Olivier Messiaen: Happy 100th Birthday!

Olivier Messiaen (December 10, 1908 - April 27, 1992) was a French composer, teacher, organist, and ornithologist (a student of birds). He created some of the most memorable music of the twentieth century, drawing on influences as varied as his intense Roman Catholic faith, his studies in music from around the world, his interest in electronic instruments, and his love of the songs of birds.

Olivier Messiaen was an inspiring teacher who sometimes overwhelmed his students with his range of knowledge and interests, but, as one of them says, he did not try to turn them into "little Messiaens"; since Messiaen's students include Pierre Boulez (more) and Iannis Xenakis (more), among many others, his inspiration extends well beyond his own compositions. From 1931 until his death (over sixty years), he served as organist at the Paris Church of the Trinity. We can watch (on Youtube) as he carefully makes the settings on the Trinity Church organ (here, and then see and hear his improvisation following those settings, here). Just as a priest prayerfully prepares for his function in the Mass, Messiaen probably was prayerfully making those settings, in preparation for his function in the life of the Church.

Olivier Messiaen identified himself as an ornithologist, a student of birds. He conducted field work, tracking down birds around the world and notating their songs, while his wife, pianist Yvonne Loriod, would make a sound recording. (You can watch a six-minute documentary on Messiaen's fascination with birds here.) Bird song recurs throughout his music, and a number of works are specifically dedicated to birds, as shown by their titles, "Oiseaux exotiques","Exotic Birds) and "Catalogue d'oiseaux" ("Catalogue of Birds"). His one opera, Saint-François d'Assise or St Francis of Assisi (more), about the saint associated with birds, is full of bird song.

Why should we celebrate the centenary of Olivier Messiaen?

Olivier Messiaen brought great intellect, warm humanity, intense spirituality, and openness to an amazing range of resources to create a distinctly personal body of music and performances. He set high standards as a composer, teacher, and performer.

Although Olivier Messiaen is identified as a Catholic, his music is not narrow in its appeal. He wrote music of religious ferbor such as the "Apparition de l'église éternelle" ("Apparition of the Eternal Church") for organ, which you can listen to here), but he also wrote music celebrating erotic love, which he considered a gift from God, such as his sprawling Turangalîla-Symphonie or Turangalîla Symphony (more). In the songs of birds and the beauty of the landscape of the western United States, which he responded to with Des canyons aux étoiles... or From the Canyons to the Stars... (more) he found God at work.

Olivier Messiaen expanded the resources of European music with his studies of musical traditions from around the world, as shown by the titles of some of his works, as Turangalîla-Symphonie, "Harawi: Chants d'amour et de mort" or "Harawi: Songs of Love and Death" (more), and "Cantéyodjayâ" (more).

He expanded the variety of instruments as well. Responding to technology, he wrote music for a now primitive electronic instrument, the ondes Martinot (more) and included wind machines in some of his scores. He also drew on percussion instruments from around the world, most notably, the gamelan from Indonesia (more). He even invented percussion instruments, such as the geophone (more). So, world music and tech music alike can claim him as a forebear.

If you were stranded on an island with only one work of Olivier Messiaen, what would it be?

The most memorable of all of Olivier Messiaen's many compositions is one from early in his career, Quatuor pour la fin du temps or Quartet for the End of Time (more), which Messiaen composed while a prisoner of war in a German camp. Although his later works require an army to perform (a recent performance of St. Francis had 250 performers), the quartet was written for a cello, clarinet, piano, and violin, the only instruments available in the camp. Rehearsals were in the washrooms, and the piano was out of tune and had several dead keys. At the premiere on January 15, 1941, prisoners and guards suffered the bitter cold, but Messiaen reported that "Never was I listened to with such rapt attention and comprehension."

Much has been written about this fifty-minute work. The Wikipedia entry (in the last link) includes some of Messiaen's own text, and Rebecca Rischin wrote a book, For the end of time : the story of the Messiaen quartet. Rather than try to add my own words, I simply will give you a chance to hear the work itself. You can click here to listen to the quartet (or right click to download) from the Luna Nova New Music Ensemble (website here).

Or, you can listen to a variety of performers in these links to Youtube videos for each of the eight movements. I am including the title of each movement in French and English to give an idea of Olivier Messiaen's spiritual and poetic gifts:

1. "Liturgie de crystal" ("Liturgy of crystal", quartet) - video

2. "Vocalise, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps" ("Vocalise, for the Angel who announces the end of time", quartet) - video

3. "Abîme des oiseaux" ("Abyss of birds", clarinet) - video

4. "Intermède" ("Interlude", violin, cello, and clarinet) - video

5. "Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus" ("Eulogy to the eternity of Jesus", cello and piano) - video

6. "Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes" ("Dance of fury, for the seven trumpets", quartet) - video

7. "Fouillis d'arcs-en-ciel, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps" ("Tangle of rainbows, for the Angel who announces the end of time", quartet) - video

8. "Louange à l'Immortalité de Jésus" ("Eulogy to the immortality of Jesus", violin and piano) - video

How are Olivier Messiaen's life and music being commemorated?

Performances, seminars, and celebrations from Kalamazoo to Korea have marked Olivier Messiaen's centenary all year... and also the centenary of Elliot Carter (more), born one day after Messiaen, and still living and composing at the age of a hundred. (But, I shall leave it to someone else to celebrate him.) Concert staples, such as the Quarter have been heard, and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (Symphonic Orchestra of Montréal) was brave enough to offer the more than five hours of St. Francis.

On the Internet, Boston University's Messiaen Project (here) and the Philharmonia Orchestra's Messiaen website (here) have spread the celebrations around the world. On Youtube, three mini-documentaries under the title "Messiaen - A Life in Color" (here) allow fans around the world to share in the Southbank Centre's festival "From The Canyons To The Stars" in London.

Two years before the centernnial, filmmaker Paul Festa created a documentary, Aparition of the Eternal Church, in which he filmed the responses of a wide range of people listening to Messiaen's organ piece of that title. The website for the film (here) has a transcript of those responses, but I do not believe that the film has been released on DVD, but the trailer is available on Youtube (here).

Olivier Mille's documentary, Olivier Messiaen - The Crystal Liturgy (the title comes from the first movement of the Quartet) was released in 2007. The documentary and the extras on the DVD are enchanting. Messiaen with his wife, his birds, his students, comes across with warmth and humanity. He also shows a sense of humor, when he apologizes (while singing to his students) for his "composer's voice." His imitations of birds and his passion in talking about birds bring a glorious goofiness to the film that would be surprising to someone who knows only his music. (By the way, the previous quote about his not turning his students into "little Messiaens" is from this DVD.)

Deutsche Grammophon has released a 32-CD deluxe edition of Messiaen's complete works. (Please, Santa, I've tried to be a good boy this year...)

Perhaps the most lasting memorial is that a mountain in Utah was named Mount Messiaen (information here, photos here), in honor of his celebration of Utah landscapes in From the Canyons to the Stars...

So, why are you commemorating the centenary of Olivier Messiaen?

A year ago, if I had heard the name Olivier Messiaen, I would have recognized it as the name of a composer, but one of many composers whose work I did not know. During this past year, I have become obsessed with his work, surprised by my visceral, emotional response to the treasure that Olivier Messiaen's music is. I have not had such intense response to music since I was a teenager (many, many years ago), and already, Messiaen's music has become as much a part of my life as the music of Béla Bartók has become over the past three decades (or more).

I hope I can help you find in the music of Olivier Messiaen the pleasure that I have found there. Happy Birthday, Monsieur Messiaen! Thanks for the gifts you gave us!