Arvo Pärt, Hardijs Lediņš and the Ritual Moment in Riga, October 1977

Abstract

Drawing on archival research and oral history, this article reconstructs events surrounding the premieres of Arvo Pärt’s first openly sacred tintinnabuli-style compositions, including his Missa syllabica, at the Festival of Contemporary Music held in Riga in October 1977. It highlights the work of the Latvian artist and architecture student Hardijs Lediņš (1955–2004), whose discotheque at the Riga Polytechnic Institute hosted the event. Tracing the reception of the festival and Pärt’s music by participants, notably the pianist Alexei Lubimov, the composer Vladimir Martynov, and the violinist Boriss Avramecs, the article suggests that an informal network of students and alternative artists played a crucial role in nurturing and supporting this most ideologically problematic corner of Pärt’s compositional activity of the period. For a little over a year, Lediņš’s disco provided an underground space for the presentation of experimental art and the experience of creative freedom. That experience, however, was short-lived, as festival organizers were charged with distributing religious propaganda shortly afterwards, and they were barred from engaging in future organizational work of the sort.