Olivier Messiaen

Synopsis

French organist, composer, and teacher

• 10 Dec 1908, born in Avignon, France
• 1924, Paris, Entered Paris Conservitoire.
• Autumn 1927, Paris, Studied organ with Marcel Dupre.
• 1929-31, Paris, deputy organist at Église de la Sainte-Trinité
• 1931-92, Paris, organist at Église de la Sainte-Trinité
• 1930's, composed several of his multi-movement organ works
• 1984, Livre du Saint Sacrament published
• 27 Apr 1992, died in Paris, France

Biography

From his birth, French composer Olivier Messiaen was surrounded by the arts. When he was only eleven years old he entered the Paris Conservatory, studying organ with Marcel Dupré and composition with Paul Dukas. He took first prize in both areas, as well as in improvisation. In 1930 he became the organist at Trinity church, Paris. He joined the faculty of his alma mater, the Paris Conservatory in 1942. Throughout the rest of his life he worked at various music centers around the world including Tanglewood, 1948, and Darmustadt, 1950-1953. It was through such institutions that Messiaen's unique style influenced many students, including Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez.

Messiaen was very religious and his music, both organ and other, reflects his extreme faith­bordering on mysticism. He used musical resources from many traditions, ranging from rhythms of the orient to early Christian Gregorian Chant to birdsong. His pieces achieve unity through his careful interdependence of melodies, rhythms, and harmonies.

Points of Interest

• Messiaen served in the French army during World War II (1939). He was a prisoner for two years in a German prison camp in Silesca, where he composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time).
• He was an elected member of many organizations, ranging from the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
• Messiaen wrote the two-volume work The Technique of My Musical Language in 1957.
• He married one of his students, the pianist Yvonne Loriod.
• To get a sense of his style, here is a video recording of Messiaen improvising.

Works

• La Nativité du Seigneur
• Le Corps glorieux
• Messe de la Pentecôte
• Livre d'orgue
• L'Ascension
• Meditations sur le mystére de la Sainte Trinite

For details, see the Wikipedia article on Olivier Messiaen.

List of Organ Works

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Opus	French Title	English Translation	Year
Op. ??	Esquisse modale	???	1927 (unpub.)
Op. ??	Le banquet céleste	The heavenly banquet	1928
Op. ??	L'hôte aimable des âmes	???	1928 (unpub.)
Op. ??	Variations écossaises	???	1928 (unpub.)
Op. ??	Offrande au Saint-Sacrament	???	1930-35 (unpub.)
Op. ??	Diptyque	Diptych	1930
Op. ??	Apparition de l'église éternelle	Apparition of the eternal church	1932
Op. ??	L'ascension	The Ascension	1932-33
Op. ??	La Nativité du Seigneur	The Lord's nativity	1935
Op. ??	Les corps glorieux	Glorious bodies	1939
Op. ??	Messe de la Pentecôte	Pentecost mass	1949-50
Op. ??	Livre d'orgue	???	1951-2
Op. ??	Verset pour la Fête de la dédicace	Verse for the festival of dedication	1960
Op. ??	Monodie	???	1963
Op. ??	Méditations sur le mystèrede la Sainte Trinité	Meditations on the mystery of the Holy Trinity	1969
Op. ??	Livre du Saint Sacrament	Book of the Holy Sacrament	1984
Op. ??	Prelude	???	???? (unpub.)

Background and General Perspectives on Performing Messiaen Organ Works

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Registration and Organs

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See the footnote in the "Notes" section at the bottom of the page

Fingering and Pedaling

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Articulation and Phrasing

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Ornamentation

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Tempo and Meter

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Scores and Editions

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Recordings

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Free Online

Messiaen - L'Ascension, for solo organ, performed by Olivier Latry

Olivier Messiaen - improvisation "Puer Natus Est", performed by Olivier Messiaen

Pay to Listen

• Complete Organ Works as recorded by Hans-Ola Ericsson on NAXOS

Other Resources

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Notes

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