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The 'really' complete organ works by Messiaen. In 2014, Jon Gillock began releasing his recordings of Messiaen’s Complete Organ Works on the Raven label and the project is now finished with the addition of a recently discovered transcription entitled 'Vie pour Dieu des Ressuscités '. They have been recorded on the new organ by Pascal Quoirin (St. Didier, France) at The Church of the Ascension, NYC. He participated in the design of this French organ, which is ideal for Messiaen’s music. Although the acoustic in the church is excellent and warm, it is not terribly reverberant. This aspect provides an added dimension to this music because one can hear all the detail of the compositions, which are not hidden by an overly reverberant space. This acoustic is similar to that found in concert halls, where orchestras perform Messiaen’s music. These recordings show that this unusual body of music can function in more than one setting. On January 15, 1974, Jon Gillock gave the New York premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité at The Church of the Ascension, NYC. That single performance launched him into a career as a concert artist almost over night, giving premieres of this fabulous work from coast to coast. The following year, he gave the first New York performance of Messiaen’s then Complete Works for Organ — the Livre du Saint Sacrement had not yet been written — in a series of five concerts. Soon afterwards, he met Messiaen who invited Gillock to visit him in Paris. In 1977, Gillock went to Paris to study with his Maître at the Paris Conservatory. In 1986, Messiaen presented Gillock with a copy of his manuscript for the new Livre du Saint Sacrement , authorizing him to give performances of this epic masterpiece before its publication. Again, Gillock gave the New York premiere, which was again followed by a transcontinental tour premiering this piece around the country to wide critical and public acclaim. He has given several other special New York performances of this work — in 1988, to celebrate Messiaen’s 80th birthday; in 1992, as a memorial tribute to Messiaen at the time of his death; and in 1996, for the opening concert of the Convention of the American Guild of Organists that celebrated their 100th anniversary. The work, Vie pour Dieu des Ressuscités was recently discovered (while the Messiaen collection was being catalogued at the Bibliothèque de France) within the manuscript of Les Corps glorieux on the back of the first movement (Subtililté des Corps glorieux ) and seems to have been considered by Messiaen for the second movement of that work. The work itself is a transcription for organ of the fourth movement from Fête des belles Eaux entitled L'Eau, a transcription of which became the fifth movement of Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps (Praise to the Eternity of Jesus ). Because Messiaen gave the organ transcription a characteristic subtitle from the scriptures: "Alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord; charity never faileth." - St. Paul, letter to the Romans 6:11 and I Corinthians 13:8, and its substantial 13min duration, must have been seriously considered at the time. Jon Gillock provides extensive notes in the CD booklet on this and all the works recorded along with photographs and organ details that are sumptuously presented in all six jewel cases (there are six releases three of which are double CDs for the price of one). Nine CDs in all from Raven Compact Discs here . Jon Gollock gave all the New York premieres of every organ piece by Messiaen since 1974: 1974 NY Premiere of Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité 1975 First New York performance of Messiaen’s Complete Works for Organ 1987 NY Premiere of Livre du Saint Sacrement (from the manuscript) 1999 American and NY Premieres of three then-recently discovered pieces: Monodie Offrande au Saint Sacrement (from the manuscript) Prélude (from the manuscript) 2022 World premiere recording of Vie pour Dieu des Ressuscités (from the manuscript, unpublished)

CD Reviews Visions Tamara Stefanovich and Pierre-Laurent Aimard (pianos). Visions de l’Amen (Messiaen) – Carillon Nocturne (from Suite No.3, Op.18 “Pieces Impromptues”) (Enescu) – Prayer Bell Sketch, Op.29 (Knussen) – Clock IV (from Harrison’s Clocks) – Birtwistle). Pentatone PTC 5186 957. Release Date: 23-09-2022 Ever since hearing Tamara Stefanovich and Pierre-Laurent Aimard perform Visions de l’Amen at St. John’s Smith Square, London on the 25 January 2017, I have longed for a recording of the work by these two champions of Messiaen’s music and at last Pentatone have delivered. This recording was made in July 2021 in the Stefaniensaal, Congress Graz, Austria. Although Visions de l’Amen was composed after Messiaen’s release from the prisoner of war camp in 1941, Paris was still under German Occupation in 1943 when he began work on the piece after a commission from impresario Denise Tual. From the outset, Messiaen knew it would be a work for two pianos and that he would perform it alongside the brilliant young pianist Yvonne Loriod who had appeared in his first class at the Paris Conservatoire in May 1941. Nigel Simeone’s booklet notes details the progress towards the first performance and reveals some fascinating facts and accounts surrounding the work. The Piano I part was assigned to Yvonne Loriod and the writing explores the bells, birdsong, virtuoso passagework and rhythmic complexities while Piano II handles the thematic material and controls the pace of the work. In this recording Piano I is Tamara Stefanovich and Piano II, Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Loriod and Messiaen recorded the work in 1949 on six 12” 78s on French Contrepoint label but for many years the Messiaen’s 1962 recording on Vega had been a benchmark and the one that is most faithful to the score. Irén Marik and John Ranck made a recording c.1956 and performed it at the Deepest Valley Theatre, USA in 1965 then the Labèque’s took it on in 1969 under Messiaen's supervision. Lately of course many couples have ventured into Messiaen’s world of creation, spinning planets, the agony of Jesus and Jugement, desire and consummation, some with variable results it has to be said. In this recording Tamara Stefanovich and Pierre-Laurent Aimard have taken the work to another level in a performance that not only has bucket loads of technical command and virtuosity but also immense sensitivity and pianism of the highest order that is entirely at the service of the music. ‘Amen de la Création’ opens the work and in many performances it is so often rushed and devoid of Messiaen’s instruction of ‘Very slow, mysterious and solemn’. Not here, the tempo is perfect and the dynamic build well measured. Aimard produces an almost tam tam-like sonority in the depths of the piano that complement the shafts of light from Stefanovich’s Piano I. The climax of the movement where Piano II has timeless broken chord flourishes is perfectly timed with no distortion of line in Piano I. The energized ‘Amen des étoiles, de la planète à l’anneau’ reveals precise tempo changes (seldom found in some performances) and absolute synchronicity in the stabs. Aimard does of course have some advantage over others in having studied with Loriod and Messiaen and began playing the work from the age of fifteen. His insight and interpretation of the ‘Bien moderé – douloureux en pleurant’ (painful and crying) section in ‘Amen de l’agonie de Jésus’ is unutterably moving and his finger independence in the chords of ‘Amen du Désir’ is astonishing. Both pianists have a conjoined sense of ensemble that is clearly demonstrated in ‘Amen des Anges, des Saints, du chant des oiseaux’ where Piano II dances exuberantly beneath the excited chatterings of the birds in Piano I. The only ‘surprise’ I had on my first hearing was the tempo chosen for the opening of ‘Amen de la Consommation’ which is faster than the score indicates, but again, Stefanovich and Aimard come up trumps by balancing this with a sudden gear change to a slower pulse at the ‘ppp’ heavenly bells section before the ‘Un peu plus vif’. Here, Stefanovich does well to capture most of the accented rhythmic character in the lower part of Piano I and after some super-human glittering passagework alongside vibrant, dazzling dynamic colours from Aimard, the final fortissimo A major chord is allowed to ring on into paradise for a full 53” Despite some over enthusiastic and noisy pedal work in ‘Amen du Jugement’ and some heavy breathing, the recording quality is superb and this performance I’m sure will be unsurpassed, in my lifetime at least. ©MB MESSIAEN III Intégrale de l’oeuvre pour piano solo Haruka Miyazaki (Piano) Huit Preludes, La Fauvette Des Jardins, La Dame de Shalott. Release date 10 November 2019. 299Music HMV Japan Over the past 20 years or so the number of performances and recordings of Messiaen’s music has steadily grown in Japan although for those of us living outside the country (especially in Europe) it has been notoriously difficult to obtain CDs and when we can they prove to be very expensive when import and customs duty is slammed on. This said, it is often the case that us ‘foreigners’ are amply rewarded with exquisitely produced products and fine performances. Haruka Miyazaki has embarked on a journey claiming to record all the solo piano works by Messiaen and this is the third in the series. Volumes ‘Messiaen I and II’ are devoted to the Catalogue d’oiseaux and I have yet to listen or obtain these but I was particularly intrigued by the collection of works on Messiaen III as it included La Dame de Shalott, Messiaen’s Opus 1 inspired by the Tennyson poem and composed when he was just eight years old. The CD opens with the 8 Preludes Messiaen’s first published work. Composed when he was twenty he had already a passionate love of birds but without the knowledge of how to write down their songs. However, he did have an innate sense of sound-colour and the Preludes draw on his developing work with modes of limited transposition. There are obvious nods to Debussy and Ravel but Messiaen never regarded the work as impressionistic. Miyazaki has an ideal touch to convey the musical colours and shape of the pieces as well as a clear sense of melodic and harmonic balance. There is just one (repeated) mis-read chord in No.2 (Chant d’extase dans un paysage triste) that takes away a little of the intended spice. La Fauvette des Jardins (The Garden Warbler) 1970 is the main filling in this musical sandwich. Messiaen’s longest and most substantial piano solo (dedicated to birdsong) to date. The piece traces a sequence of natural events at Petichet (Messiaen’s summer retreat) from night time through daybreak, morning, afternoon, evening then full circle to night. Pianists taking on this work find themselves having to be their own ‘film director’ in the sense that the birdsongs are only part of this vast canvas that also includes ‘the night’, the undulating water of Lake Laffrey, the alders and above all the Grand Serre mountain, whose colourful hues change as the sun passes over during the day. Miyazaki rises to these challenges with unshaken security and a sense of drama and occasion. The song of the Fauvette des jardins is always forte and often tenaciously relentless and the playing remains persuasive and well shaped with all tenuto’s and accents observed, making this version comparable to the Loriod version of 1973 on Erato that was always the benchmark. The CD concludes with La Dame de Shalott Messiaen’s first acknowledged composition worthy of inclusion in the catalogue of his works. It was never published but Yvonne Loriod recorded a version in 1975 as part of the then ‘Integrale de l’oeuvre pour piano’ on Erato. This is what Messiaen stated in the Erato booklet: “In this “Lady of Shalott” a child’s imagination runs unleashed. Nothing is missing: the castle, the inflection of the spoken word, the song of Lady Shalott (weaving!), Sir Lancelot on horseback, the broken mirror, the tapestry which flies out of the window, the falling willow leaves and the death of the lady who lies in a boat drifting down the river (barcarole!)”