Arvo Pärt

Da pacem, Domine

Arvo Pärt wrote the prayer of peace Da pacem Domine to fulfil a commission from Jordi Savall. He began to set this ninth-century Gregorian antiphon two days after the Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004 as his personal tribute to the victims. Since then Da pacem Domine has been performed every year in Spain to commemorate the victims of this terrorist attack. Even while originally composing this four-voice piece, Pärt made allowances for variable scorings. As a result, it exists in several versions, not only for voice but also entirely for instruments.
Wolfgang Sandner

Da pacem Domine
in diebus nostris
quia non est alius
qui pugnet pro nobis
nisi tu Deus noster.

Give peace, O Lord,
in our time
because there is no one else
who will fight for us
if not You, our God.