Olivier Messiaen
20th Century · 1908–1992
Olivier Messiaen held the organ post at the church of La Trinité in Paris for more than sixty years, and everything he wrote flows from two springs: his Catholic faith and his obsession with birds. Born in Avignon in 1908, he notated birdsong in the field with scientific patience and worked those calls, note for note, into pieces for piano and orchestra. His harmonies glow strangely, partly because he experienced sound as color and composed with specific color combinations in mind.
The most famous story about him is true. Captured as a French soldier in 1940, he wrote the Quartet for the End of Time in a German prisoner-of-war camp for the instruments at hand, clarinet, violin, cello, and a battered piano, and premiered it there in January 1941 before fellow prisoners and guards. He later taught at the Paris Conservatoire, shaping a generation of composers, and died in 1992.
Start with that Quatuor pour la fin du temps. Then try the Turangalîla-symphonie, his huge, ecstatic orchestral love song.
65 works in the catalog, across 5 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Chamber
- Quatuor pour la fin du temps, I/22 For violin, cello, clarinet and piano
- 4 Feuillets inédits, for ondes martenot and piano
- Couleurs de la cité céleste, for piano, 13 winds and 6 percussion, I/46
- Fantasie, for violin and piano, II/12
- Fête des belles eaux, for 6 ondes martenot, II/14
- Le merle noir, for flute and piano, I/37
- Oiseaux exotiques, for piano, 11 winds and 7 percussion, I/41
- Pièce, for piano and string quartet, I/58
- Theme and Variations for Violin and Piano, I/10
- Un Vitrail et des oiseaux, for piano, 17 winds, trumpet and 8 percussion, I/55
Keyboard
- 20 Regards sur l'enfant Jésus, I/27
- Catalogue d'oiseaux, I/42
- La Nativité du Seigneur, 9 meditations, I/14
- 4 Études de rhythme, I/32-35
- 6 Petites esquisses d'oiseaux, I/54
- 8 Preludes, I/2
- Apparition de l'église éternelle, I/8
- Cantéyodjayâ, I/30
- Dieu parmi nous
- Diptyque, I/3
- Fantaisie burlesque, I/11
- La Fauvette des jardins, I/50
- Le banquet céleste, I/1
- Le Corps glorieux, 7 brief visions, I/20
- Livre d'orgue, I/38
- Livre du Saint-Sacrement, I/53
- Messe de la Pentecôte, I/36
- Monodie, I/45a
- Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité, I/49
- Offrande au Saint-Sacrement
- Pièce pour le tombeau de Paul Dukas, I/16
- Prélude
- Rondeau, I/24
- Verset pour la Fête de la Dédicace, I/44
- Visions de l'Amen, for 2 pianos, I/25
Orchestral
- Des Canyons aux étoiles, for piano and orchestra, I/51
- Oiseaux Exotiques, pour piano et orchestre
- Turangalila-symphonie, for orchestra
- 7 Haïkaï, for piano, 13 winds, 6 percussion, and 8 violins, I/45
- Chronochromie, for large orchestra, I/43
- Concert à quatre, for flute, cello, piano and orchestra, I/62
- Eclairs sur l'au-delá, I/61
- Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, for 34 winds and 3 percussion, I/47
- Hymne, I/9
- L' Ascension, 4 meditations, I/12a
- La Ville d'en haut, for 31 winds, piano, and percussion, I/56
- Les Offrandes oubliées, méditations symphoniques, I5/a,b
- Le Tombeau resplendissant, I/7
- Réveil des oiseaux, for piano and orchestra, I/40
- Turangalîla-symphonie, for piano, ondes martenot and orchestra, I/29
- Un Sourire, I/57
- Un Vitrail et des Oiseaux, pour piano et orchestre
Stage
- Saint François d'Assise, I/52 Opera
Vocal
- La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, for 100 voices, piano, cello, flute, clarinet, xylorimba, vibrophone, marimba, and orchestra, I/48
- 3 Mélodies, for soprano and piano, I/4
- 3 petites liturgies de la Présence Divine, for women's chorus, piano, ondes martenot, percussion and strings, I/26
- 5 Rechants, for 12 voices, I/31
- Chant des déportés pour choeur mixte et grand orchestre
- Chants de terre et de ciel, song cycle for soprano and piano, I/19
- Harawi, for soprano and piano, I/28 Song cycle
- La Mort du nombre, for soprano, tenor, violin and piano, I/6
- Leçons de solfège, exercises for voice
- O sacrum convivium!, I/18
- Poèmes pour mi, song cycle for soprano and piano, I/17b
- Vocalise-étude, for soprano and piano, I/15
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