. Roger Muraro delivers a guided tour of La Dame de Shalott as part of the bonus DVD in his Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus presentation on Accord. He uses a manuscript supplied (reluctantly) by Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen and the music is that of her 1975-recorded version. This version is in three parts and here are the names of each musical ‘scene’: Part 1 – The magic castle – peasant’s conversations. Part 2 – The weaver and La Dame d’Shalott singing at the spinning wheel. Part 3 – Sir Lancelot rides on horseback – La Dame sees the knight – The magic mirror breaks – The wind blows the tapestry – The parting of the willow branches where she sees the boat – Finally she dies and drifts away in the boat. Miyazaki was intrigued with La Dame de Shalott and felt she should include it in a ‘complete works’ recording. To achieve this she had to make a trip to the BNF in France to gain access to the original manuscript, which she duly did but was not able to remove the script or take photos. However, they did allow her to copy it in pencil by hand. So this is the world premiere of the ‘version non remaniée’ (unedited). This version begins as above with Part 1 and 2 and mostly the same material as the Loriod (but for a couple of either mis-read or changed chords in the spinning wheel scene). Then the music proceeds straight into a version of the final scene where La Dame dies and floats away in the boat, after which the piece repeats from the start. So we don’t get Sir Lancelot riding on horseback – La Dame sees the knight – The magic mirror breaks – The wind blows the tapestry – or the parting of the willow branches where she sees the boat. Nonetheless, after 102 years we finally have the original version of La Dame de Shalott and we must thank Haruka Miyazaki for her resourcefulness and dedication. Meticulous care has been taken in the production of this CD, however the empty concert hall acoustic proved a little too reverberant to my ears to suit a sense of ‘outdoors’ in La Fauvette des Jardins. ©M.Ball Olivier Messiaen Live: Improvisations inédites La Praye Disques I stumbled on La Praye, a tiny web site and equally tiny independent label specializing in music for the organ, purely by chance. Based in Rully, France and Montreal, Quebec their small but highly significant catalogue revealed this 2 CD set of Messiaen improvising at the organ of La Trinité. That these recordings came about at all is something of a small two pronged miracle, and is thanks to the ingenuity of Olivier Glandaz the organ builder who since 1977 has been responsible for the maintenance of the organ at La Trinité. It was his idea to make recordings of Messiaen's improvisations during some of the religious ceremonies and Sunday Masses at the church. The other prong of this small miracle is down to Maxime Patel the producer of the CD. Apparently Maxime Patel was approached by Jeanne Loriod in 2001 with an idea to mark the 10th anniversary of Messiaen's death with a release of a CD including Fête des Belles Eaux. Sadly this project was never realized due to the sudden death of Jeanne Loriod the same year. So Patel decided to honour the occasion with the release of these improvisations. Olivier Glandaz recorded these improvisations between 1984 and 1987 using 'non professional' equipment and thanks to the remastering skills of Laurent Olivier we are presented with nearly two and a half hours of the maître at work. Armed only with his little well used book of Gregorian chant melodies, Messiaen weaves his magic over an often spellbound congregation who respond with spontaneous applause giving thanks for bringing into focus musically the lesson that had been read. There are 29 improvisations in all displaying all aspects of Messiaen's organ technique and fondness for the characteristic combination registers of the Trinité organ in styles ranging from the sublime Priére du Christ montant vers son Pére (L'Ascension) and Priére avant la communion (Livre du Saint Sacrement) to fiery toccata moments a la Dieu Parmi Nous. Organ music has always been notorious to record because of the inherent nature of location. The rumble of traffic, the slamming of the odd door has to be accepted on the best recordings and yes there is background noise and yes there is the odd clunking of furniture down below in the church but this never dims the experience of hearing this music in the spirit it was performed and for those of us who were never lucky enough to be part of the congregation at La Trinité these recordings are surely the next best thing. There is a DVD available (see 'resources' page) which features Messiaen improvising, again an invaluable document but one which lacks the spontaneity induced by a 'live' audience or congregation and that's what makes these CDs so important both to the Messiaen scholar and the interested listener. Sadly these CDs are no longer available commercially (2020) Dame Gillian Weir and Olivier Messiaen GILLIAN WEIR THE LEGENDARY MESSIAEN RECORDINGS REISSUED "Our generation is the fortunate recipient of this remarkable testament to Gillian Weir's intellectual, spiritual and musical affinity with Messiaen's music. Messiaen's own recordings inspire us, but Gillian Weir's transport us to a seemingly ideal plane, where music, technique and organ sound blend into something greater than their parts." [Organists' Review, February 1995] In the year which marks the 10th Anniversary of the composer's death, Priory Records announces the reissue on its own label of Gillian Weir's legendary recordings of the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen. When the set was originally issued by Collins Classics, critics all over the world were unanimous not only in their praise of the performances, but also in their respect for the fundamental musical affinity between performer and composer. "This corpus of organ music - incontrovertibly the most profound and significant of the twentieth century - has here found a recording which in itself is a landmark in the history of recorded sound" wrote one critic. "There is no doubt that Gillian Weir's recording of the complete Messiaen is the reference by which all other performances will now be judged", wrote another. BBC Music Magazine chose the set as one of its "Best CD's of 1994". The complete cycle - which Messiaen personally urged Gillian Weir to commit to CD - was recorded on the famous organ of Aarhus Cathedral in Denmark during January and February 1994: the original recordings were made in association with BBC Radio 3. Priory have remastered the recordings and made the series available separately for the first time: there are four single CD's, and one double CD, the latter including the Livre du Saint Sacrement. Dame Gillian herself has written booklet notes for the series, reflecting many decades of association with the composer and his organ music. The first CD [PRCD 921 - La Nativite du Seigneur, Le Banquet Celeste, L'Apparition de l'Eglise Eternelle] was issued on 29 October 2002 when Dame Gillian opened the 2002/3 Organ Recital series at London's Royal Festival Hall. These are superb recordings and Priory have done a magnificent job in making them available again with excellent presentation enhanced by Mark Rowan-Hull's artwork inspired and based on Messiaen's music. The fifth and sixth volume are combined into this final 2-CD set. The works include Livre du Sacrement, and three new additional works published after Messiaen's death: • Prélude • Monodie • Offrande au Saint Sacrement These three pieces were not in the original issue of this series, but were recently recorded for this re-release series on the same organ at Århus Cathedral. This disc also contains an exceptional 30-page booklet that is becoming a notable hallmark of each disc in this series: • Notes by the player herself, recognised as a Messiaen authority throughout the world, writer on his organ music in Faber's The Messiaen Companion, and and able to give unique insights into the way a performer thinks about the music; • Reproductions of original paintings by Mark Rowan-Hull who is famous for translating into visual terms his vision of the organ music of Messiaen; • Articles by distinguished scientists from Oxford and London Universities on the latest research into synaesthesia; • Stoplists of the Århus organ as well as La Trinité, with descriptions of Messiaen's experiences and changes he desired on that instrument; • List of organ works, when and if they were published and performed; • Timeline of important milestone's in Messiaen's life. “Gillian Weir's cycle remains the best of all, and she, playing the marvellous Frobenius instrument at Århus, brings that special spaciousness and intensity to the Livre that distinguishes her cycle as a whole... It is, quite simply, one of the finest organ recordings ever made.” Arnold Whittall, October 2004 Awards issue of Gramophone Visit Gillian Weir's Homepage The complete cycle - which Messiaen personally urged Gillian Weir to commit to CD - was recorded on the famous organ of Aarhus Cathedral in Denmark during January and February 1994: the original recordings were made in association with BBC Radio 3. Priory have remastered the recordings and made the series available separately for the first time: there are four single CD's, and one double CD, the latter including the Livre du Saint Sacrement. Dame Gillian herself has written booklet notes for the series, reflecting many decades of association with the composer and his organ music. The first CD [PRCD 921 - La Nativite du Seigneur, Le Banquet Celeste, L'Apparition de l'Eglise Eternelle] was issued on 29 October 2002 when Dame Gillian opened the 2002/3 Organ Recital series at London's Royal Festival Hall. These are superb recordings and Priory have done a magnificent job in making them available again with excellent presentation enhanced by Mark Rowan-Hull's artwork inspired and based on Messiaen's music.

A selection of books relating to Olivier Messiaen. This is not a definitive bibliography but rather a selection of key publications by scholars and authors from around the world. Proceedings of the International Symposium “Olivier Messiaen in Toul, 1940,” Published by the City of Toul, Toul 2025, p. 190, format 17 x 22 cm, edited by Prof. Jerzy Stankiewicz, initiator and organizer of the conference in Toul, from April 30 to May 2, 2022. The conference was attended by over 20 people, including musicologists, composers, and musicians from Poland and France. The volume opens with an Avant-Propos by the mayor of Toul, Mr. Alde Harmand, a great patron of the arts and of this conference, and a farewell to three outstanding personalities who were to participate in it: René de Obaldia (Académie de France), Joanna Bruzdowicz-Titel (a Polish composer who studied with Messiaen), and Claude Samuel (Radio France Musique). After the announcement of the gala concert held in Krakow on the occasion of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a concert (Messiaen's Vingt regards, Polish pianist Dominika Peszko) announcing the conference in Toul, the preambles are presented - introductory statements by Alde Harmand, Senator Christian Cambon, a message from René de Obaldia, and a preamble by Jerzy Stankiewicz. This is followed by the full program of the three-day conference, concerts, film screenings, exhibitions, and a tribute paid by conference participants in Germiny, the place where Olivier Messiaen and his three companions were imprisoned (June 22, 1940). The text section of the book opens with Jerzy Stankiewicz's keynote paper « Olivier Messiaen prisonnier de guerre au camp de Toul, 1940 », a historical analysis of events from Messiaen's imprisonment in Germiny and his detention in two Frontstalag camps, 162 Toul and 161 Champs-le-Boeuf, as well as in Brabois-Villers before his transport to Görlitz (facts that are rarely mentioned in the world literature on Messiaen). In the second fundamental paper, « Sur la guerre et l’occupation allemande à Toul en 1939/1940 », Vincent Lamarque, a historian from the local Michel-Hachet Museum, presents the historical background of the war events in the city and hypotheses about the location of the hitherto undiscovered Frontstalag 162, with rich archival and illustrative material from the Museum in Toul. This part of the conference is complemented by a paper by Marie-Gabrielle Soret (curator of the Messiaen collection at the BnF), « Le Fonds d’Archives Olivier Messiaen – Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen à la Bibliothèque Nationale de France ». In the second part of the program, Polish composers who studied in Olivier Messiaen's class presented their reflections and memories: Marta Ptaszyńska (Chicago), Sławomir Czarnecki (Warsaw), Messiaen's last private student, and French composer Iradj Sahbai (Strasbourg), as well as Jerzy Mazaraki, a former Polish diplomat whose father, Mieczysław Mazaraki , was imprisoned alongside Messiaen in Görlitz. The conference will be complemented by remarks from Pascal Vigneron on recording organ works on the organ of Toul Cathedral (CD Forlane) and Michel Gueritte (Association Olivier Messiaen a Fuligny), a distant cousin of Messiaen, on the need to recover the Messiaen family home in Fuligny, and Jerzy Stankiewicz's Discours dans la Cathédrale Saint -Etienne, « Olivier Messiaen, un véritable artiste croyant », and a slide show ‘diaporama’ of archival photos of Olivier Messiaen's life and international career, including Messiaen's visit to Poland in 1989 ; as well as a note on Joseph Poussot, inventor of the monochord, kept at the Museum in Toul. The volume continues with biographical notes on all conference participants and the works performed: O. Messiaen (Mélodie dans le style de Mozart, Thème et variations, Quatuor pour la fin du Temps - First performance of the masterpiece in Toul), Polish composers: Jakub Polaczyk (Un mémorial dans le vent du Temps (a work commissioned for Toul), Joanna Bruzdowicz-Titel, Sławomir Czarnecki, Iraj Sahbai, Marta Ptaszyńska, and works by O. Messiaen for solo Martenot and with piano (premiere from the manuscript Monodie en ¼ tons pour une Onde Martenot seule) collected and performed by Thomas Bloch and Dimitri Vassilakis. Notes on the films shown: Messiaen et les oiseaux, dir. Denise Tual, 1971; Le Charme des impossibilités, dir. Nicolás Buenaventura Vidal, 2006; For the End of Times, dir. Paul Moon, 2019. Notes on two exhibitions: Olivier Messiaen, Quatuor pour la fin du Temps et la Pologne (curator Prof. Małgorzata Woźna-Stankiewicz ) and Les oiseaux de Messiaen en Mazurie en Pologne, photographs by Polish photographer Boleslaw Słomkowski (Olecko). This richly illustrated volume also includes two previously unpublished portraits of Messiaen after his return from captivity in Görlitz, taken by the renowned photographer IZIS (Manuel Bidermanas). The volume of post-conference proceedings concludes with a reprint of an article from « L'Est républicain » (September 19, 2022) about the inauguration ceremony for a new street in Toul, which will be named after Olivier Messiaen, held as a result of the conference in Toul described in this text. BibTop Olivier Messiaen, man and artist in Stalag VIII A in Görlitz by Jerzy Stankiewicz. [in Polish]. Preface of Claude Samuel. Publishing House Musica Iagellonica, Kraków 2014. ISBN 978-83-7099-201-9. 