Free Christmas Music by Olivier Messiaen

The French composer Olivier Messiaen, whom I first wrote about here produced the greatest Christian music of the twentieth century, music so transcendent that it is not limited in its appeal only to Christians. In writing about the church festivals of the Ascension (here) and of Pentecost (here), I linked to music that Messiaen wrote for those occasions.

Messiaen at Christmas

Olivier Messiaen wrote two pieces on Christmas themes. One is a piano solo in twenty movements, stretching some two hours in playing time, Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus (Twenty Views of the Child Jesus), which I have already written about, with links to listen to it (here).

Messiaen also wrote La Nativité du Seigneur (The Nativity of the Lord) for organ in 1935, four years after he was named organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité (Church of the Holy Trinity) in Paris, a position he held until his death in 1992. There is a video of about a half hour of him improvising at the organ of that church (here), and there are many recordings of Messiaen performing his own music on that organ, an instrument that you can learn more about in a video (here)

Messiaen: La Nativité du Seigneur (The Nativity of the Lord)

La Nativité du Seigneur is a cycle of nine pieces for the organ based on specific aspects of the birth of Jesus. It is the first of his big works for organ. Taken separately, its final movement, "Dieu parmi nous" ("God Among Us") is one of the most popular of all of Messiaen's works.

If you are not a Christian, not a Roman Catholic, do not be put off by Messiaen's titles. In fact, some of his greatest champions are not Roman Catholics. Just enjoy the majestic beauty of the music, and, if you wish, let your own imagery guide your enjoyment of the work. Or, think about the images Messiaen associated with this work - theology, mountains, and stained glass.

You can find the audio for all nine movements here. Most movements have video links which you can access by clicking the word "Video."

I - "La Vierge et L'Enfant" ("The Virgin and the Child") Video

II - "Les Bergers" ("The Shepherds") Video

III - "Desseins Eternels" ("Eternal Designs") Video
This movement is marked "Extrêmement lent et tendre," that is, extremely slow and tender. As he demonstrated in the Quartet for the End of Time (which I wrote about here). Messiaen does slow better than anyone else. He brings us, in his slow movements, to an awareness of the gradual end of time by manipulating the movement of time.

IV - "Le Verbe" ("The Word") Video (Only the second part of this piece is available on video.)

V - "Les Enfants de Dieu" ("Children of God") Video

VI - "Les Anges" ("The Angels")
VII - "Jésus accepte la Souffrance" ("Jesus Accepts Suffering")
Neither of these are available on video. Remember, you can find the audio for all nine movements here.

VIII - "Les Mages" ("The Magi") Video

IX - "Dieu parmi nous" ("God with Us") Video
The concluding part of the ninth movement of La Nativité du Seigneur , a toccata (definition), is perhaps the most typical of Messiaen's music in its sound and in its celebration of "God with us."

Messiaen not only wrote the greatest Christian music of the twentieth century, he wrote some of the greatest music of all time. His almost obsessive theme was love, love that grew out of interactions of God and humankind and nature. Messiaen is like the priest, theologian, and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (more), whose spirituality was nurtured by his scientific awareness. In fact, Messiaen called himself a musician and an ornithologist, a scientist who studies birds.

In La Nativité du Seigneur, Messiaen created his own world of sound, leaving us to find out own individual ways to respond to it. Sometimes, I want to say, "Amen, Brother Ollie." Listening to the same piece, later, I hear a sensuality, an earthiness, that I had not experienced before, and it seems more appropriate to yell, "Twist and shout!"

Sources

In his blog, "Hauptwerk: Music and Sound," José Pedro Magalhães includes a detailed analysis of each movement of La Nativité du Seigneur together with audio tracks for the entire piece, recorded by Olivier Latry (here).

ClassicalArchives.com has an article on La Nativité du Seigneur (here).

The book Messiaen, by Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone is invaluable for anyone interested in Messiaen. The Googlebooks version is available here.