Olivier Messiaen

(1908-1992)
French composer, organist, and teacher
Overview
● Messiaen was born in 1908.
● His father was a scholar of English
literature.
● He began composing at age seven,
and taught himself to play the piano.
● He entered the Paris Conservatory at
the age of 11 under the tutelage of the
organist Marcel Dupré and the
composer Paul Dukas.
● Messiaen studied privately Eastern
rhythm, birdsong, and microtonal
music during last years at the
conservatory.
● In 1931, he was appointed organist at
the Church of the Sainte-Trinté, Paris.
Overview
● In 1932, Messiaen married his first wife Claire
Delbos.
● During his marriage, he wrote pieces
celebrating the joy and sanctity of marriage.
● In 1936, he founded the group La Jeune
France (Young France) to promote new
French music with André Jolivet, Daniel
Lesur, and Yves Baudrier.
● He taught at the Schola Cantorum and École
Normale de Musique from 1936 until the
outbreak of World War II in 1939.
● Drafted into the Army as a medic during the
World War II
● Messiaen was captured by the Nazis in May
1940, and imprisoned at Göritz’s Stalag
VIII-A.
● During this time, he composed “Quartet for
the End of Time.”
World War II
● While Messiaen was captured, he
wrote Quartet for the End of Time.*
● He returned from captivity in March
1941 And became a teacher and
lecture at the Paris Conservatory
● He was officially appointed as a
Professor of Composition.
● Pierre Boulez, Stockhausen and
Alexander Goer were his students.
● His career was flourishing during
this time.
Messiaen’s Musical Styles and Influence
● Messiaen's music was inspired by Roman Catholic theology, interpreted in a quasi-mystical manner
● Apparition de l'Eglise éternelle
● Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus
● He developed innovative techniques such as limited transposition, additive rhythms, and chord
coloration.
● He often incorporated birdsong into his compositions.
● His book Treatise on Rhythm, Color, and Ornithology runs to eight volumes.
● He also composed and recognized colors in music, known as synaesthesia.
● He also used Japanese and Indonesian gamelan music in his compositions.
● Turangalila-Symphonie (1948)
○ 10 movements containing solo piano part and using percussion instruments in the Indonesian
gamelan orchestra, along with an Ondes Martenot (an electronic instrument).
● Catalog of Birds (1959)
● Developed a highly personal style, rhythmic complicity, rich tonal color and unique harmonic
language.
● Stockhausen and Boulez were among his students.
Quartet for the End of Time
● Quartet for the End of Time ( documentary)
● https://youtu.be/SBFOwHLYj70?si=5bY0yh6mtj7VRvLW (score)
● In 1940, Olivier Messiaen was captured in German prison camp, where he found among his
fellow prisoners: a clarinetist, a violinist, and a cellist.
● A short trio was written for them.
● He added a piano to the ensemble, and wrote seven more movements, to create the
Quartet for the End of Time.
● Messiaen and his friends first performed it for their 5000 fellow prisoners on January 15,
1941.
● According to the composer, the Quartet was not intended to be a commentary on the
Apocalypse, nor to refer to his own captivity, but to be a kind of musical extension of the
Biblical account
○ The concept of the end of time, as the end of past and future, and the beginning of eternity.
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FvEWsIVRRM