192 pages, format 130 x 200. And [in Ukrainian]. Two Prefaces of Stefania Pawłyszyn and Claude Samuel . Scientific Society named after Shevchenko in Lviv, Posvit Publishing House, Drohobych 2019. ISBN 978-617-7624-97-3. 216 pages, hard cover format 135 x 210 mm. This book contains a chronicle of life and creativity and provides a detailed and insightful background to all aspects of Messiaen's life and work. Especially important is the chapter on Messiaen's captivity in Stalag VIIIA Görlitz, that contains new facts of historical research unknown in world musicology : two premieres of the Quartet at the End of Time (unfinished in December 1940) and the premiere of the entire piece (January 15, 1941). In addition, recommendations have been added on how to listen to Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps as well as a bibliography of works. The book is addressed to the scientific environment of musicologists, art historians, teachers and students. It is written in an accessible literary language and contains several unpublished photographs (from Messiaen's visit to Poland during the performance of three scenes from Saint Francis of Assisi in 1989). This book, translated into Ukrainian by musicologist Volodymyr Hrabowsky and provided with a second Preface by the outstanding professor of musicology Stephanie Pavlyshyn from Lviv, is the first book about Olivier Messiaen published in Ukraine. Messiaen in Context Edited by Robert Scholl. Cambridge University Press ISBN 1108487912 November 2023 This book provides fresh perspectives on the contexts within which Messiaen the composer worked, the intellectual currents that influenced him, and the influence he himself exerted on twentieth-century music. It enables a holistic understanding of Messiaen in relation to the wider world, including his engagement with and refiguration of theology through music, the performance and reception of his work, the ways in which his aesthetics and conceptual universe have been understood by his students, and how his legacy continues to evolve. Reappraising known facts and adding new interpretations from a variety of inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary viewpoints. OLIVIER MESSIAEN A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY This groundbreaking biography offers fresh perspectives on the life, ideas and music of French twentieth-century composer, organist and ornithologist Olivier Messiaen. Drawing on previously unexplored sketches and archival material, Robert Sholl seamlessly combines elements of biography, musicology, theology, philosophy, psychoanalysis and aesthetics to present a nuanced perspective on Messiaen’s work. This book examines the profound impact of Messiaen’s devout Catholicism, which found expression through his work as a church organist, his engagement with birdsong, his interaction with Surrealism and his influence on major musical figures of the latter twentieth century. Unlike previous biographies, this book also considers the perspectives of Messiaen’s contemporaries and students, providing a comprehensive understanding of his life and artistic legacy. REAKTION BOOKS 1 May 2024 - 9781789148657 234 mm x 156 mm | 208 pages Hardback | £25 World Rights: Reaktion Quartet for the End of Time -On Music, Grief & Birdsong Michael Symmons Roberts Publisher ‏ : ‎ Jonathan Cape Publication date ‏ : ‎ 17 April 2025 Language ‏ : ‎ English Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1787331857 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1787331853 A personal reckoning with grief, doubt, faith and poetry set to one of the most celebrated musical works of the twentieth century, from the award-winning poet and librettist. The story goes like this: on a freezing winter night in 1941, a new piece of chamber music was performed to a crowd of prisoners of war on a three-stringed cello, clarinet, violin and pub piano with sticky keys. It was the premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du Temps.Listeners since then have been captivated by the ecstatic music and mythology of Messiaen’s masterpiece. Michael Symmons Roberts’ own lifelong fascination with the Quartet– having chanced upon it in a record shop in his late teens and fallen in love with its title - leads him on a quest to understand its enigmatic power. His fascination – at times frustration – with Messiaen’s vision opens into an exploration of grief, of personal faith and doubt, of the end of time and what may lie beyond it. Interwoven with poetry and wit, this book is an expansive evocation of music, loss, hope and time, seen through the lens of the Quartet's technicolour, apocalyptic vision. As one of only a few pieces not primarily inspired by Messiaen's Catholic faith, but by human love as described in the romance of Tristan and Isolde and elsewhere, the Turangalîla-symphonie is contextualized in Messiaen's oeuvre and as a genre piece. Using previously untranslated information from Messiaen's own description of the work in his Traité, close analysis of the music seeks to demystify some of the complex innovations he made to his musical language, especially in the areas of rhythm and orchestration. This Element pays special attention to the fragmentary and elusive program which is explained with reference to Messiaen's fascination with surrealism at this time. Information is included on the commission and composition of the piece, its premiere by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein, its revision by Messiaen in 1990, and its reception history in both live and recorded performances. Series: Elements in Music since 1945 Online ISBN: 9781009165723 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Print publication: 05 October 2023 Messiaen's Musical Language on the Holy Child Cagdas Soylar provides a detailed analysis of two religiously motivated pieces from his Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus (Twenty Gazes upon the Infant Jesus), one of the most remarkable solo piano works of the twentieth-century, to explore how he integrates the Christian theology into his musical language. Je dors, mais mon cœur veille is a dialogue that represents Messiaen’s mystic love of God, whereas Regard des Anges is a celebration symbolizing the angels beholding the birth of Jesus Christ. Soylar explains how the entirely different subjects of the two pieces are articulated in the change of pitch collections and rhythmic structures, as well as how the changes of musical language through the use of the different pitch collections generate the formal structure that is related to the biblical source. WIPF & STOCK ISBN: 978-1-5326-6416-8 ©2018 Gaëtan Puaud is a long-time champion of Messiaen and his music and has held the position of director of the Festival de la Meije dedicated to Olivier Messiaen for 20 years. This first biography for the ' horizons collection ' not only traces Messiaen's life in music and the arts but also reveals how Messiaen's work was received and promoted outside of Europe. In particular the efforts of Russian pianist Gregory Haimovsky who single handedly introduced the music of Messiaen to the Soviet Union, with great courage and in spite of several persecutions. He himself was spiritually transformed by the music of Messiaen and premiered several works in Russia and made a couple of recordings for Melodiya, Russia's national record label. Bleu nuit éditeur EAN : 9782358840989 Horizons N°77 Parution : 01/2021 176 pages Format : 140 x 200 mm Gregory Heimovsky: A Pianist's Odyssey to Freedom University of Rochester Press; Illustrated edition (25 Jun. 2018) Language ‏ : ‎ English Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 280 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1580469310 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1580469319 Interlacing material from previously unknown Russian archives, original recordings, photographs, and essays, Gregory Haimovsky: A Pianist's Odyssey to Freedom is the story of an extraordinary Russian concert pianist who, fighting the cultural prohibitions of the USSR, eventually succeeded in performing and recording major works by the prominent French composer Olivier Messiaen. At the lowest point of his life, expelled from Moscow and exiled to a small provincial city, Haimovsky discovered Messiaen's oeuvre uncatalogued and hidden in the library of the Union of Soviet Composers. Haimovsky's intense studies and Soviet premieres of these banned compositions healed and liberated his mind, spirit, and artistic imagination. Messiaen's music also deepened and fueled Haimovsky's fierce personal and musical opposition to Soviet political and cultural doctrines. Told partly in Haimovsky's own words and supplemented by interviews with several performers who worked with him between 1960 and 1972 as well as stories from his correspondence with major Russian artists, writers, and musicians of the time, Marissa Silverman's vivid narrative sheds new light on relationships between twentieth-century Russian music, Soviet politics, and the culture wars that raged during and after Stalin's barbaric rule. Here is a very moving letter from Messiaen to Haimovsky, thanking him with all his heart for having struggled to introduce his music in Russia. (from Gregory Heimovsky's personal archive) Boydell Press ISBN-10: 1783270136 ISBN-13: 978-1783270132 The music critic Felix Aprahamian (1914-2005) was a remarkable self-made man whose enormous influence in musical circles was deeply founded in his practical experience of promoting music in London, notably British and French composers. Early on he became interested in the organ and was soon corresponding with the leading French names of the day - André Marchal, Charles Tournemire, Maurice Duruflé and the young Olivier Messiaen. Et Exspecto... Festival Messiaen au pays de la Meije - 20 ans d'utopie Raphaëlle Blin with the photos of Colin Samuels Gaëtan Puaud , fondateur du Festival Olivier Messiaen au Pays de la Meije Raphaëlle Blin , auteure et élève musicologue du Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris Anne Roubet, responsable des Éditions du Conservatoire See Home page for Special Offer purchase details. Roderick Chadwick and Peter Hill give a detailed account of the evolution of Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux and illuminates the Catalogue from a variety of angles: its historical significance, as a study of how mimicry of nature can be transformed into music of mesmeric originality, and as a guide that offers a wealth of fresh insights to listeners and performers. