Olivier Messiaen

guards. He was appointed professor of harmony soon after his release in 1941, and professor of composition in
1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions he held until
his retirement in 1978. His many distinguished pupils
included Quincy Jones, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Yvonne Loriod, who became his second wife.
He found birdsong fascinating, notating bird songs worldwide and incorporating birdsong transcriptions into his
music. His innovative use of colour, his conception of the
relationship between time and music, and his use of birdsong are among the features that make Messiaens music
distinctive.
Olivier Messiaen in 1946

1 Biography

Olivier Messiaen (French: [livje msj ]; December 10,

1908 April 27, 1992) was a French composer, organist, 1.1
and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th
century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically and melodically it often uses modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions
and improvisations. Messiaen also drew on his Roman
Catholic faith for his pieces.

Youth and studies

He travelled widely and wrote works inspired by diverse

inuences such as Japanese music, the landscape of Bryce
Canyon in Utah and the life of St. Francis of Assisi. He
said he perceived colours when he heard certain musical
chords (a phenomenon known as synaesthesia in its literal
manifestation); combinations of these colours, he said,
were important in his compositional process. For a short
period Messiaen experimented with the parametrisation
associated with total serialism", in which eld he is often cited as an innovator. His style absorbed many exotic musical inuences such as Indonesian gamelan (tuned
percussion often features prominently in his orchestral
works).
Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of
11 and was taught by Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel,
Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupr, among others.
He was appointed organist at the glise de la SainteTrinit in Paris in 1931, a post held until his death. He
taught at the Schola Cantorum de Paris during the 1930s.
On the fall of France in 1940, Messiaen was made a prisoner of war, during which time he composed his Quatuor
pour la n du temps (Quartet for the end of time) for
the four available instrumentspiano, violin, cello and
clarinet. The piece was rst performed by Messiaen and
fellow prisoners for an audience of inmates and prison Messiaen with his mother and father in 1910
1

2
Olivier Eugne Prosper Charles Messiaen was born December 10, 1908 in Avignon, France, into a literary family.[1] He was the elder of two sons of Ccile
Sauvage, a poet, and Pierre Messiaen, a teacher of English who translated the plays of William Shakespeare
into French.[2] Messiaens mother published a sequence
of poems, L'me en bourgeon (The Budding Soul), the
last chapter of Tandis que la terre tourne (As the Earth
Turns), which address her unborn son. Messiaen later
said this sequence of poems inuenced him deeply and
he cited it as prophetic of his future artistic career.[3]

1 BIOGRAPHY
autumn 1927 he entered the class of the newly appointed
Paul Dukas. Messiaens mother died of tuberculosis
shortly before the class began.[12] Despite his grief, he resumed his studies, and in 1930 Messiaen won rst prize
in composition.[10]

While a student he composed his rst published works

his eight Prludes for piano (the earlier Le banquet
cleste was published subsequently). These exhibit
Messiaens use of his modes of limited transposition
and palindromic rhythms (Messiaen called these nonretrogradable rhythms). His public dbut came in 1931
At the outbreak of World War I, Pierre Messiaen enlisted with his orchestral suite Les orandes oublies. That year
and Ccile took their two boys to live with her brother he rst heard a gamelan group, sparking his interest in the
in Grenoble. There Messiaen became fascinated with use of tuned percussion.[13]
drama, reciting Shakespeare to his brother with the help
of a home-made toy theatre with translucent backdrops
made from old cellophane wrappers.[4] At this time he 1.2 La Trinit, La jeune France, and Mesalso adopted the Roman Catholic faith. Later, Messiaen
siaens war
felt most at home in the Alps of the Dauphin, where he
had a house built south of Grenoble where he composed
most of his music.[5]
He took piano lessons having already taught himself to
play. His interest included the recent music of French
composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and he
asked for opera vocal scores for Christmas presents.[6]
Around this time he began to compose. In 1918 his father
returned from the war and the family moved to Nantes.
He continued music lessons; one of his teachers, Jehan
de Gibon, gave him a score of Debussys opera Pellas et
Mlisande, which Messiaen described as a thunderbolt
and probably the most decisive inuence on me.[7] The
following year Pierre Messiaen gained a teaching post in
Paris. Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1919,
aged 11.[8]

Paul Dukas's composition class at the Paris Conservatoire, 1929.

Messiaen sits at the far right; Dukas stands at the centre

At the Conservatoire, Messiaen made excellent academic

progress. In 1924, aged 15, he was awarded second prize
in harmony, having been taught in that subject by professor Jean Gallon. In 1925 he won rst prize in piano accompaniment, and in 1926 he gained rst prize
in fugue. After studying with Maurice Emmanuel, he
was awarded second prize for the history of music in
1928.[9] Emmanuels example engendered an interest in
ancient Greek rhythms and exotic modes.[10] After showing improvisation skills on the piano Messiaen studied
organ with Marcel Dupr.[11] Messiaen gained rst prize
in organ playing and improvisation in 1929.[10] After a
year studying composition with Charles-Marie Widor, in

glise de la Sainte-Trinit, Paris, where Messiaen was titular organist for 61 years

In the autumn of 1927, Messiaen joined Dupr's organ course. Dupr later wrote that Messiaen, having
never seen an organ console, sat quietly for an hour while
Dupr explained and demonstrated the instrument, and
then came back a week later to play Johann Sebastian
Bach's Fantasia in C minor to an impressive standard.[14]
From 1929, Messiaen regularly deputised at the glise
de la Sainte-Trinit, Paris, for the organist Charles Quef,
who was ill at the time. The post became vacant in

1.3

Tristan and serialism

1931 when Quef died, and Dupr, Charles Tournemire

and Widor among others supported Messiaens candidacy. His formal application included a letter of recommendation from Widor. The appointment was conrmed
in 1931,[15] and he remained the organist at the church
for more than sixty years.[16] He also assumed a post at
the Schola Cantorum de Paris in the early 1930s.[17] In
1932, he composed the Apparition de l'eglise eternelle for
organ.

