Text: Miserere

The period around 1980 marked a turning point in Pärt's oeuvre. From then on, he would mainly focus on religiously inspired and vocal works, often based on biblical texts. For his 1989 Miserere, he combined two: verses from Psalm 50 on the one hand, in which King David begs for forgiveness after being accused of adultery and murder, and the text of Judgement Day (Dies Irae) from the Requiem on the other. In the coda, both perspectives merge into one silent prayer.