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9781107000315. Messiaen: Texts, Contexts, and Intertexts (1937-1948) t he late French literature scholar Richard Burton examines nine of Messiaen's works in the context of the broader French Catholic intellectual tradition. Burton creates a vivid picture of the previously unexamined spiritual and philosophical inspirations behind Messiaen's pivotal mid-century compositions. Oxford University Press ISBN: 9780190277949. Le Modèle et l'Invention. Olivier Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt. Yves Balmer, Thomas Lacôte et Christopher Brent Murray - préface deGeorge Benjamin. This book shows that Olivier Messiaen built his unique compositions by transforming the music he loved. Messiaen drew compositional material from eclectic sources ranging from the melodic curves of Mozart and Rameau to the irrational rhythms of Debussy and Jolivet; Publisher : Symétrie ISBN 978-2-36485-045-3 Four Last SongsAging and Creativity in Verdi, Strauss, Messiaen and Britten by Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon Though it exhausted him physically and emotionally, Messiaen at the age of seventy-five finished his only opera, Saint François d’Assise, which marked the pinnacle of his career. Britten, meanwhile, suffering from heart problems, refused surgery until he had completed his masterpiece, Death in Venice. For all four composers, age, far from sapping their creative power, provided impetus for some of their best accomplishments. University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 9780226420684 Olivier Messiaen: A Research and Information Guide, Second Edition, presents researchers with the most significant and helpful resources on Olivier Messiaen, one of the twentieth century's greatest composers. With multiple indices, this annotated bibliography will serve as an excellent tool for librarians, researchers, and scholars sorting through the massive amount of material in the field. The second edition has been fully revised and updated. Routledge ISBN 9781138106505. The Doctoral dissertation “The Sounds of the Rainbow” i s a study on La Nativité du Seigneur for organ by Olivier Messiaen. The work inquires especially: History of La Nativité Analysis of the musical language Relation between the musical language and Messiaen’s theological mind.The dissertation inquires expecially in depth the relationship between Messiaen and the synaesthetic painter Charles Blanc-Gatti, who painted nine pastels on La Nativité. A theology of the organ is also remarked. In Italian by Dario Paolini Quartet for the End of Time by Johanna Skibsrud Windmill Books,Language: English ISBN-10: 0099558629 A mesmerising tale of love, justice and the connections that transcend the passage of time, from the Giller prize-winning author Johanna Skibsrud. Visions of Amen: The Early Life and Music of Olivier Messiaen Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Language: English ISBN-10: 0802807623 ISBN-13: 978-0802807625 This book explores the enormous web of influences in the early part of Messiaens long life. The first section of the book provides an intellectual biography of Messiaens early life in order to make his (difficult) music more accessible to the general listener. The second section offers an analysis of and thematic commentaries on Messiaens pivotal work for two pianos, Visions of Amen, composed in 1943. Schloessers analysis includes timing indications corresponding to a downloadable performance of the work by accomplished pianists Stéphane Lemelin and Hyesook Kim. IL SAINT FRANÇOIS D'ASSISE DI OLIVIER MESSIAEN Book by Carola Lambruschini - 450 pages, 90 musical examples, a wealth of synoptical tables - italian language ABEditore, Milano, 2013. Collana: Saggistica musicale. ISBN-10: 8865511389 ISBN-13: 978-8865511381 Messiaen Perspectives 1: Sources and Influences. Ashgate ISBN: 978-1-4094-2695-0 Edited by Christopher Dingle , Birmingham Conservatoire, UK and Robert Fallon , Carnegie Mellon School of Music, USA Sources and Influences presents many new primary sources, including discussion of Messiaen’s birdsong cahiers, sketch and archival materials for his Prix de Rome entries and war-time Portique, along with performance practice insights and theological inspiration in works as diverse as Visions de l’Amen, Harawi, Timbres-durées and the organ Méditations. The volume places the composer within a broader historical and cultural framework than has previously been attempted, ranging from specific influences to more general contexts. As a centrepiece, the book includes an examination of the impact of one of the greatest influences upon Messiaen, Yvonne Loriod. Messiaen Perspectives 2: Techniques, Influence and Reception Ashgate ISBN: 978-1-4094-2696-7 Techniques, Influence and Reception explores Messiaen’s imprint on recent musical life. The first part scrutinizes his compositional technique in terms of counterpoint, spectralism and later piano music, while the second charts ways in which Messiaen’s influence is manifest in the music and careers of Ohana, Xenakis, Murail and Quebecois composers. The third part includes case studies of Messiaen’s reception in Italy, Spain and the USA. The volume also includes an ornithological catalogue of Messiaen’s birds, collates information on the numerous ‘tombeaux’ pieces he inspired, and concludes with a Critical Catalogue of Messiaen’s Musical Works. Messiaen's Musical Techniques: The Composer's View and Beyond by Gareth Healey. April 2013. Ashgate ISBN: 978-1-4094-4825- 9 Despite Messiaen's position as one of the greatest technical innovators of the twentieth century, his musical language has not been comprehensively defined and investigated. The composer's 1944 theoretical study, The Technique of My Musical Language, expounds only its initial stages, and while his posthumously published Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie contains detailed explanations of selected techniques, in most cases the reader is left to define these more precisely by observing them in the context of Messiaen's analyses of his own works. Gareth Healey charts the development and interconnections, considers their relationship with formal structures, and applies them in refined and extended form to works for which Messiaen himself left no published analysis. The method of analysing Messiaen's harmonies outlined in this book has been implemented in software available for download at garethhealey.com Les Chants du silence Broché – Béatrice MARCHAL Delatour France; Édition : Collection Pensée Musicale dirigée par Jean-Michel Bardez Language : Français-ISBN-10: 2752100671 ISBN-13: 978-2752100672 On a souvent répété, à la suite d'Olivier Messiaen lui-même, que sa mère Cécile Sauvage avait, en écrivant L'Ame en bourgeon, déterminé sa vocation d'artiste et de musicien. Tout n'était pas dit pour autant et la découverte récente de manuscrits longtemps cachés a révélé quel drame intime avait précipité la mélancolie puis la mort de cette femme bien différente de l'image convenue qui nous en est restée. Devant le malheur de sa mère, l'enfant impuissant aurait alors exploité ses dons musicaux hors du commun comme l'opportunité d'instaurer une relation soustraite à l'inavouable, aussi intense que les mots. L'enfermement dans la douleur et le mutisme aurait ainsi trouvé remède dans une musique tissée de silence. Collection Pensée Musicale Birdsong in the music of Olivier Messiaen by David Kraft Arosa Press. ISBN 978-1477517796 In this book, Dr David Kraft surveys and evaluates Messiaen's use of birdsong and formulates a chronological and critical taxonomy of his music, covering the species involved and his evolving methods of manipulation, instrumentation and harmonic incorporation. He also explores issues relating to authenticity and modification with respect to the incorporation of birdsong in Messiaen's music. Further, he develops appropriate graphical and tabular methods in order to help the reader better to understand his music. MESSIAEN'S FINAL WORKS by CHRISTOPHER DINGLE (Ashgate, ISBN 9780754606338) Messiaen's Final Works examines the seven works which Messiaen completed after Saint François and argues that, following the crisis provoked by the opera, his music underwent a discernible change in style. In addition, the book uses the works in question to examine the characteristics of Messiaen's music, with a particular emphasis on an often overlooked aspect of his technique: harmony. In the process, many other questions are addressed, such as the ways in which Messiaen utilizes birdsong within a larger structure. Messiaen's Final Works is in three parts. Part I begins with a brief historical survey before discussing Saint François d'Assise as the work which defines everything that follows. Part II examines the series of miniatures whose significance belies their (relatively) modest proportions. Not only do they provide an indication of Messiaen's artistic self-confidence, but they also contain important links with his final masterpiece, Éclairs sur l'au-delà.. This sublime eleven movement work for large orchestra is the subject of Part III, and is the focus of the book. Each movement is analysed in turn, before the work is considered as an entity and its hidden structure and motivic cohesion is discussed. OLIVIER MESSIAEN-JOURNALIST: by Stephen Broad. Published Ashgate: (ISBN: 978-0-7546-0876-9) Contents: Preface; Introduction; The Journalism: Articles for la revue musicale; Articles for La Sirène (later La Syrinx); Articles for Le monde musical; Articles for La Page musicale; Articles for various other journals; A catalogue of Messiaen's journalism; Selected personalia; Bibliography; Index. RELIGION UND GLAUBE Religion and Faith as Essential Artistic Energies in the Works of Olivier Messiaen and Other Composers Herausgeber: Goetze, Albrecht U. Hiekel, Jörn P.; Goetze, Albrecht; Hiekel, Jörn P. Published by:Wolke Verlagsges. ISBN 10: 3936000263. Olivier Messiaen THE CENTENARY PAPERS Edited by Judith Crispin In 2008 musicians and scholars world-wide celebrated the centenary of Olivier Messiaen's birth. One of the most influential composers in living memory, Messiaen is remembered as a great nature poet - a mystic whose music had a profound effect on the Twentieth-century avant-garde. This volume of essays, marking the occasion of Messiaen's centenary, was authored by musicologists, performers, composers, ornithologists and researchers from Australia, Germany, France, North America, Japan, New Zealand, Serbia and England. The writers, internationally acclaimed experts as well as emerging scholars, span three generations - living testimony to the diverse and lasting sphere of Messiaen's legacy. ISBN: 9781443824989 - Cambridge Scholars Publishing The Miracle of Stalag 8A. Beauty Beyond the Horror by John William McMullen BIRD BRAIN PUBLISHING ASIN: B0040GJI6C - ISBN 978-0-9826255-2-151995 The Miracle of Stalag 8A is a retelling of the fascinating story of Olivier Messiaen's composition of his Quartet for the End of Time. The enigmatic Messiaen, an avant-garde composer and also a devout Catholic, along with Etienne Pasquier, an agnostic cellist, Henri Akoka, a Jewish Trotskyite Clarinetist, and Jean le Boulaire, an atheistic violinist, become the famous quartet of Stalag 8A. These four very different men collaborated to create musical history in the most unlikely of places. Messiaen's Quartet, composed in a Stalag, transforms man's inhumanity to man with hope. Olivier Messiaen - Dai canyons alle stelle by Peter Hill Pub: Il Saggiatore (Italian) EAN9788842814856 A century after his birth, Messiaen's work was missing in Italy. This gap is now filled by this book edited by the English pianist and musicologist Peter Hill, a former pupil of Messiaon and Yvonne Loriod. Here, broken down by gender, the vast production of the French master is addressed by scholars such as Wilfred Mellers, Jane Manning. Richard Steinitz, Paul Griffith and Hill himself. The work is completed by two introductory articles that emphasize the breadth of the cultural life and work of Messiaen: music of the Greeks, that of India and Japan, the song of birds, and structuralism Darmstadtium and more. Messiaen the Theologian. Edited by Andrew Shenton, Boston University, USA Ashgate. ISBN: 978-0-7546-66400 An international array of Messiaen scholars cover a wide variety of topics including Messiaen's personal spirituality, the context of Catholicism in France in the twentieth century, and comparisons between Messiaen and other artists such as Dante and T.S. Eliot. Interdisciplinary methodologies such as exegesis, theological studies and analysis are used to contribute to the understanding of several major works including Éclairs sur l'au-delá..., Sept Haïkaï and Saint François d'Assise. La Maison Dieu Olivier Messiaen, les couleurs del Parole. Publisher: Cerf (2 July 2009) Articles by: Heller - Toury - Guiberteau - Fort - Girault - Sakharov Language: French ASIN: B001VFNXUC Messiaen: Transcending Time (ISBN: 363909574X / 3-639-09574-X ) Mareli Stolp. Publisher: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Olivier Messiaen, one of the most prolific composers of the 20th Century, was a devout Catholic whose compositions were very often inspired by the ideals of his faith. A theme that recurrs often in his works is music's relationship to time, and the linear nature of the passage of time as human beings comprehend it. It is Messiaen's ideal to write music that aspires to reach a divine level, free from human constraints. The most important of these constraints is time, music being dependant on the linear passage of time. By using a variety of techniques, Messiaen tries to alter the linear nature of time, thus reaching Divinity on a symbolic level. This book discusses the reasons for Messiaen's attitude towards time in music. It also gives a thorough analyses of two major works, the Visions de l'Amen and the Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus, as examples of Messiaen's techniques for approaching time in music. Performing Messiaen's Organ Music: 66 Masterclasses by Jon Gillock. Publisher: Indiana University Press English ISBN-10: 0253353734 - ISBN-13: 978-0253353733 Messiaen was the most influential composer for the organ in the 20th century. Shaped by French tradition as well as the innovations of Debussy, Stravinsky, and Bartók, Messiaen developed a unique style that would become his signature. Using Messiaen's own analytical and aesthetic notes as a point of departure, Jon Gillock offers detailed commentary on the performance of Messiaen's 66 organ works. Gillock provides background information