3
light-and-water shows on the Seine during the Paris Exposition, in 1937 Messiaen demonstrated his interest in using the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument, by composing Ftes des belles eaux for an ensemble of six.[22] He
included a part for the instrument in several of his subsequent compositions.[23] During this period he composed
several multi-movement organ works. He arranged his
orchestral suite L'ascension (The Ascension) for organ,
replacing the orchestral versions third movement with an
entirely new movement, Transports de joie d'une me devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne (Ecstasies of a
soul before the glory of Christ which is the souls own)
( listen ).[24] He also wrote the extensive cycles La Nativit du Seigneur (The Nativity of the Lord) and Les
corps glorieux (The glorious bodies).[25]
At the outbreak of World War II, Messiaen was drafted
into the French army. Due to poor eyesight, he was
enlisted as a medical auxiliary rather than an active
combatant.[26] He was captured at Verdun and taken to
Grlitz in May 1940, and was imprisoned at Stalag VIIIA. He met a violinist, a cellist and a clarinettist among his
fellow prisoners. He wrote a trio for them, which he gradually incorporated into his Quatuor pour la n du temps
(Quartet for the End of Time). The Quartet was rst
performed in January 1941 to an audience of prisoners
and prison guards, with the composer playing a poorly
maintained upright piano in freezing conditions.[27] Thus
the enforced introspection and reection of camp life
bore fruit in one of 20th-century European classical musics acknowledged masterpieces. The titles end of
time alludes to the Apocalypse, and also to the way in
which Messiaen, through rhythm and harmony, used time
in a manner completely dierent from his predecessors
and contemporaries.[28]

Messiaen in 1930

He married the violinist and composer Claire Delbos also

in 1932. Their marriage inspired him to both compose
works for her to play (Thme et variations for violin and
piano in the year they were married) and to write pieces
to celebrate their domestic happiness, including the song
cycle Pomes pour Mi in 1936, which he orchestrated in
1937. Mi was Messiaens aectionate nickname for his
wife.[18] In 1937 their son Pascal was born.[19] The marriage turned to tragedy when Delbos lost her memory after an operation and spent the rest of her life in mental
institutions.[20]
In 1936, along with Andr Jolivet, Daniel-Lesur and Yves
Baudrier, Messiaen formed the group La jeune France
(Young France). Their manifesto implicitly attacked
the frivolity predominant in contemporary Parisian music
and rejected Jean Cocteau's 1918 Le coq et l'arlequin in
favour of a living music, having the impetus of sincerity,
generosity and artistic conscientiousness.[21] Messiaens
career soon departed from this polemical phase.

1.3

Tristan and serialism

See also: List of students of Olivier Messiaen

Shortly after his release from Grlitz in May 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris
Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in
1978.[29] He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical (Technique of my musical language) published
in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his
music, particularly the Quartet.[30] Although only in his
mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding
teacher.[31] Among his early students were the composers
Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr
in 195657, Tristan Murail in 196772 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s.[32] The Greek composer
Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen
urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in
mathematics and architecture in his music.[33]

In response to a commission for a piece to accompany In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen (Visions of

1 BIOGRAPHY

the Amen) for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jsus
(Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus) for her.[34] Again
for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la prsence
divine (Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence)
for female chorus and orchestra which includes a dicult solo piano part.[35]
Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed
the song cycle Harawi, the rst of three works inspired
by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these
works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the
result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length
of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the
ten-movement Turangalla-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation
on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan
und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love
is a divine gift.[26] The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied
singers, described by Messiaen as inuenced by the alba
of the troubadours.[36] Messiaen visited the United States
in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky
and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalla-Symphonie was
rst performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard
Bernstein.[37]
Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest.[38] In 1949 he taught
at Tanglewood.[39] Beginning in summer 1949 he taught
in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt.[40]
While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after
three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented
with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the
chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations
was the Mode de valeurs et d'intensits for piano (from
the Quatre tudes de rythme)[41] which has been misleadingly described as the rst work of total serialism. It had a
large inuence on the earliest European serial composers
including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen.[42]
During this period he also experimented with musique
concrte, music for recorded sounds.[43]

1.4

Birdsong and the 1960s

When in 1952 Messiaen was asked to provide a test piece

for autists wishing to enter the Paris Conservatoire, he
composed the piece Le merle noir for ute and piano.
While he had long been fascinated by birdsong, and birds
had made appearances in several of his earlier works (for
example La Nativit, Quatuor and Vingt regards), the ute
piece was based entirely on the song of the blackbird.[44]

He took this development to a new level with his 1953

orchestral work Rveil des oiseauxits material consists almost entirely of the birdsong one might hear between midnight and noon in the Jura.[45] From this period onwards, Messiaen incorporated birdsong into all of
his compositions and composed several works for which
birds provide both the title and subject matter (for example the collection of thirteen pieces for piano Catalogue
d'oiseaux completed in 1958, and La fauvette des jardins
of 1971).[46] Paul Griths observed that Messiaen was a
more conscientious ornithologist than any previous composer, and a more musical observer of birdsong than any
previous ornithologist.[47]

The garden warbler provided the title and much of the material
for Messiaens La fauvette des jardins.

Messiaens rst wife died in 1959 after a long illness, and

in 1961 he married Loriod.[48] He began to travel widely,
to attend musical events and to seek out and transcribe the
songs of more exotic birds in the wild. Loriod frequently
assisted her husbands detailed studies of birdsong while
walking with him, by making tape recordings for later
reference.[49] In 1962 he visited Japan, where Gagaku
music and Noh theatre inspired the orchestral Japanese
sketches, Sept haka, which contain stylised imitations
of traditional Japanese instruments.[50]
Messiaens music was by this time championed by,
among others, Pierre Boulez, who programmed rst
performances at his Domaine musical concerts and the
Donaueschingen festival.[51] Works performed included
Rveil des oiseaux, Chronochromie (commissioned for the
1960 festival) and Couleurs de la cit cleste. The latter piece was the result of a commission for a composition for three trombones and three xylophones; Messiaen added to this more brass, wind, percussion and piano, and specied a xylophone, xylorimba and marimba
rather than three xylophones.[52] Another work of this
period, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, was commissioned as a commemoration of the dead of the two
World Wars and was performed rst semi-privately in the

5
Sainte-Chapelle, then publicly in Chartres Cathedral with of a seventeen-CD collection of Messiaens music includCharles de Gaulle in the audience.[53]
ing a disc of the composer in conversation with Claude
[66]
His reputation as a composer continued to grow and in Samuel.
1959, he was nominated as an Ocier of the Lgion
d'honneur.[54] In 1966 he was ocially appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire, although he
had in eect been teaching composition for years.[55] Further honours included election to the Institut de France
in 1967 and the Acadmie des beaux-arts in 1968, the
Erasmus Prize in 1971, the award of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal and the Ernst von Siemens
Music Prize in 1975, the Sonning Award (Denmarks
highest musical honour) in 1977, the Wolf Prize in Arts
in 1982, and the presentation of the Croix de Commander
of the Belgian Order of the Crown in 1980.[56]

Although in considerable pain near the end of his life (requiring repeated surgery on his back)[67] he was able to
full a commission from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, clairs sur l'au-del..., which was premired six
months after his death. He died in Paris on April 27,
1992.[68]

celebration of his 70th birthday in 1978,[64] but in 1988

tributes for Messiaens 80th included a complete performance in Londons Royal Festival Hall of St. Franois,
which the composer attended,[65] and Erato's publication

