Turangalila-Symphonie: Listen for Free to Olivier Messiaen's Sacred, Sexy Love Song

Today is cold and dreary (yes, even in central Florida), so it seems appropriate to play some of the warmest, brightest, sexiest, and sometimes silliest music ever written, the jawbreakingly titled Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen. Appropriately, today (December 10th) is the birthday of Olivier Messiaen, and so it is also the second anniversary of the first article I ever wrote about him, "Olivier Messiaen: Happy 100th Birthday!" (which you can read here).

It is disappointing to me that I have to misspell the title of the Turangalîla-Symphonie in the title of my article, It appears correctly in the body of this article, but the diacritics did not appear corredly in the title.

The only thing better than enjoying great music is sharing the music and your enjoyment of it. Through the miracle of the Internet, you can listen for free to the ten movements of the Turangalîla-Symphonie. Yes, ten movements in a symphony (which we usually think of as having only four movements)! We are going into some wild musical territory here.

But, behind this most joyous music, there is a sad story. In 1932, Messiaen married composer and violinist Claire Delbos. Her health, never good, was strained by a series of miscarriages, but in 1937 she gave birth to a son, Pascal. Messiaen composed music for her; he wrote Thème et variations (for violin, which she played, and piano, which he played) as a wedding present for her; you can hear it here . He also wrote some exquisite song cycles celebrating their marriage and their infant son.

A year after Pascal's birth, her physical and mental health deteriorated so badly that she was institutionalized until her death in 1959. Meanwhile, Messiaen, left alone to bring up their son, met pianist Yvonne Loriod. As a devout Roman Catholic, Messiaen was tormented by his feelings for her and his obligation to his wife.

Out of his conflicted feelings came three great works on the theme of sexual love, known as the Tristan cycle, ironically, because the story of Tristan is the story of his adulterous love for Isolde, which inspired Richard Wagner's opera.

The Turangalîla-Symphonie (1948) is the second of the three Tristan pieces; the other two are Harawi (1944) and Cinq Rechants (1948). You can learn about the Boston premiere of the symphony in a video, here.

Perhaps it is better for you to listen to at least some of the Turangalîla-Symphonie before you read more, because Messiaen and his commentators tend to let their words get in the way of the music. So, you may want to skip down to a list of links to the movements of the Turangalîla-Symphonie before reading further. Or, you can just listen to a complete performance, either here or here (with introductory commercial). You might be better off just to skip the rest of the article, or, you can listen to the symphony while you read.

What the heck is a Turangalîla?

Turangalîla is derived from the ancient Sanskrit language and means love-song. But, as with some of Messiaen's other large-scale works, the Turangalîla-Symphonie cannot be limited to a single theme, image, or idea. Messiaen orchestrates the joys of love, the terrors of love, lust, ecstasy, on a cosmic scale, as shown by the title of the fifth movement (my favorite), "Joie du sang des étoiles (joy of the blood and the stars)." Messiaen also used Turangalîla as the title of the third,seventh, and ninth movements.

The first movement is titled "Introduction," and it introduces themes and emotions which run through the symphony. Listen for a particularly hair-raising spin by the piano. Yvonne Loriod, an almost superhuman pianist, was a challenge to Messiaen to compose ever more demanding piano works, such as this (which she performed in the 1949 premiere).

The second and fourth movements are both titled "Chant d'amour (love song)." In the third movement, the first of the Turangalîlas, Messiaen's beloved ondes Martenot, a primitive electronic instrument, is featured. The fifth movement,"Joie du sang des étoiles (joy of the blood and the stars)," is a dance in which blood, stars, and lovers whirl madly through the universe. If you take time to listen to only one of movement of the Turangalîla-Symphonie, I would recommend this one, because after you listen to it, I believe you would want to listen to more.

In the sixth movement, "Jardin du sommeil d'amour (Garden of love's sleep)," the birdsong so basic to Messiaen's music enriches the already rich stew. You can learn more about Messiaen and the birds in a video, ""Birdsong in Messiaen" here. The seventh movement, the second of the Turangalîlas, is shocking, almost uncomfortable. (This is about love, remember.) The music is atonal, and the percussion becomes almost threatening. In fact, the percussion instruments are so important in this symphony that there is a video, "Percussion in Messiaen" (here) that explains the variety of percussion instruments that Messiaen used, and how he used them.

The eighth movement, "Dévelopment de l'amour (the growth of love)," unites the lovers, not only in their love but also in death, referring back to the original story of Tristan and Isolde. The third of the Turangalîlas, the ninth movement, again showcases the percussion instruments. The tenth movement, "Final," somehow manages to bring everything together in what Messiaen called "glory and joy," which he also emphasized in his religious compositions.

In fact, the distinction between religious compositions and secular compositions does not hold up. Just as the lovers are united with each other and with the whole universe, so are all the little baskets into which we store different types of music. After listening to the Turangalîla-Symphonie, a celebration of sexual love by a composer who was, by terrible circumstances denied the physical expression of sexual love, it is as appropriate to shout "Hallelujah" as it is to light a post-coital cigarette.

Listen for free to the Turangalîla-Symphonie

Here are links to two different videos of each of the ten movements, except for the fifth. The first link, to YouTube, will be to any of a variety of performances of the Turangalîla-Symphonie; the second link, to DailyMotion, is to a performance by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, except for the fifth movement, which is represented on the Internet only by one performance. You can, by the way, access the video of the complete PhilharmonicOrchestra of Radio France here.

Movement 1 - YouTube | DailyMotion

Movement 2 - YouTube | DailyMotion

Movement 3 - YouTube | DailyMotion

Movement 4 - YouTube | DailyMotion

Movement 5 - YouTube | DailyMotion

Movement 6 - YouTube | DailyMotion

Movement 7 - YouTube | DailyMotion

Movement 8 - YouTube | DailyMotion

Movement 9 - YouTube | DailyMotion

Movement 10 - YouTube | DailyMotion

More about Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie

Accompanying its 2008 centenary festival of works by Olivier Messiaen, the Philharmonia Orchestra mounted an online celebration that still endures. Check the assortment of texts and videos devoted to the Turangalîla-Symphonie here.

Wikipedia lists twenty-one recordings of the Turangalîla-Symphonie here.

Learn about an animated cartoon character named for the Turangalîla-Symphonie here.