on the composition and premiere of each piece, a translation of Messiaen's related writings, and a systematic explanation of performance considerations. Gillock also supplies details about the organ at La Trinité in Paris, the instrument for which most of Messiaen's pieces were imagined. The Reinvention of Religious Music: Olivier Messiaen's Breakthrough Toward the Beyond by Sander van Maas. Fordham University Press ISBN-13: 9780823230587 On the basis of a careful analysis of Olivier Messiaen's work, this book argues for a renewal of our thinking about religious music. Addressing his notion of a “hyper-religious” music of sounds and colors, it aims to show that Messiaen has broken new ground. The work of Olivier Messiaen is well known for its inclusion of religious themes and gestures. These alone, however, do not seem enough to account for the religious status of the work. Arguing for a “breakthrough toward the beyond” on the basis of the synaesthetic experience of music, Messiaen invites a confrontation with contemporary theologians and post-secular thinkers. Starting from an analysis of his 1960s oratorio La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, this book arranges a moderated dialogue between Messiaen and the music theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, the phenomenology of revelation of Jean-Luc Marion, the rethinking of religion and technics in Jacques Derrida and Bernard Stiegler, and the Augustinian ruminations of Søren Kierkegaard and Jean-François Lyotard. Ultimately, this confrontation underscores the challenging yet deeply affirmative nature of Messiaen's music. Italian musician and musicologist Chiara Bertoglio's book, "Per Sorella Musica" deals with the most important musical versions of St. Francis' "Canticle of the Creatures" in 20th century classical music. Sizeable chunks of the book are devoted to Messiaen's St. François d'Assise. ISBN: 8874025157. Publisher: Effatà, Italy. Olivier Messiaen: a bibliographical catalogue of Messiaen's works : first editions and first performances : with illustrations of the title pages, programmes and documents. by Nigel Simeone. Schneider, 1998. ISBN 3795209471, 9783795209476 Olivier Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise. Cammino verso la joie parfaite: With musical examples pp. 146 - cm. 17x24 - Euro 25,00 - www.zecchini.com - ISBN 13: 978-88-87203-76-9 IN ITALIAN LES VISIONS D'OLIVIER MESSIAEN by SIGLIND BRUHN. Publisher: HARMATTAN ISBN: 9782296056657 in French Ce livre examine l'influence profonde de la religion sur le langage musical d'Olivier Messiaen. Dans la première partie, il décrit la relation pratiquement invariable entre certains motifs, accords et autres composants musicaux et leur signification théologique. Dans les seconde et troisième parties, les intuitions développées autour de ce "vocabulaire musico-théologique" sont appliquées à une analyse détaillée et approfondie de deux cycles fondamentaux de ce compositeur, Visions de l'Amen pour deux pianos (1943) et Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus pour piano seul (1944). Messiaen's Contemplations of Covenant and Incarnation: Musical Symbols of Faith in the Two Great Piano Cycles of the 1940s by Siglind Bruhn Pendragon Press ISBN-10: 1576471292 ISBN-13: 978-1576471296 Messiaen characterized himself as a rhythmician, ornithologist, and theologian. All interpreters concur that his life and work are grounded in a profound faith. This book examines the translation of his faith into his musical language. It centers on a hermeutic analysis of two spiritually motiviated instrumental compositions, Visions de l'amen for two pianos (1943) and Vingt Regards sur l enfant-Jésus for piano solo (1944). Part I introduces the main aspects of the composer s religious environment (the catholic literary revival, his father Pierre and his mentor Charles Tournemire) as well as the components of his idiosyncratic musico-symbolic vocabulary. Parts II and III examine the twenty-seven movements comprised in the Visions< and the Regards, whose thematic material, structure, and musical as well as spiritual function within the whole cycle are interpreted in light of the literary source and imagery that inspired Messiaen. Messiaen's Explorations of Love and Death: Musico-poetic Signification in the Tristan Trilogy and Three Related Song Cycles (Dimension and Diversity: Studies in 20th-Century Music) Pendragon Press ISBN-10: 1576471365 - ISBN-13: 978-1576471364 Messiaen's lifelong quest centered on the colors and rhythms of a music that would serve as a vehicle for his thoughts about time, his love of God, and his enthusiasm for birdsong. An additional topic about which he felt deeply is that of passionate, fated human love and its relationship to death on the one hand, the love of God on the other. During the years 1936-1948, he composed five cycles of vocal music to his own texts as well as the Turangalîla Symphony, the monumental centerpiece of his Tristan Trilogy. The focus of this study is the in-depth analysis and interpretation of these six works on love, with particular regard for their unusual wealth of poetic, sonic, and visual colors and imagery. The wonder of rainbows, the magic of exotic sounds, the fantastic attractiveness of surrealist representations, and the majestic inexorability of fate in myths of various times and cultures define Messiaen s lyrics as much as his idiosyncratic, highly symbolic musical language, which never fails to build bridges between this and another world. Messiaen's Interpretations of Holiness and Trinity: Echoes of Medieval Theology in the Oratorio, Organ Meditations, and Opera by Siglind Bruhn ISBN-10: 157647139X - ISBN-13: 978-1576471395 Three of Messiaen's later works, La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, Méditations sur le mystére de la Sainte Trinité, and Saint François d Assise, are linked by the fact that the composer refers to and quotes from Thomas Aquinas. The composer s reception of Thomistic texts is one of the principles guiding the interpretations in this study. On the one hand, Messiaen had been pondering Thomas s thoughts on the role of music in the life of a Christian and on music s possible spiritual content all through his professional life; on the other hand, the oratorio, the organ meditations, and the opera are the only works in which Messiaen quotes extensive Thomistic sentences addressing purely theological subject matter. The first aspect, Messiaen s appropriation of or felicitous congruence with the medieval theologian s views on music underlies all analyses as a kind of background fabric. The second aspect, Messiaen s quotations from the Summa theologica and their musical translation, determines segments of a larger discussion that, in the book s three main chapters, attempts to do justice to the compositions as a whole. While Thomas theological aesthetics appears as a thread woven through a texture in a way that brings it only periodically to the foreground, the statements from Thomas s writings provide essential foundations determining the works content and its musical rendering. Olivier Messiaen, Troubadour by Siglind Bruhn Liebesverständnis und musikalische Symbolik in Poèmes pour Mi, Chants de terre et de ciel, Trois petites Liturgies de la présence divine, Harawi, Turangalîla-Sinfonie und Cinq Rechants EDITION GORZ. ISBN 978-3-938095-07-2 in German Messiaens ‘Summa theologica’ by Siglind Bruhn Musikalische Spurensuche mit Thomas von Aquin in La Transfiguration, Méditations und Saint François d’Assise EDITION GORZ. ISBN 978-3-938095-09-6 in German Messiaen, l'empreinte d'un géant by Catherine Lechner-Reydellet ISBN-10: 2840495112 - ISBN-13: 978-2840495116 Pub. Editions Seguier in French Présentation de l'éditeur Il fut celui par qui tout arriva pour que demeure notre passion, celui pour qui le chant du rossignol en lisière des forêts, de la linotte dans les vignobles de Charente et de la fauvette à lunettes dans les garrigues du Roussillon, redonna le droit d'être musicien Catherine Lechner-Reydellet, écrivain et pianiste, professeur au Conservatoire de Musique et d'Art dramatique de Grenoble, nous présente Olivier Messiaen, revisité par ses anciens élèves, ses illustres interprètes, ses amis, journalistes, chefs d'orchestre et poètes, sous un éclairage inhabituel jamais dévoilé à ce jour. Messiaen ou la lumière by Philippe Olivier Pub.Hermann in French ISBN-10: 2705667253 - ISBN-13: 978-2705667252 THE LIFE OF MESSIAEN by CHRISTOPHER DINGLE (Cambridge University Press, ISBN 052163220X / 0521635470) The Life of Messiaen paints a more nuanced picture of the man and the musician, peering behind Messiaen's public persona to examine the private difficulties and creative struggles that were the true backdrop to many of his greatest achievements. Based upon the latest research, including previously overlooked sources, this book provides an excellent introduction to Messiaen's life and work, presenting a fascinating new perspective of a man whose story is more remarkable than the myths surrounding it. Olivier Messiaen's System of Signs Notes Towards Understanding His Music Andrew Shenton Andrew Shenton's groundbreaking cross-disciplinary approach to Messiaen's music presents a systematic and detailed examination of the compositional techniques of one of the most significant musicians of the twentieth century as they relate to his desire to express profound truths about Catholicism.It is widely accepted that music can have mystical and transformative powers, but because 'pure' music has no programme, Messiaen sought to refine his compositions to speak more clearly about the truths of the Catholic faith by developing a sophisticated semiotic system in which aspects of music become direct signs for words and concepts. Using interdisciplinary methodologies drawing on linguistics, cognition studies, theological studies and semiotics, Shenton traces the development of Messiaen's sign system using examples from many of Messiaen's works and concentrating in particular on the "Meditations sur le mystere de la Sainte Trinite" for organ, a suite which contains the most sophisticated and developed use of a sign system and represents a profound exegesis of Messiaen's understanding of the Catholic triune God.By working on issues of interpretation, Shenton endeavours to bridge the traditional gap between scholars and performers and to help people listen to Messiaen's music with spirit and understanding. Messiaen, a major biography by Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone, published by Yale University Press This book includes extracts from the private diaries and papers of Olivier Messiaen for the first time, along with several hundred photographs. This project has been awarded very significant Research Grant funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Board. see reviews The French edition of the book (Paris, Fayard, 2008) includes "Sigle" - a short little piece for unaccompanied flute which has been published for the first time as an illustration here. There is also a detailed catalogue of works and an additional chapter on Messiaen's musical language that are not in the English version. OLIVIER MESSIAEN- Christopher Dingle & Nigel Simeone (editors) Music, Art and Literature (Ashgate, ISBN 0754606333). When Olivier Messiaen died in 1992, the prevailing image was of a man apart; a deeply religious man whose only sources of inspiration were God and Nature and a composer whose music progressed along an entirely individual path, artistically impervious to contemporaneous events and the whims both of his contemporaries and the critics. Whilst such a view contains a large element of truth, the past ten years has seen an explosion of interest in the composer, and the work of a diverse range of scholars has painted a much richer, more complex picture of Messiaen. This volume presents some of the fruits of this research for the first time, concentrating on three broad, interrelated areas: Messiaen's relationship with fellow artists; key developments in the composer's musical language and technique; and his influences, both sacred and secular. Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jesus: Messiaen's means of conveying extra-musical subtext (Olivier Messiaen, France) by Christopher S. Bowlby ProQuest / UMI (March 22, 2006) ISBN: 0542177072 The purpose of this study is to answer the question: How does Messiaen's approach to musical architecture convey symbolic or programmatic meaning in his mammoth work for solo piano, Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus ? Not every movement is described in detail. Each example is only discussed insomuch as is necessary to determine how applicable musical elements or compositional processes underline the intended message. Much of the conclusions identify the ways in which a basic technique, such as a melody and the mode with which it is constructed, implies a meaning, perhaps through Messiaen's own notes or indications in the score or through original or previously published analysis. Furthermore, the examination deals with these basic means and how they are combined and superimposed to produce proportions of interest or how they might serve to exemplify a numerological or theological significance. Olivier Messiaen\'s composition techniques in Reveil des Oiseaux (France) -- Dissertation ProQuest / UMI (December 18, 2006) Language: English ISBN-10: 0542015919ISBN-13: 978-0542015915 In his first major composition in the so-called “le style oiseaux”, Olivier Messiaen uses thirty-eight bird calls as his main musical material. Despite Messiaen's claim that the piece is ‘merely a truthful translation’ of nature, this dissertation focuses on how the composition is organically produced; in terms of its form, its pitch material and its timbral treatment. It was especially exciting to follow his very personal and literal form of ‘com-po-sing’ (in the sense of ‘putting together’ or ‘combining’); a technique in which small units of previously heard music reappear later, meticulously re-shuffled or combined with seemingly different music. It was particularly thrilling to delve into his innovative ways of treating the original bird calls. MESSIAEN STUDIES. Edited by Robert Sholl This collection of scholarly essays offers new cultural, historical, biographical and analytical perspectives on Messiaen's musical oeuvre from 1941 to 1992. The volume includes: a fascinating snapshot of Messiaen's life in occupied France; a study of the Surrealist poetics of Messiaen's song cycle Harawi; a chapter on Messiaen's iconoclastic path to the avant-garde heritage that he bequeathed to his pupils; discussion on Messiaen's place in twentieth-century music; and detailed analysis of specific works, including his opera St François d'Assise. MusArtLit OH MY GOD: Messiaen in the Ear of the Unbeliever is based on Paul Festa's award-winning and critically acclaimed film Apparition of the Eternal Church. The book and movie capture the explosive responses of 31 mostly nonreligious artists to the apocalyptic music of the Christian visionary Olivier Messiaen. Published by Bar Nothing Books OLIVIER MESSIAEN: Oiseaux exotiques Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone Series: Landmarks in Music Since 1950 Ashgate ISBN: 0 7546 5630 6 see review OLIVIER MESSIAEN: Benitez, Vincent P. Olivier Messiaen: A Research and Information Guide. New York: Routledge Publishing, 2008. Music for the End of Time by Jen Bryant (Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Co)ISBN: 0802852297 This work is Jen Bryant's poetic biography of French composer Olivier Messiaen, coupled with Beth Peck's evocative pastel illustrations, captures both the desolation of a World War II prison camp and the transforming power of music. This book will stir readers of all ages to seek hope in the things that inspire them, and is a great introduction to Messiaen for children from 8 years upward. Saint Francois D'Assise Premieres Loges Avant Scene Opera Arts Et Spectacle Revues 21/10/2004 ISBN:2843852021 French Masters of the Organ Saint-Saëns, Franck, Widor, Vierne, Dupré, Langlais, Messiaen Michael Murray. Yale University Press 2005 For the End of Time The Story of the Messiaen Quartet Rebecca Rischin see reviews After his death Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen compiled all of Messiaens' writings which are now published in 7 volumes entitled 'Traité de Rythme, de Couleur, et d'Ornithologie' (Paris, Leduc) MessCompanion LE GROUPE JEUNE FRANCE by SERGE GUT Yves Baudrier - Daniel Lesur - André Jolivet - Olivier Messiaen Editions Honoré Champion, Collection Musique - Musicologie, 1977 MESSIAEN ON MESSIAEN The composer writes about his works. Text by Messiaen translated by Irene Feddern Frangipani Press. 1986 The 22 Piano Concertos by Mozart. Introduced and analyzed by Messiaen Paris. Librairie Seguier. 1990. in-12° (11,5x18,5 cm). 121 p. The Messiaen Companion: edited by Peter Hill (London, Faber and Faber 1995) Les Oiseaux de Messiaen: Nicole Malinconi, Melanie Berger (Esperluete Eds 2005) ISBN:2930223561 Olivier Messiaen: L'homme et son oeuvre. Pierrette Mari (Paris, Segheres, 1965) Das orgelwerk Messiaens:Sieglinde Ahrens ,Hans-Dieter Möller, and Almut Rössler, (Duisburg, Gilles and Francke, 1976) Olivier Messiaen: Claude Rostand (Ed. Ventadour,1952/57) Contributions to the Spiritual World of Olivier Messiaen: Almut Rössler (Gilles & Francke 1986) Recontres avec Olivier Messiaen: Antoine Goléa (Paris, Julliard 1960-reprinted Slatkine Genéve-Paris 1984) Olivier Messiaen: Harry Halbreich (Paris, Fayard/SACEM 1980) Extensively revised in 2008 Olivier Messiaen: Leben und Werk: Theo Hirsbrunner (Laaber-Verlag 1988) Olivier Messiaen and the Music of Time: Paul Griffiths (London/Boston, Faber and Faber 1985) Thomas Daniel Schlee / Dietrich Kämper (Hg.): Olivier Messiaen. La Cite celeste - das himmlische Jerusalem. Über das Leben und Werk des französischen Komponisten. Köln Wienand Verlag 1998. Olivier Messiaen: une poetique de merveilleux: Brigitte Massin (Aix-en-Provence, Alinéa, 1989) Messiaen: Robert Sherlaw Johnson (London. Dent 1976. R/1989) Portrait(s) d'Olivier Messiaen: Catherine Massip (Bibliothèque Nationale de France) Messiaen: Roger Nichols (London Oxford University Press 1975 2/1986) Bien Cher Félix..Letters from Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod to Felix Aprahamian (Cambridge, Mirage 1998) Messiaen: Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps: Anthony Pople (Cambridge University Press 1998 ISBN 0521585384) Entretiens avec Olivier Messiaen: Claude Samuel (Paris, Belfond 1967 Eng. translation 1976) The Organ Music of Olivier Messiaen: Stuart Waumsley (Paris, Leduc 1968) Music and Colour: New Interviews: Claude Samuel (Paris, Belfond 1986) Olivier Messiaen, the Musical Mediator. A study of the influence of Liszt, Debussy and Bartok: Madeleine Hsu (Fairleigh Dickinson UP1996) Technique de non langage musical: Messiaen (Paris, Leduc 1944 Eng. translation 1956) Vingt lecons d'harmonie: Messiaen (Paris, Leduc 1944 Eng. translation 1956) Conférence de Bruxelles: Messiaen (Paris, Leduc 1958) Conférence de Kyoto: (Paris, Leduc 1985) Conférence de Notre Dame: Messiaen (Paris, Leduc 1978) Olivier Messiaen: Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn. text + kritic (Munich 1982) Messiaens"Saint Francois d'Assise" von Aloyse Michaely, Heinz-Klaus Metzger, Rainer Riehn (2006) ISBN 10: 3878779763-ISBN 13: 9783878779766, Querstand, Musikalische Konzepte Bd.1+2. Stroemfeld - Kartoniert/Broschie Siglind Bruhn, Images and Ideas in Modern French Piano Music: The Extra Musical Subtext in Piano Works by Ravel, Debussy and Messiaen (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon, 1997) Olivier Messiaen and the Tristan Myth by Audrey Ekdahl Davidson (Praeger Pub Text; ISBN: 0275973409) Siglind Bruhn (ed.), Messiaen’s Language of Mystical Love. Volume 1 in the series “Twentieth-Century Studies in Music” (New York: Garland, 1998). Jean Boivin: La classe de Messiaen. Paris, Christian Bourgois éditeur, collection " Musique/Passé/Présent 1995. Meisterwerke der Musik:Olivier Messiaen Turangalîla Symphonie by Klaus Schweizer (Wilhem Fink Verlag) Messiaen Les sons impalpables du rêve Pascal Arnault, Nicolas Darbon. Editeur : Millenaire III Collection : Compositeurs De Notre Temps ISBN : 2911906055 STEFAN KEYM: Farbe und Zeit - Untersuchungen zur musiktheatralen Struktur und Semantik von Olivier Messiaens Saint Francois d'Assise. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag 2002. - X/557 S. mit zahlreichen Notenbeispielen und Register. ISBN: 3-487-11661-8 Messiaen by Alain Périer (Paris, Seuil 1979) Olivier Messiaen homme de foi (Trinite Media Communication 1995) I have included this VHS SECAM video here (now available on DVD) as I believe it to be an invaluable archive to those of us who were not lucky enough to experience first hand lectures by the Maitre during his lifetime. Olivier Milles' film covers a masterclass/lecture given by Messiaen during the 1987 Festival d'Avignon at the Chartreuse de Villeneuve lés-Avignon. "Les couleurs du temps: Trente ans d'entretiens avec Claude Samuel". INA/Radio France 211848, 2CDs Claude Samuel met Messiaen in the late fifties and from then grew a most fertile professional relationship that produced many landmark interviews and discussion throughout the composer's life. Thirty years of interviews are represented here on 2CDs in French. L'œuvre pour piano d'Olivier Messiaen: Michéle Reverdy (Paris, Leduc 1978) L'œuvre pour orchestre d'Olivier Messiaen: Michéle Reverdy (Paris, Leduc 1988) Rosemary Walker, Modes and Pitch Class Sets In Messiaen. (Music Analysis 8:1/2 Basil Blackwell 1989) David Morris, A Semiotic Investigation of Messiaen's 'Abîme des Oiseaux'. (Music Analysis 8:1/2 Basil Blackwell 1989) Messiaen, Gooeyvaerts, Fano, Stockhausen, Boulez. Perspectives of New Music XIII 1974 pp141-16 An in-depth (29 A5 pages) analysis of the musical ideas of the 1940's and 50's. Many technical terms, graphs, note charts etc make this indispensable for all students of composition and interest in Messiaen. Olivier Messiaen:Eclairs Sur L'Au-Dela: Die Christlich-Eschatologische Dimension Des Opus Ultimum ISBN: 3631348460 Author: Tolle, Julian Christopher Publisher: Lang, Peter Publishing, Incorporated Edition/Year: 1999 Olivier Messiaen's Orchesterwerk: Des Canyons aux Etoile. Studen, zu Struktur und Konnex. Diss Kassel Carl Beate Bärenreiter 1994 Olivier Messiaen a Bibliographical Catalogue: Nigel Simeone (Hans Schneider Verlag) Back to top

Personal audio and visual archive of Messiaen recordings. Resources A selection of my personal audio & visual Resource Archive Unlike several years ago, Messiaens' music is now well represented in the commercial audio market. Listed below is my own personal collection some of which may be of interest and could be made available on a strictly private basis for study or research. A comprehensive discography can be found in 'The Messiaen Companion ' edited by Peter Hill and compiled by Dr. Christopher Dingle. Res1 View More Back to top

NEWS Messiaen inspired grand organ to be installed in the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur at Paray-le Monial, France. ©M Ball The basilica at Paray-le-Monial is a popular landmark and one of the most visited religious sites in Europe. The Sacred Heart became a popular worldwide devotion in large part due to the visions of Margaret Mary Alacoque , who lived and died at the monastery next to the basilica. Please support this major project in the name of Messiaen in this truly inspirational building. Download Brochure in French Download Brochure details in English Download Donation coupon ©M Ball Cleveland Museum of Art unearths archive recording of Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod 2 piano concert of 1978 On the occasion of the 70th birthday of Olivier Messiaen, the Cleveland Museum of Art invited the composer to perform a two-piano concert with his wife, Yvonne Loriod, on October 13, 1978, in Gartner Auditorium. This remarkable recording, which captures a rare instance of Messiaen at the piano performing his own music, marks the launch of the CMA Recorded Archive Editions Click here for more background information and the audio files. It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Claude Samuel, who past away on June 14 2020 in Paris, at the age of 88 years old. A true titan of journalism and French music radio, Claude Samuel is also an emblematic figure in the history of Radio France as producer and Music Director of Radio France (1989 to 1996). A graduate in medicine in dental surgery, Claude Samuel also followed musical studies at the Schola Cantorum with Daniel-Lesur. Very early on, he joined the world of journalism and the music press, but also the world of radio, a medium for which he produced nearly 1,000 programs for France Culture and France Musique. Passionate about contemporary music, Claude Samuel was at the inception of numerous competitions and festivals which allowed him to encourage and promote this music to an ever wider audience. In 1967, as part of the Royan International Festival of Contemporary Art (1965-1972), he launched the "Messiaen competition " for the contemporary piano. He continued this role with the Festival des arts de Persépolis (1967-1970) and the International Meetings of Contemporary Art in La Rochelle (1973-1979), then the Rencontres de Musique Contemporain in Metz and the Festival of Traditional Arts in Reindeer. He was also the initiator of several City of Paris competitions, such as the Jean-Pierre Rampal flute competition, the Maurice André trumpet competition, the Martial Solal piano-jazz competition and the Étienne Vatelot violin-making and archery competition. . First appointed adviser for programming and production at Radio France, Claude Samuel occupied the position of Music Director from 1990. In the same year, he launched the first edition of the festival "Présences", a contemporary music festival which brought together a large and varied audience. Claude Samuel was also the confidant of the greatest contemporary composers of his time, notably Olivier Messiaen , of whom he was the author of biographies and collections of interviews, as well as Pierre Boulez and Iannis Xenakis . In the early 1960's he was head of the Vega record label that launched Domain Musical recordings