As well as discovering new techniques, Messiaen found

and absorbed exotic music, including Ancient Greek
rhythms,[10] Hindu rhythms (he encountered rgadevas list of 120 rhythmic units, the de-tlas),[76]

On going through his papers, Loriod discovered that, in

the last months of his life, he had been composing a
concerto for four musicians he felt particularly grateful
to, namely herself, the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the
oboist Heinz Holliger and the autist Catherine Cantin
(hence the title Concert quatre). Four of the ve intended movements were substantially complete; Yvonne
Loriod undertook the orchestration of the second half of
1.5 Transguration, Canyons, St. Francis, the rst movement and of the whole of the fourth with
and the Beyond
advice from George Benjamin. It was premiered by the
dedicatees in September 1994.[69]
Messiaens next work was the large-scale La Transguration de Notre Seigneur Jsus-Christ. The composition occupied him from 1965 to 1969 and the mu- 2 Music
sicians employed include a 100-voice ten-part choir,
seven solo instruments and large orchestra. Its fourteen movements are a meditation on the story of Christs Messiaens music has been described as outside the westout of that traTransguration.[57] Shortly after its completion, Messi- ern musical tradition, although growing
[70]
dition
and
being
inuenced
by
it.
Much
of his outaen received a commission from Alice Tully for a work to
put
denies
the
western
conventions
of
forward
motion,
celebrate the U.S. bicentennial. He arranged a visit to the
development
and
diatonic
harmonic
resolution.
This is
US in spring 1972, and was inspired by Bryce Canyon in
partly
due
to
the
symmetries
of
his
techniquefor
inUtah, where he observed the canyons distinctive colours
stance
the
modes
of
limited
transposition
do
not
ad[58]
and birdsong.
The twelve-movement orchestral piece
conventional cadences found in western classical
Des canyons aux toiles... was the result, rst performed mit the[71]
music.
[59]
in 1974 in New York.
In 1971, he was asked to compose a piece for the His youthful love for the fairy-tale element in Shakepregured his later expressions of Catholic
Paris Opra. While reluctant to undertake such a major speare [72]
liturgy.
Messiaen was not interested in depicting asproject, he was persuaded in 1975 to accept the commispects
of
theology
such as sin;[73] rather he concentrated
sion and began work on his Saint-Franois d'Assise. The
on the theology of joy, divine love and redemption.[74]
composition was intensive (he also wrote his own libretto)
and occupied him from 1975 to 1979; the orchestration Messiaen continually evolved new composition techwas carried out from 1979 until 1983.[60] Messiaen pre- niques, always integrating them into his existing musiferred to describe the nal work as a spectacle rather cal style; his nal works still retain the use of modes
than an opera. It was rst performed in 1983. Some com- of limited transposition.[71] For many commentators this
mentators at the time thought that the opera would be his continual development made every major work from the
valediction (at times Messiaen himself believed so),[61] Quatuor onwards a conscious summation of all that Mesbut he continued to compose. In 1984 he published a ma- siaen had composed up to that time. However, very few
jor collection of organ pieces, Livre du Saint Sacrement; of these major works lack new technical ideassimple
other works include birdsong pieces for solo piano, and examples being the introduction of communicable lanworks for piano with orchestra.[62]
guage in Meditations, the invention of a new percussion
In the summer of 1978, Messiaen retired from teach- instrument (the geophone) for Des canyons aux etoiles...,
ing at the Conservatoire. He was promoted to the high- and the freedom from any synchronisation with the main
in certain birdsong episodes of
est rank of the Lgion d'honneur, the Grand-Croix, in pulse of individual parts
[75]
St.
Franois
d'Assise.
[63]
1987. An operation prevented his participation in the

2 MUSIC

2.1 Western artistic inuences

Developments in modern French music were a major inuence on Messiaen, particularly the music of Claude Debussy and his use of the whole-tone scale (which Messiaen called Mode 1 in his modes of limited transposition). Messiaen very rarely used the whole-tone scale
in his compositions because, he said, after Debussy and
Dukas there was nothing to add,[80] but the modes he
did use are all similarly symmetrical.
Messiaen had a great admiration for the music of Igor
Stravinsky, particularly the use of rhythm in earlier works
such as The Rite of Spring, and his use of colour. He was
further inuenced by the orchestral brilliance of Heitor
Villa-Lobos, who lived in Paris in the 1920s and gave
acclaimed concerts there. Among composers for the
keyboard, Messiaen singled out Jean-Philippe Rameau,
Domenico Scarlatti, Frdric Chopin, Debussy and Isaac
Albniz.[79] He loved the music of Modest Mussorgsky
and incorporated varied modications of what he called
the M-shaped melodic motif from Mussorgskys Boris
Godunov,[80] although he modied the nal interval in
this motif from a perfect fourth to a tritone (Example
3).[81]
Messiaen was further inuenced by Surrealism, as may
Example 1. A page from Oiseaux exotiques. It illustrates be seen from the titles of some of the piano Prludes (Un
Messiaens use of ancient and exotic rhythms (in the percussion reet dans le vent..., A reection in the wind)[82] and in
near the bottom of the score "Asclepiad" and "Sapphic" are an- some of the imagery of his poetry (he published poems
cient Greek rhythms, and Nibankalla is a dec-tla from r- as prefaces to certain works, for example Les orandes
gadeva). It also illustrates Messiaens precision in notating bird- oublies).[83]
song: the birds identied here are the white-crested laughing
thrush (garralaxe huppe blanche) in the brass and wind instruments, and the orchard oriole (troupiale des vergers) played
on the xylophone.

