4 percussion players
Three-part music with solo variations: 2008 for viola, strings and percussion
Three-part music: 2004 for wind band
Three-part music: 2007 for chamber ensemble
Three-part music: 2009 for 3 recorders, percussion and cello (or viola da gamba)
Among these, the most prominent are: for strings and percussion (1983/1991); for string quartet (1985/1989); and, especially, for violin and piano (1980). The versions for viola and piano (2003) and cello and piano (1989) are almost exactly the same as that for violin and piano, whereas the version for string quartet is close to the version for cellos (1982).
1987 film Rachel River
1997 German film Winter Sleepers
2005 six-part BBC documentary Auschwitz: The Nazis and the ‘Final Solution’ produced by Laurence Rees, used the composition performed in 1997 by the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, conducted by Tamás Benedek
2006 film La Morte Rouge directed by Victor Erice
2007 film There Will Be Blood directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
2013 film To the Wonder directed by Terrence Malick
2013 film The Place Beyond the Pines directed by Derek Cianfrance
2013 teaser trailer for the film A Single Shot, starring Sam Rockwell
2013 film Violette directed by Martin Provost
2015 film Le Club directed by Pablo Larraín
Jazz pianist Aaron Parks incorporated elements of Fratres into his composition "Harvesting Dance," heard on his album Invisible Cinema and on Terence Blanchard's album Flow.