with Boulez and many first edition recordings of Messiaen. Jennifer Bate OBE, BA (Hons), Hon DMus (Bristol), FRCO, ARCM, LRAM, FRSA (1944-2020) Sir Andrew Parmley . Director of the Royal College of Organists With great sadness the College has learned of the death of Jennifer Bate. She was the daughter of H A Bate, organist of St James, Muswell Hill, in London, and studied theory and composition with him from a young age. She became a member of the RCO in July 1966 and within a year had achieved both ARCO and FRCO. She became a favourite at all the world’s great festivals, performing in over 40 countries: last year she celebrated a 50-year career as a full-time professional organist. Her father emphasized the importance of working with living composers, inviting them to come and hear her playing their music and advise her on how to play it better - leading to long-standing friendships with composers including Sir Lennox Berkeley, Peter Dickinson, Flor Peeters and Peter Racine Fricker. Jennifer was recognised as the world authority on the organ works of Olivier Messiaen with whom she worked extensively. She gave the British premiere of his Livre du Saint Sacrament, and her recording of the work won a Grand Prix du Disque. In 2011, President Sarcozy appointed her to the rank of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, with the citation Organiste, Spécialiste de l’oeuvre de Messiaen. The same year, the French government also awarded her the rank of Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her work worldwide to help French organ music capture a wider audience. As well as the works of Messiaen, Jennifer’s discography includes the music of Elgar, Stanford, Whitlock, the Wesleys and their contemporaries, and the complete organ works of Franck and Mendelssohn. Composers including William Mathias and Naji Hakim wrote for her, and her own compositions for organ, written for concert performance rather than liturgical use, were frequently commissioned for particular events or instruments. Jennifer gave the opening celebrity recital at the Royal Festival Hall in 2014 after the refurbishment of the Hall and organ, and acted as organ consultant when the Harrison & Harrison organ at St James Muswell Hill, installed by her father after the war, required restoration, giving the reopening recital in October 2011. Jennifer pioneered programmes to introduce the organ to children. She was a Patron of the Society of Women Organists, formed last year, and her annual Jennifer Bate Organ Academy, now in its 15th year, is a unique course promoting all-round musicianship for young women. Peter Dickinson, The Guardian 30th March 2020 The organist Jennifer Bate, who has died aged 75 from cancer, was a leading exponent of the music of Olivier Messiaen . They met in 1975, when the composer and his wife, Yvonne Loriod , went to hear her play his music at St James’s, Muswell Hill, north London. Afterwards he asked her if she had heard his own recordings. She had not, but it emerged that she played exactly as he did and he was delighted. They kept in touch, and the uncanny rapport between them lasted until his death in 1992. He heard her play many times and wrote that she was “an excellent organist, not only for her virtuosity. She is a really accomplished musician who loves what she plays and knows how to make others love it too.” She supported many other living composers and made a CD of my own complete organ works and played them all over the world. Jennifer’s international career led her into some challenging situations. One organist in France was so angry he had not been asked to perform that he sabotaged her recital by locking doors, turning the power off and making noises during the programme. In Medellín, Colombia, she was not met because her contact failed to realise that she could be a woman. She once had to get to a recital at St Mark’s, Venice, by wading through the square in 2ft of water. Jennifer loved northern Italy, giving some 150 recitals there, and her constant tours outside Europe took her to Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Caribbean and South America. In her first two Proms appearances (1974-75) she played major organ works by Liszt. Her first recording, in 1978, featured the same composer, on the same Royal Albert Hall instrument. Her complete Messiaen is a landmark; so is the complete Mendelssohn , for which she supplied endings to some unfinished pieces, and a complete César Franck ; then came a whole series of British works including early music CDs of 18th century composers from John Stanley to Samuel Wesley, on instruments of the period. She was always concerned about the organs she was going to play, matching programmes carefully, and usually expected three days on which to rehearse. In 1986 she gave the British premiere of Messiaen’s two-hour Livre du Saint Sacrement in a sold-out Westminster Cathedral with the composer present. Her subsequent recording gained a Grand Prix du Disque. Born in London, Jennifer said of her mother, Dorothy (nee Hunt) that she was “the daughter of an organist, sister of an organist, married to an organist and eventually had me, yet another organist”. Her father, Horace, was the organist and choirmaster at St James’s Church, Muswell Hill, and a well-known teacher of the instrument. An only child, at the age of four Jennifer went to school able to read words as well as music. Her father was influential throughout his lifetime: he was a stern taskmaster, but his insight was invaluable. In her early teens Bate was a pianist but she realised that her hands were too small. So her father showed her what the organ could do and she was hooked. She gained ARCM (1961) and LRAM (1963) diplomas in organ performance, with record high marks, but her father thought she needed a general education, so from Tollington school she went to Bristol University to study music. There her professor told her she would never make a living playing the organ, so on graduating in 1966 she became a librarian at the London School of Economics. Three years later, student disturbances there gave her three weeks off on full pay, during which she could learn major works at St James’s, and so encouraged her to return to music. In 1968 she had married the somewhat older organist George Thalben-Ball , having “fallen in love with his musicianship the first time she met him”. She looked after him during a serious illness, but they divorced in 1972. When Jennifer embarked on her career as an independent concert artist she had no teaching post to support her, but her tours abroad took off from 1970. For her first recital in Paris she invited the organist of Notre Dame and his assistant as well as the composers Duruflé and Langlais with their wives. They all came. In these years Jennifer started to open new organs and to broadcast for the BBC. She composed some pieces and recorded them, and in the new century ran an annual course for young women organists aged 13 to 21, the Jennifer Bate Organ Academy . She was also a fluent writer. Her many awards included being made chevalier of the Légion d’honneur (2011), and in Britain she received an honorary doctorate from Bristol University (2007) and was appointed OBE (2008). She was a radiant personality who endeared herself to everyone when she played, lectured or taught. Jennifer is survived by her partner, Andrew Roberts. • Jennifer Lucy Bate, organist, born 11 November 1944; died 25 March 2020 See also Messiaen and Jennifer Bate here Jennifer Bate b.1944 d.2020 It is with sadness that we report the passing of Pascal Emmanuel Messiaen (b.1937) the only son of Olivier and Claire Delbos (Messiaen's first wife). Pascal passed away on 31st January 2020 and is survived by his wife Josette who he married in 1958. French punk rock artist nods to Messiaen! Didier Wampas and Bikini Machine Olivier Messiaen here LA FONDATION MESSIAEN ~ MESSIAEN FOUNDATION The Olivier Messiaen Foundation was formed to preserve and cherish the work of Olivier Messiaen, one of the major composers of contemporary music in France in the twentieth century. The Olivier Messiaen Foundation was created in 1995 under the aegis of the Fondation de France by his widow Yvonne Loriod Messiaen 3 years after the death of her husband. The foundation will enable the creation of a museum, concerts, master classes etc. at Petitchet in the Isère region of France and also contribute to the conservation of manuscripts, works annotations and belongings. Much of these documents have already been entrusted to the National Library of France (BNF). The Foundation also supports young composers and pianists, as well as researchers or authors dedicated to the work of Olivier Messiaen. La Fondation Messiaen Maison Messiaen ARCHIVES OF OLIVIER MESSIAEN ASSIGNED TO BNF The Olivier Messiaen Foundation, under the aegis of the Fondation de France, told the BNF all manuscripts, archives, scores, records, books, photographs and objects collected by Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) and his wife Yvonne Loriod Messiaen (1924-2010), be held at the BNF forthwith. Messiaen himself had already given some documents in the 50's and others had been filed by Yvonne Loriod Messiaen after 1992. Nearly two hundred fifty linear meters of documents (manuscripts of his works, letters, books, photographs, sound recordings, programs) have now joined the departments of Music and Audiovisual in the National Library of France. The material will be gradually made available to researchers, musicians, music lovers worldwide. Fauvettes de L'Hérault - concert des garrigues - (work reconstructed by Roger Muraro) At the turn of the 1960s, Olivier Messiaen left unfinished the composition of a great concerto that he could have titled Les Oiseaux de l'Hérault. The work, for piano, several soloists and orchestra, was to respond to an official commission for the centenary of Claude Debussy, in 1962. The trip to Japan by Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod in the summer of 1962 disrupted the development of this concerto. The fascination that Messiaen had for this country inspires him indeed Sept Haïkaï for piano solo and small ensemble. Undoubtedly pressed by the deadlines, he resumed and adapted some of the themes of the concerto, to Sept Haïkaï. It is by mixing songs of birds of Japan and some of southern France that the composer would pay tribute to Debussy. If the first works found in the concerto propose a too brief orchestration, the score of the piano solo, on the other hand, is magnificent, brilliant and among the most daring of this period. Based on birds' notes taken in 1958 in the Hérault, the work reveals new songs, including the improvisations of a stunning polyglot Hypolaïs and warblers who compete with virtuosity. Taking again the indications of structure left by the author, Fauvettes de l'Hérault - garrigue concert is the title I chose to give to the piece for piano alone, among those evoked by Messiaen in the manuscripts of the concerto. I thank the Fondation Olivier Messiaen and the BnF for their unfailing support of my work. (Roger Muraro) Tokyo naturally imposed itself for the world premiere. Roger Muraro performed Fauvettes de l'Hérault - concert of the garrigues for piano solo, at Toppan Hall, on June 23, 2017, underlining in fact the close links between this new work and Sept Haïkaï. Hérault ***Messiaen world premiere at the BBC Proms 2015 thanks to Birmingham Conservatoire academic*** Christopher Dingle , Professor of Music at Birmingham Conservatoire, has devoted much of his professional career to studying Messiaen. The new piece Un oiseau des arbres de Vie will most likely be the last mature orchestral work to emerge from the catalogue of one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. The composition was previously intended for Messiaen’s final completed orchestral work Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà… (1987-91) and contained his familiar signature ‘Bien’ indicating the movement was complete. The movement lasts about four minutes and the material comes from Messiaen’s transcription of the song of the Tui, a New Zealand bird. A keen ornithologist, all of Messiaen’s music from the 1950s onwards includes birdsong, while much of his music expresses his Catholic faith. Christopher Dingle’s research on the piece was supported by the French Music Research Hub at Birmingham Conservatoire, part of Birmingham City University, and he drew on over 20 years’ study of Messiaen’s oeuvre to fully realise the three-stave score. He said: “From everything we know of Messiaen, it is almost certain that he would have used this movement in another work had he lived longer – it is too good a piece to discard. I am hugely excited about hearing the piece, and this is likely to be the last premiere of a complete mature orchestral movement by Messiaen. “Birdsong was a fascination of his throughout his life, but he became more rigorous and scientific in his approach from the 1950s onwards. He filled many manuscript books with birdsong notations, and much of it was done in the field, but he also used recordings, working the birdsong into his compositions. “His use of birdsong is much more sophisticated