Balinese and Javanese Gamelan, birdsong, and Japanese

music (see Example 1 for an instance of his use of ancient
Greek and Hindu rhythms).[77]
While he was instrumental in the academic exploration of
his techniques (he compiled two treatises: the later one in
ve volumes was substantially complete when he died and
was published posthumously), and was himself a master of music analysis, he considered the development and
study of techniques to be a means to intellectual, aesthetic
and emotional ends. Thus Messiaen maintained that a
musical composition must be measured against three separate criteria: it must be interesting, beautiful to listen to,
and it must touch the listener.[78]
Messiaen wrote a large body of music for the piano. Although a considerable pianist himself, he was undoubtedly assisted by Yvonne Loriods formidable piano technique and ability to convey complex rhythms and rhythmic combinations; in his piano writing from Visions de
l'Amen onwards he had her in mind. Messiaen said, I am
able to allow myself the greatest eccentricities because to
her anything is possible.[79]

2.2 Colour
Colour lies at the heart of Messiaens music. He believed that terms such as "tonal", "modal" and "serial"
are misleading analytical conveniences.[84] For him there
were no modal, tonal or serial compositions, only music with or without colour.[85] He said that Claudio Monteverdi, Mozart, Chopin, Richard Wagner, Mussorgsky
and Stravinsky all wrote strongly coloured music.[86]
In certain of Messiaens scores, he notated the colours
in the music (notably in Couleurs de la cit cleste and
Des canyons aux toiles...)the purpose being to aid the
conductor in interpretation rather than to specify which
colours the listener should experience. The importance
of colour is linked to Messiaens synaesthesia, which he
said caused him to experience colours when he heard
or imagined music (he said that he did not perceive the
colours visually). In his multi-volume music theory treatise Trait de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie (Treatise of Rhythm, Colour and Birdsong), Messiaen wrote
descriptions of the colours of certain chords. His descriptions range from the simple (gold and brown) to
the highly detailed (blue-violet rocks, speckled with little
grey cubes, cobalt blue, deep Prussian blue, highlighted
by a bit of violet-purple, gold, red, ruby, and stars of

2.4

Time and rhythm

mauve, black and white. Blue-violet is dominant).[87]

mits precisely the dominant seventh chords whose tonic

[92]
When asked what Messiaens main inuence had been on the mode does not contain.
composers, George Benjamin said, I think the sheer ...
colour has been so inuential, ... rather than being a dec2.4 Time and rhythm
orative element, [Messiaen showed that colour] could be
a structural, a fundamental element, ... the fundamental
material of the music itself.[88]

2.3

Symmetry

Many of Messiaens composition techniques made use of

symmetries of time and pitch.[89]

2.3.1

Time

Example 2. The rst bar of the piano Prlude, Instants dfunts.

An early example of Messiaens use of palindromic rhythms
(which he called non-retrogradable rhythms).

From his earliest works, Messiaen used nonretrogradable (palindromic) rhythms (Example 2).
He sometimes combined rhythms with harmonic sequences in such a way that if the process were allowed
to proceed indenitely the music would eventually run
through all the possible permutations and return to its
starting point. For Messiaen, this represented the charm
of impossibilities of these processes. He only ever
presented a portion of any such process, as if allowing
the informed listener a glimpse of something eternal. In
the rst movement of Quatuor pour la n du temps the
piano and cello together provide an early example.[90]

2.3.2

Pitch

Messiaen used modes which he called modes of limited transposition.[71] They are distinguished as groups of
notes which can only be transposed by a semitone a limited number of times. For example, the whole-tone scale
(Messiaens Mode 1) only exists in two transpositions:
namely CDEFGA and DEFGAB. Messiaen abstracted these modes from the harmony of his
improvisations and early works.[91] Music written using
the modes avoids conventional diatonic harmonic progressions, since for example Messiaens Mode 2 (identical
to the octatonic scale used also by other composers) per-

Example 3. An excerpt from Danse de la fureur, pour les sept

trompettes from the Quatuor pour la n du temps. It illustrates
Messiaens use of additive rhythmsin this example the addition
of unpaired semiquavers (sixteenth notes) to an underlying quaver (eighth note) pulse and the lengthening of the nal quaver by
addition of a dot. It illustrates the use of what Messiaen called
the Boris M-shaped motif (the last ve notes of the excerpt).

As well as making use of non-retrogradable rhythm and

the Hindu dec-tlas, Messiaen also composed with additive rhythms. This involves lengthening individual
notes slightly or interpolating a short note into an otherwise regular rhythm (see Example 3), or shortening
or lengthening every note of a rhythm by the same duration (adding a semiquaver to every note in a rhythm
on its repeat, for example).[93] This led Messiaen to use
rhythmic cells that irregularly alternate between two and
three units, a process which also occurs in Stravinskys
The Rite of Spring, which Messiaen admired.[94]
A factor that contributes to Messiaens suspension of the
conventional perception of time in his music is the extremely slow tempos he often species (the fth movement Louange l'eternit de Jsus of Quatuor is actually
given the tempo marking inniment lent).[95] Messiaen
also used the concept of chromatic durations, for example in his Soixante-quatre dures from Livre d'orgue
( listen ), which is built from, in Messiaens words,
64 chromatic durations from 1 to 64 demisemiquavers
[thirty-second notes]invested in groups of 4, from the
ends to the centre, forwards and backwards alternately
treated as a retrograde canon. The whole peopled with
birdsong.[96]

2.5 Harmony
In addition to making harmonic use of the modes of limited transposition, he cited the harmonic series as a physical phenomenon which provides chords with a context
which he felt to be missing in purely serial music.[97] An
example of Messiaens harmonic use of this phenomenon,
which he called resonance, is the last two bars of his
rst piano Prlude, La colombe (The dove): the chord is
built from harmonics of the fundamental base note E.[98]
Related to this use of resonance, Messiaen also composed
music in which the lowest, or fundamental, note is combined with higher notes or chords played much more quietly. These higher notes, far from being perceived as conventional harmony, function as harmonics that alter the

3 WORKS

2.7 Serialism
For some compositions, Messiaen created scales for duration, attack and timbre analogous to the chromatic pitch
scale. He expressed annoyance at the historical importance given to one of these works, Mode de valeurs et
d'intensits, by musicologists intent on crediting him with
the invention of total serialism.[78]

Example 4. The song of the golden oriole from Le loriot, part

of Catalogue d'oiseaux. The birdsong played by the pianists left
hand (notated on the lower sta) provides the fundamental notes,
and the quieter harmonies played by the right hand (on the upper
sta) alter their timbre.

Messiaen later introduced what he called a communicable language, a musical alphabet to encode sentences.
He rst used this technique in his Mditations sur le mystre de la Sainte Trinit for organ; where the alphabet
includes motifs for the concepts to have, to be and God,
while the sentences encoded feature sections from the
writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.[102]

3 Works
3.1 Compositions

timbre of the fundamental note like mixture stops on a

pipe organ.[99] An example is the song of the golden oriole in Le loriot of the Catalogue d'oiseaux for solo piano
(Example 4).
In his use of conventional diatonic chords, Messiaen often transcended their historically banal connotations (for
example, his frequent use of the added sixth chord as a
resolution).[100]

2.6

Birdsong

An ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument, for which Messiaen

included a part in several of his compositions: the orchestra for
his opera Saint Franois d'Assise includes three of them

Birdsong fascinated Messiaen from an early age, and in

this he found encouragement from his teacher Dukas,
who reportedly urged his pupils to listen to the birds.
Messiaen included stylised birdsong in some of his 3.1.1 Published
early compositions (including L'abme d'oiseaux from the
Quatuor pour la n du temps), integrating it into his
Le banquet cleste (The heavenly banquet), organ
sound-world by techniques like the modes of limited
(1928, a recomposition of a section from his unpubtransposition and chord colouration. His evocations of
lished orchestral piece Le banquet eucharistique[103] )
birdsong became increasingly sophisticated, and with Le
Prludes, piano (192829)
rveil des oiseaux this process reached maturity, the whole
piece being built from birdsong: in eect it is a dawn cho Diptyque (Diptych), organ (1930)
rus for orchestra. The same can be said for Epode, the
ve-minute sixth movement of Chronochromie, which
La mort du nombre (The death of numbers), sois scored for eighteen violins, each one playing a dierent
prano, tenor, violin and piano (1930)
birdsong. Messiaen notated the bird species with the mu Les orandes oublies (The forgotten oerings),
sic in the score (examples 1 and 4). The pieces are not
orchestra (1930)
simple transcriptions; even the works with purely birdinspired titles, such as Catalogue d'oiseaux and Fauvette
Trois mlodies, song cycle (1930)
des jardins, are tone poems evoking the landscape, its
Le Tombeau Resplendissant, orchestra (1931)
colours and atmosphere.[101]

3.1

Compositions

Apparition de l'glise ternelle (Apparition of the

eternal church), organ (1932)

1. le de feu 1

Fantaisie burlesque, piano (1932)

3. Neumes rhythmiques

Hymne au Saint Sacrement (Hymn to the Holy

Sacrament), orchestra (1932, lost 1943, reconstructed from memory 1946[104] )

4. le de feu 2

Thme et variations, (Theme and Variations) violin and piano (1932)

Livre d'orgue, organ (19512)

L'ascension (The Ascension), orchestra (1932

33; organ version including replacement movement,
193334)
La Nativit du Seigneur (The Lords nativity), organ (1935)
Pice pour le tombeau de Paul Dukas (Piece written
as a memorial of Paul Dukas), piano, (1935)
Vocalise, voice and piano (1935)
Pomes pour Mi (Poems for Mi"), song cycle (1936,
orchestral version 1937)
O sacrum convivium!, choral motet (1937)
Chants de terre et de ciel (Songs of earth and
heaven), song cycle (1938)
Les corps glorieux (Glorious bodies), organ (1939)
Quatuor pour la n du temps (Quartet for the end
of time), violin, cello, clarinet, piano (194041)
Rondeau, piano (1943)
Visions de l'Amen (Visions of the Amen), two pianos (1943)
Trois petites liturgies de la prsence divine (Three
small liturgies of the Divine Presence), womens
voices, piano solo, ondes Martenot solo, orchestra
(194344)
Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jsus (Twenty gazes on
the Christ-child), piano (1944)
Harawi: Chants d'amour et de mort, (Harawi:
Songs of love and death) song cycle (1944)
Turangalla-Symphonie, piano solo, ondes Martenot
solo, orchestra (194648)
Cinq rechants, 12 singers (1948)

2. Mode de valeurs et d'intensits

Le merle noir
(1952[105] )

(Blackbird), ute and piano

Rveil des oiseaux (Dawn chorus), solo piano and

orchestra (1953)
Oiseaux exotiques (Exotic birds), solo piano and
wind ensemble (195556)
Catalogue d'oiseaux (Bird catalogue), piano
(195658)
Book 1
i Le chocard des alpes ("Alpine chough")
ii Le loriot ("Golden oriole") (loriot and
Loriod are homophones)
iii Le merle bleu ("Blue rock thrush")
Book 2
iv Le traquet stapazin ("Black-eared
wheatear")
Book 3
v La chouette hulotte ("Tawny owl")
vi L'alouette lulu ("Woodlark")
Book 4
vii La rousserolle earvatte ("Reed warbler")
Book 5
viii L'alouette calandrelle ("Short-toed
lark")
ix La bouscarle ("Cettis warbler")
Book 6
x Le merle de roche ("Rufous-tailed rock
thrush")
Book 7
xi La buse variable ("Buzzard")
xii Le traquet rieur ("Black wheatear")
xiii Le courlis cendr ("Curlew")
Chronochromie (Time-colour), orchestra (1959
60)

Cantyodjay, piano (1949)

Verset pour la fte de la ddicace (Verse for the festival of dedication), organ (1960)

Messe de la Pentecte ("Pentecost mass), organ

(194950)

Sept haka (Seven haikus"), solo piano and orchestra (1962)

Quatre tudes de rythme (Four studies in rhythm),

piano (194950)

Couleurs de la cit cleste (Colours of the Celestial

City), solo piano and ensemble (1963)

10

4 NOTES

Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum (And I await

the resurrection of the dead), wind, brass and percussion (1964)

Ftes des belles eaux, for six ondes Martenots (1937)

La Transguration de Notre Seigneur Jsus-Christ

(The Transguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ),
large 10-part chorus, piano solo, cello solo, ute
solo, clarinet solo, xylorimba solo, vibraphone solo,
large orchestra (196569)

Chant des dports, chorus and orchestra (1945, then

lost, rediscovered 1991)

Mditations sur le mystre de la Sainte Trinit (Meditations on the mystery of the Holy Trinity), organ
(1969)
La fauvette des jardins ("Garden warbler"), piano
(1970)
Des canyons aux toiles (From the canyons to the
stars...), solo piano, solo horn, solo glockenspiel,
solo xylorimba, small orchestra with 13 string players (197174)
Saint-Franois d'Assise (St Francis of Assisi),
opera (19751983)
Livre du Saint Sacrement (Book of the Holy Sacrament), organ (1984)
Petites esquisses d'oiseaux (Small sketches of
birds), piano (1985)
Un vitrail et des oiseaux (Stained-glass window
and birds), piano solo, brass, wind and percussion
(1986)
La ville d'en-haut (The city on high), piano solo,
brass, wind and percussion (1987)
Un sourire (A smile), orchestra (1989)
Pice pour piano et quatuor cordes (Piece for piano and string quartet) (1991)
clairs sur l'au-del... (Illuminations on the beyond...), orchestra (198892)
3.1.2

Unpublished, posthumously published, or lost

A number of Messiaens compositions were not sanctioned by the composer for publication. They include the
following, some of which have been published posthumously and recorded, and some of which are lost.
La dame de Shallott, for piano (1917)
La banquet eucharistique, for orchestra (1928)

Musique de scne pour un dipe, electronic (1942)