than any other composer in terms of the species he represented, the interpretation of song, and the notation. He regarded birds as God’s musicians, almost like angels.” Un oiseau des arbres de Vie is a challenging piece. The orchestra is very large, the woodwind section including seven flutes and eight clarinets, while there is also plenty of tuned and unpitched percussion, and multiple changes of tempo. Dingle added: “It’s fast and furious, with the song flying around the instruments and continually punctuated by a punchy gesture for the whole orchestra. I think it will be breath-taking for the audience and leave the conductor and orchestra breathless!” The world premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s Un oiseau des arbres de Vie took place on 7 August at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. It was performed by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Nicholas Collon. Passerinette The eagerly awaited recording of La Fauvette Passerinette by Peter Hill relased by Delphian DCD34141. La Fauvette Passerinette – a Messiaen world premiere, with birds, homages and landscapes (Messiaen, Stockhausen, Ravel, Anderson, Dutilleux, Sculthorpe, Young, Takemitsu,Murail and Benjamin). The Gillian Weir Messiaen Prize will be awarded annually for the next 10 years for the best performance by a student at Birmingham City University’s Royal Birmingham Conservatoire of a work or works by French composer Olivier Messiaen. During her illustrious international career, Dame Gillian has been particularly renowned for her performances of Messiaen’s organ music; she made the first commercial recording of the complete works, gave the UK première from the composer's manuscript of the ‘Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité’, and has written, lectured and broadcast extensively on his music. Concerning the gift, she spoke of her admiration of the work being done in the Conservatoire’s Organ Department and congratulated them on their glowing international reputation. The award was facilitated by Conservatoire organ tutor Henry Fairs, whose own career has also included complete performances of the composer’s music. Daniel Moult, the current Head of Organ Studies, commented: “All of us in the Organ Department are honoured and delighted that Dame Gillian should aid our students in such a generous and palpable way. Many young musicians are in need of every conceivable financial assistance, and this prestigious prize will be much coveted and appreciated for years to come in the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.” Part of Birmingham City University, the new Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a unique contemporary building, incorporating five public performance spaces including a new 500 seat concert hall for orchestral training and performance, a purpose-built organ studio and private rehearsal and practice rooms. Furthermore, as the first purpose built conservatoire in the UK since 1987, the £57 million institution which opened last year is the only one of its kind in the country designed for the demands of the digital age. The Organ Studio at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, for example, houses a Eule Pipe organ with extensive plans for additional new instruments, and features overhead performance lighting and a Dante audio network for flexible location recording purposes. The venue has a distinctive shape and tranquil atmosphere created by natural light flooding onto the pale wood of the interior. It is completely flexible in terms of the set-up and layout of the performance area and audience seating. Meanwhile, organ music plays a vital role in the life of the city of Birmingham, with regular recitals given by City Organist Thomas Trotter and guests on the Town Hall’s historic instrument by William Hill and Symphony Hall’s Klais organ. Birmingham is also home to the libraries of the Royal College of Organists and the British Institute of Organ Studies. The first Gillian Weir Messiaen Prize competition will took place at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, with the winner awarded £1,000. See Gillian Weir's Homepage

St François in Geneva All photos © Carole Parodi St.François in Stuttgart 2023 ©Martin Sigmund ©Martin Sigmund ©Martin Sigmund ©Martin Sigmund ©Martin Sigmund ©Malcolm Ball ©Martin Sigmund

Photos and images of Olivier Messiaen and related life events Gallery GalleryTop Copyright exists on all of these photographs. Downloading and electronic reproduction of any image is illegal without the express permission of the copyright owner. Plaque overlooking Lac Laffrey, Petichet. Plaque in homage to Messian, baptized at the Saint Didier church in Avignon on December 25, 1908 1. 2. Messiaen, Yvonne Loriod and John Carewe in rehearsal at the Royal Academy of Music London March 1987 3. Salle d'Olivier Messiaen in Grenoble On October 2, 1981, the Marcel Reymond amphitheater, rue du Vieux Temple, was renamed "Salle Olivier Messiaen". On January 20, 1984, Olivier Messiaen was made an honorary citizen of the city of Grenoble. © Messiaen in USA 1978 4. 5. 7. 6. Eglise de la Sainte Trinité. Paris ©M.Ball The tombe of Messiaen in the Eglise Saint Théoffrey, Petichet, France. © Malcolm Ball 8. 9. 10. 11 In 1973, Olivier Messiaen acquired a concession in the Saint-Théoffrey cemetery. His will was to be buried near the lakes, facing the Grand-Serre which he called the "bald mountain". The tomb will be in Carrara marble and will represent a bird. To carry out this last wish, Yvonne Loriod contacted a local craftsman: Albert Luyat. Several drawings were submitted to her in Paris before she validated the dove's project during a visit to the marble factory. The curves of the bird form a flame of memory. An extract from "Harawi" - composed at Petichet in 1945 - "song of Love and Death, for voice and piano" is engraved by hand. "I only made one mistake but it was quickly corrected! remembers the marble worker. Above: "All the birds of the Stars", extract from "Harawi", and text by the hand of Messiaen. 13. 12. The headstone with 'Yvonne Messiaen' inscription (2010). 14. © John Stead 15. © John Stead Messiaen in the 1930's/40s & 50s) 16. 17. 18. (Photo©Lipnitzki) 19. 20 (Photo©Lipnitzki) Messiaen in the 1960's 21. 22. 23. ©T.Gaby © MB © MB Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod 23a - 23b 25. Messiaen in 1978 24. Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod in the recording studio 1973. Messiaen in the 1970's 26. Messiaen in 1971 Messiaen receiving the Laureate Erasmus Prize 1971. Presented by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands In the foreground L-R, Queen Juliana, Messiaen, Yvonne Loriod, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. 27. 29. Messiaen in the 1980's 28. Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod 1986 in Düsseldorfer Tonhalle. (photo:© Christine Langensiepen) 30. Messiaen at the presentation for the degree of Doctor of Music at the Guildhall London. 30a. © Laelia Goehr (Musicians in Camera) 30b. © Laelia Goehr (Musicians in Camera) 31. 33. 32 33a. Messiaen with Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps score, possibly at the time of the recording of the work for video with Alain Moglia, Michel Arrignon, Sonia Wieder-Atherton and Jean-Claude Henriot (Le Quatuor Olivier Messiaen ) with Pierre Boulez Karlheinz Stockhausen and Messiaen in 1961 34 Stockhausen, Boulez and Messiaen in the 1980's 35. Messiaen's house at Petichet. © M.Ball 36. The studio 'annexe' at Petichet. © M.Ball 38. The "garage" at Messiaen's Petichet house. © M.Ball 37. Messiaen's piano at Petichet 39. 40. Lac Laffrey (2014)© M.Ball Messiaen purchased the small house and garage at Petichet in 1936 and he was to spend most summer months here where he composed a good deal of his output. Petichet was a haven for Messiaen where he was able to listen and note down songs of birds in relative peace. However, as years passed the onset of tourism became a source of irritation for him that resulted in the purchase of a second country home in the Sologne region. Petichet marks the starting point for walks to the Ecrins park and Mont-Blanc, but it is La Meije and the village of La Grave that make the strongest impression on him. Today, a summer festival takes place there to celebrate the life and works of Messiaen. 230 rue Marcadet Paris in the 18th arrondissement. The Paris residence shared by Messiaen and Loriod from 1961 to the composers death in 1992. Loriod continued to live here until her death in 2010. Loriod had a small studio apartment in this block and over the years the Messiaens expanded, purchasing other apartments within the block. It overlooks a small park with a band stand bearing a remarkable resemblance to the 'jardin de ville' in Grenoble where, as a young boy Messiaen enjoyed studying musical scores. 41. The rue Olivier-Messiaen is a private road located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. 42. 43. Located in north central France, 'La Sauline' became the Messiaens second country retreat from 1981 to 1995. 44. © M.Ball. Used with kind permission of the present owners. Avenue Olivier Messiaen in Petichet. Petichet, in the commune of Saint-Théoffrey (Isère), joins the communes and towns in France, such as Paris, Toul, La Roche-sur-Yon and Chalon-sur-Saon, which have honoured Olivier Messiaen with a street named after him. Mr. Alain Mendez, mayor of the commune of Saint-Théoffrey, said that the local community had already decided in 2017 to honour the memory of the great composer in their town, where he had regularly come from Paris since 1936 to create his music. “Allée Olivier Messiaen ”, was the name given to the main street in Le Clos d’Eybains , a new housing estate under construction located above the first mayoral building on the Route Napoleon. The municipal council still includes the existing "Allée Yvonne Loriod ", and in 2021 and 2022 added the street names "Allée des Oiseaux " and "Allée de la Symphonie " (presumably referring to Turangalîla-symphonie ). In this case, the mountainous terrain from "Allée Olivier Messiaen " offers a magnificent view of the Grand Lac de Laffrey and the Le Grand Serre mountain on the opposite side of the lake. In his historic residence, now called the Olivier Messiaen House , standing on a slope leading to Lac Laffrey, the composer created all his greatest works, starting with Poèmes pour Mi and Les Corps glorieux. It was here that he composed and later rewrote the score of the opera Saint Francis of Assisi . The commune, thanks to the festival "Olivier Messiaen dans le pays de la Meije", lives the memory of the great composer, buried in the village cemetery at the church in Saint-Théoffrey. (Jerzy Stankiewicz) All photos ©Jerzy Stankiewicz 2024 JerzyPhotos Pyrz Josef Pyrz Sculptor Josef Pyrz (1946 - 2016) was born in Gawlowek, Poland but moved to France in 1979. Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod became great friends with the Pyrz family after seeing sculptures by him in churches in Paris and in the Sologne region. Pyrz and his family fell on hard times in the 1980's and Messiaen wanted to help him out by financial support and commissioned a sculpture of St. François d'Assise that was displayed at the Paris Opéra Garnier, during the 1983 performances of the work. 45. Eglise Notre Dame des Bruyères in Neuvy-sur-Barangeon where the 'Messiaens' worshipped in the Sologne region. 46. © M.Ball Sculpture of Messiaen by Josef Pyrz outside Eglise Notre Dame des Bruyères in Neuvy-sur-Barangeon 47. Monument funéraire des grands-parents, oncles et tantes du compositeur Olivier Messiaen. La statue " L'énergie foudroyée" est une reproduction d'une oeuvre de Léon Messiaen, oncle du compositeur qui fut Premier prix de sculpture des Beaux-Arts de Paris, réalisée en 1915 et exposée en 1919 sur les Champs-Elysées. Tomb of grandparents, aunts and uncles of Olivier Messiaen. The statue "The energy struck by lightning" is a reproduction of a work of Leon Messiaen, the composer's uncle who was first prize winner for sculpture des Beaux-Arts in Paris, constructed in 1915 and exhibited in 1919 on the Champs-Elysées. In the churchyard of La Chaise, near Fuligny, graves of the grand parents, uncles and aunts of Olivier Messiaen. Léon Messiaen The house at Fuligny in Aube region where Messiaen would visit his aunts in the 1920's and where he wrote the Préludes, Le Banquet eucharistique for orchestra and the organ work derived from part of it, Le Banquet céleste. Les Offrandes oubilees and Le Tombeau replendissant. This plaque marks the house where Messiaen and his family lived after WW1 from 1918 to 1919. 1 place des Enfants Nantais, Nantes. 48. 49. Messiaen spent his early childhood here at 2 cours Berriat, Grenoble. © Colin Samuels 50. © John Stead 52. 51. © Malcolm Ball La Meiji Copyright exists on all of these photographs. Downloading and electronic reproduction of any image is illegal without the express permission of the copyright owner.

Resources 2 A selection of my Personal Audio & Visual Resource Archive Res2Top See CD Releases for more titles Resources 1 Back to top Yvonne Loriod (non Messiaen) Recordings Archive Here