Timbres-dures, musique concrte (1952), realised

by Pierre Henry in the radiophonic workshop of
French radio, an experiment which Messiaen later
deemed a failure[106]
Feuillets inedits for piano and ondes martenot (published 2001)
Concert quatre (Quadruple concerto), piano,
ute, oboe, cello and orchestra (199091, almost
nished at the time of his death, completed by Loriod and Benjamin, premiered in 1994, published in
2003)
La Fauvette Passerinette ("Subalpine warbler"), piano (1961), one of Messiaens birdsong pieces for
solo piano, discovered and edited for performance
by Peter Hill and premiered by him in November
2013
Un oiseau des arbres de vie (Oiseau tui) (A bird
of the trees of life (Tui bird)"), a discarded movement from clairs sur lau-del, piano sketch with
orchestration annotations discovered among Messiaens papers, orchestrated by Christopher Dingle and rst performed at The Proms in August
2015[107]

3.2 Treatises
Technique de mon langage musical (The technique
of my musical language). Paris: Leduc, 1944.
Vingt leons d'harmonie (20 harmony lessons).
Paris: Leduc, 1944.
Trait de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie
(19491992) (Treatise on rhythm, colour and ornithology), completed by Yvonne Loriod. 7 parts
bound in 8 volumes. Paris: Leduc, 19942002.
Analyses of the Piano Works of Maurice Ravel,
edited by Yvonne Loriod, translated by Paul Grifths. [Paris]: Durand, 2005.

4 Notes

Variations cossaises, for organ (1928)

[1] Dingle (2007), p. 3

Mass, 8 sopranos and 4 violins (1933)

[2] Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 1014

Fantaisie, for violin and piano (1933; published

2007)

[3] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 15

[4] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 41

11

[5] Hill (1995), pp. 300301

[41] Sherlaw Johnson (1989), p. 104

[6] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 109

[42] Sherlaw Johnson (1989), pp. 192194

[7] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 110

[43] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 198

[8] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 16

[44] Dingle (2007), p. 139. For a general discussion of Messiaens fusion of birdsong and music, see Hill & Simeone
(2007)

[9] Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 1617

[10] Sherlaw Johnson (1989), p. 10

[45] Hill & Simeone (2007), p. 27

[11] Bannister (2013), p. 171

[46] Kraft (2013)

[12] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 20

[47] Griths (1985), p. 168; see also Kraft (2013)

[13] For further discussion of Messiaens youth, see, generally,

Hill & Simeone (2005)

[48] Benitez (2008), p. 4

[14] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 22

[15] Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 3437
[16] Heller (2010), p. 68
[17] Dingle (2007), p. 45
[18] Sherlaw Johnson (1989), pp. 5657
[19] Gillock (2009), p. 381
[20] Yvonne Loriod, in Hill (1995), p. 294
[21] From the programme for the opening concert of La jeune
France, quoted in Griths (1985), p. 72

[49] Benitez (2008), p. 138

[50] Messiaens visit to Japan is documented in Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 245251, and there is a more technical
discussion in Griths (1985), pp. 197200. Malcolm
Troup, writing in Hill (1995), additionally notes the direct
inuence of Noh theatre on aspects of Messiaens opera St
Franois d'Assise.
[51] Benitez (2008), p. 280
[52] Sherlaw Johnson (1989), p. 166
[53] Simeone (2009), pp. 185195
[54] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 245

[22] Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 7375

[55] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 306

[23] Dingle (2013), p. 34

[56] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 333

[24] Benitez (2008), p. 288

[57] Bruhn (2008), pp. 5796

[25] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 115

[58] Griths (1985), p. 225

[26] Griths (1985), p. 139

[59] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 301

[27] Rischin (2003), p. 5

[60] Programme for Opra de la Bastille production of St.

Franois d'Assise, p. 18

[28] See extended discussion in Griths (1985), Chapter 6: A

Technique for the End of Time, particularly pp. 104106
[29] Benitez (2008), p. 155
[30] Benitez (2008), p. 33
[31] Pierre Boulez in Hill (1995), pp. 266
[32] Benitez (2008), p. xiii
[33] Matossian (1986), p. 48
[34] Sherlaw Johnson (1989), pp. 11, 64
[35] Hill & Simeone (2007), p. 21

[61] The composer in conversation with Jean-Cristophe Marti

in 1992, see p. 29 of booklet accompanying the recording
of Saint-Franois d'Assise conducted by Kent Nagano on
Deutsche Grammophon/PolyGram 445 176; see also Hill
& Simeone (2005), pp. 340 and 342
[62] Dingle (2013)
[63] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 357
[64] Dingle (2007), p. 207
[65] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 371

[36] Griths (1985), p. 142

[66] Messiaen Edition. ArkivMusic. Retrieved September

8, 2013.

[37] Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 186192

[67] Yvonne Loriod, in Hill (1995), p. 302

[38] Benitez (2008), p. 3

[68] Gillock (2009), p. 383

[39] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 415

[69] Dingle (2013), pp. 293310

[40] Hill & Simeone (2007), p. 11

[70] Griths (1985), p. 15

12

[71] Griths (1985), Introduction

[72] Olivier Messiaen. Schott Music. Retrieved September
8, 2013.

REFERENCES

[90] For discussion, see for example Iain G. Mathesons article

The End of Time in Hill (1995), particularly pp. 237
243
[91] Hill (1995), p. 17

[73] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 213

[74] Bruhn, Siglind; Deely, John (January 1996). Religious Symbolism in the Music of Olivier Messiaen.
The American Journal of Semiotics 13 (1): 277309.
doi:10.5840/ajs1996131/412.
[75] See for instance Griths (1985), p. 233, "[Des canyons
aux toiles...] is therefore not so much a synthesis, as has
sometimes been suggested, but more a step into the future
that also joins the circle with the composers past.

[92] Griths (1985), p. 32

[93] Bruhn (2008), pp. 3749
[94] Dingle & Simeone (2007), p. 48
[95] Pople (1998), p. 82
[96] Quoted by Gillian Weir, who discusses the work in Hill
(1995) pp. 364366
[97] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), pp. 241242

[76] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 77

[77] Coleman, John (November 24, 2008). Maestro of
Joy. America: the National Catholic Review. Retrieved
September 8, 2013.
[78] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 47
[79] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 114
[80] Messiaen, Technique de mon langage musical
[81] Bruhn (2008), p. 46
[82] Sherlaw Johnson (1989), p. 26
[83] Sherlaw Johnson (1989), p. 76
[84] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), pp. 4950
[85] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 63

[98] Griths (1985) p. 34

[99] Benitez, Vincent (April 2004). Aspects of Harmony
in Messiaens Later Music: An Examination of the
Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass Note.
Journal of Musicological Research 23 (2): 187226.
doi:10.1080/01411890490449781.
[100] Bruhn, Siglind (2008). Traces of a Thomistic De musica
in the Compositions of Olivier Messiaen. Logos 11 (4):
1656.
[101] For extensive discussion of the use of birdsong in Messiaens work, see Kraft (2013).
[102] See, for example, Richard Steinitz in Hill (1995), pp.
466469
[103] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 25
[104] Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 120

[86] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 62

[105] Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 199, outlines the chronology
of Messiaens compositions of 195152 Le merle noir and
[87] See Messiaen, Olivier Trait de rythme, de couleur, et
Livre d'orgue
d'ornithologie. See also Bernard, Jonathan W. (1986).
Messiaens Synaesthesia: The Correspondence between
[106] Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 198
Color and Sound Structure in His Music. Music Perception 4: 4168..
[107] Messiaen: Un oiseau des arbres de Vie (Oiseau tui), BBC,
7 August 2015
[88] George Benjamin, speaking in interview with Tommy
Pearson, broadcast on BBC4 in the interval of Prom concert in 2004 at which Benjamin conducted a performance
of Des canyons aux toiles... Asked what made Messiaen so inuential he said, I think the sheerthe word he
lovedcolour has been so inuential. People, composers,
Bannister, Peter (2013). Olivier Messiaen (1908
have found that colour, rather than being a decorative ele1992)". In Anderson, Christopher S. Twentiethment, could be a structural, a fundamental element. And
century organ music. New York: Routledge. ISBN
not colour just in a surface way, not just in the way you or9781136497902.
chestrate itnothe fundamental material of the music
itself. More than that I can't say except that for my own
Benitez, Vincent P (2008). Olivier Messiaen: A Resmall world he was incredibly important, and an excepsearch and Information Guide. New York and Lontionally special and indeed wonderful person. I met him
don:
Routledge. ISBN 0-415-97372-4.
when I was very young (I was 16) and stayed closely in
touch with him until he died in 1992, and was immensely
Bruhn, Siglind (2008). Messiaens Interpretations of
fond of him...

5 References

[89] Benitez, Vincent (July 2009). Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist. Music Analysis 28 (23): 267299.
doi:10.1111/j.1468-2249.2011.00293.x.

Holiness and Trinity. Echoes of Medieval Theology in the Oratorio, Organ Meditations, and Opera.
Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press. ISBN 978-157647-139-5.

13
Dingle, Christopher (2007). The Life of Messiaen.
Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 0-521-63547-0.

Sherlaw Johnson, Robert (1989).

Messiaen.
Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN
9780520067349.

Dingle, Christopher (2013). Messiaens nal works.

Burlington, VT: Ashgate. ISBN 9780754606338.

Simeone, Nigel (2009). "'Un oeuvre simple, solennelle...'". In Shenton, Andrew. Messiaen the theologian. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 9780754666400.

Dingle, Christopher, & Nigel Simeone (eds) (2007).

Olivier Messiaen: Music, Art and Literature. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 0-7546-5297-1.
Gillock, Jon (2009). Performing Messiaens Organ
Music: 66 Masterclasses. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-35373-3.
Griths, Paul (1985). Olivier Messiaen and the Music of Time. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University
Press. ISBN 0-8014-1813-5.
Heller, Karin (2010). Olivier Messiaen and Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. In Shenton, Andrew.
Messiaen the theologian. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN
9780754666400.
Hill, Peter, ed. (1995). The Messiaen Companion.
London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-17033-1.
Hill, Peter, and Nigel Simeone (2005). Messiaen.
New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
ISBN 0-300-10907-5.
Hill, Peter, and Nigel Simeone (eds) (2007). Olivier
Messiaen: oiseaux exotiques. Aldershot: Ashgate.
ISBN 9780754656302.
Kraft, David (2013). Birdsong in the Music of
Olivier Messiaen. London: Arosa Press. ISBN 9781477517796.
Matossian, Nouritza (1986). Xenakis. London:
Kahn and Averill. ISBN 1-871082-17-X.
Pople, Anthony (1998). Messiaen: Quatuor pour
la n du temps. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 9780521585385.
Rischin, Rebecca (2003). For the End of Time: The
Story of the Messiaen Quartet. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press. ISBN 0-8014-4136-6.
Samuel, Claude (tr. E. Thomas Glasow) (1994).
Olivier Messiaen: Music and Color: Conversations
with Claude Samuel. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus
Press. ISBN 0-931340-67-5.
Shenton, Andrew (2008). Olivier Messiaens System
of Signs: Notes towards Understanding his Music.
Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-6168-9.

6 Further reading
Baggech, Melody Ann (1998). An English Translation of Olivier Messiaens Traite de Rythme, de
Couleur, et d'Ornithologie. Norman: The University of Oklahoma.
Barker, Thomas (2012). The Social and Aesthetic Situation of Olivier Messiaens Religious Music: Turangalla Symphonie. International Review
of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 43/1:5370.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2000). A Creative Legacy:
Messiaen as Teacher of Analysis. College Music
Symposium 40 (2000): 11739. http://symposium.
music.org/messiaen-as-teacher-of-analysis
Benitez, Vincent P. (2001). Pitch Organization
and Dramatic Design in Saint Franois dAssise of
Olivier Messiaen. PhD diss., Bloomington: Indiana University.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2002). Simultaneous Contrast
and Additive Designs in Olivier Messiaens Opera
Saint Franois dAssise. Music Theory Online 8.2
(August 2002). http://mto.societymusictheory.org/
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). Aspects of Harmony
in Messiaens Later Music: An Examination of the
Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass
Note. Journal of Musicological Research 23, no. 2:
187226.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). Narrating Saint Franciss Spiritual Journey: Referential Pitch Structures
and Symbolic Images in Olivier Messiaens Saint
Franois d'Assise. In Poznan Studies on Opera,
edited by Maciej Jablonski, 363411.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2008). Messiaen as Improviser. Dutch Journal of Music Theory 13, no. 2
(May 2008): 12944.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2009). Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist. Music Analysis 28, nos. 23
(2009): 26799 (published April 21, 2011).

Shenton, Andrew (2010). Messiaen the Theologian.

Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-6640-0.

Benitez, Vincent P. (2010).

Messiaen and
Aquinas. In Messiaen the Theologian, edited by Andrew Shenton, 10126. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Sherlaw Johnson, Robert (1975). Messiaen. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
ISBN 0-520-02812-0.

Boivin, Jean (1993). La Classe de Messiaen: Historique, reconstitution, impact. Ph.D. diss. Montreal: Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal.

14

6 FURTHER READING

Boswell-Kurc, Lilise (2001). Olivier Messiaens

Religious War-Time Works and Their Controversial Reception in France (19411946) ". Ph.D. diss.
New York: New York University.

McGinnis, Margaret Elizabeth (2003). Playing the

Fields: Messiaen, Music, and the Extramusical.
Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bruhn, Siglind (2007). Messiaens Contemplations

of Covenant and Incarnation: Musical Symbols of
Faith in the Two Great Piano Cycles of the 1940s.
Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press. ISBN 978-157647-129-6.

Nelson, David Lowell (1992). An Analysis of

Olivier Messiaens Chant Paraphrases. 2 vols.
Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University

Cheong Wai-Ling (2003). Messiaens Chord Tables: Ordering the Disordered. Tempo 57, no. 226
(October): 210.

Ngim, Alan Gerald (1997). Olivier Messiaen as a

Pianist: A Study of Tempo and Rhythm Based on
His Recordings of Visions de l'amen". D.M.A. diss.
Coral Gables: University of Miami.

Cheong Wai-Ling (2008). Neumes and Greek

Rhythms: The Breakthrough in Messiaens Birdsong. Acta Musicologica 80, no. 1:132.

Peterson, Larry Wayne (1973). Messiaen and

Rhythm: Theory and Practice. Ph.D. diss. Chapel
Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill

Dingle, Christopher (2013).

Messiaens Final Works.
Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
ISBN
9780754606338.

Puspita, Amelia (2008). The Inuence of Balinese Gamelan on the Music of Olivier Messiaen.
D.M.A. diss. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati

Fallon, Robert Joseph (2005). Messiaens Mimesis: The Language and Culture of The Bird Styles.
Ph.D. diss. Berkeley: University of California,
Berkeley.

Reverdy, Michle (1988). L'uvre pour orchestre

d'Olivier Messiaen. Paris: Alphonse Leduc. ISBN
2-85689-038-5.

Fallon, Robert (2008). Birds, Beasts, and Bombs

in Messiaens Cold War Mass. The Journal of Musicology 26, no. 2 (Spring): 175204.
Festa, Paul (2008). Oh My God: Messiaen in the
Ear of the Unbeliever. San Francisco: Bar Nothing
Books.
Gola, Antoine (1960). Rencontres avec Olivier
Messiaen. Paris: Julliard.
Hardink, Jason M. (2007). Messiaen and Plainchant. D.M.A. diss. Houston: Rice University.
Harris, Joseph Edward (2004). Musique coloree:
Synesthetic Correspondence in the Works of Olivier
Messiaen. Ph.D. diss. Ames: The University of
Iowa.
Hill, Matthew Richard (1995). Messiaens Regard du silence as an Expression of Catholic Faith.
D.M.A. diss. Madison: The University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Schultz, Rob (2008). Melodic Contour and Nonretrogradable Structure in the Birdsong of Olivier
Messiaen. Music Theory Spectrum 30, no. 1
(Spring): 89137.
Shenton, Andrew David James (1998). The Unspoken Word: Olivier Messiaens 'langage communicable'". Ph.D. diss. Cambridge: Harvard University.
Sholl, Robert (2008). Messiaen Studies. Cambridge
& New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN
978-0-521-83981-5.
Simeone, Nigel (2004). "'Chez Messiaen, tout est
prire': Messiaens Appointment at the Trinit".
The Musical Times 145, no. 1889 (Winter): 3653.
Simeone, Nigel (2008). Messiaen, Koussevitzky
and the USA. The Musical Times 149, no. 1905
(Winter): 2544.
Waumsley, Stuart (1975). The Organ Music of
Olivier Messiaen (New ed.). Paris: Alphonse Leduc.
OCLC 2911308; LCCN 77-457244.

Laycock, Gary Eng Yeow (2010). Re-evaluating

Olivier Messiaens Musical Language from 1917 to
1935. Ph.D. diss. Bloomington: Indiana University, 2010.

Welsh Ibanez, Deborah (2005). Color, Timbre, and

Resonance: Developments in Olivier Messiaens
Use of Percussion Between 19561965. D.M.A.
diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami

Luchese, Diane (1998). Olivier Messiaens Slow

Music: Glimpses of Eternity in Time. Ph.D. diss.
Evanston: Northwestern University

Zheng, Zhong (2004). A Study of Messiaens Solo

Piano Works. Ph.D. diss. Hong Kong: The Chinese
University of Hong Kong.

7.1

Listening

6.1

Films

Apparition of the Eternal Church Paul Festas

2006 lm about responses of 31 artists to Messiaens
music.
Messiaen at 80 (1988). Directed by Sue Knussen.
BFI database entry.
Olivier Messiaen et les oiseaux (1973). Directed by
Michel Fano and Denise Tual.
Olivier Messiaen The Crystal Liturgy (2007 [DVD
release date]). Directed by Olivier Mille.
Olivier Messiaen: Works (1991). DVD on which
Messiaen performs Improvisations on the organ at
the Paris Trinity Church.
The South Bank Show: Olivier Messiaen: The Music of Faith (1985). Directed by Alan Benson. BFI
database entry.

External links
BBC Messiaen Prole
Online Messiaen resource by Malcolm Ball
Infography about Olivier Messiaen
oliviermessiaen.net, hosted by the Boston University
Messiaen Project [BUMP]. Includes detailed information on the composers life and works, events, and
links to other Messiaen websites.
www.philharmonia.co.uk/messiaen, the Philharmonia Orchestras Messiaen website. The site contains articles, unseen images, programme notes and
lms to go alongside the orchestras series of concerts celebrating the Centenary of Olivier Messiaens birth.
David Schi, Music for the End of Time, The Nation, posted January 25, 2006 (February 13, 2006
issue). Formally a review of Messiaen by Peter Hill
and Nigel Simeone, but provides an overview of
Messiaens life and works.
Music and the Holocaust Olivier Messiaen
A biography on IRCAM's website (French)
My Messiaen Modes A visual representation of
Messiaens modes of limited transposition

15

7.1 Listening
Thme et variations Helen Kim, violin; Adam
Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Le merle noir John McMurtery, ute; Adam
Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Quatuor pour la n du temps Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Regard de l'esprit de joie from Vingt regards..., Tom
Poster, pianist
Birdsong in Messiaen on YouTube
Example of Birdsong in Messiaen on YouTube
played on a Mhleisen pipe organ
In-depth feature on Olivier Messiaen by Radio
France Internationals English service
Excerpts from sound archives of Messiaens works.

16

8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Olivier Messiaen Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Messiaen?oldid=712981446 Contributors: Zundark, Tarquin, Koyaanis Qatsi, Andre Engels, Deb, Camembert, Youandme, Flamurai, Tregoweth, Jimfbleak, Sir Paul, Kaihsu, PS4FA, Bemoeial, Viajero,
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8.3

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