Messiaen 100 years

2008 marks the centenary of the birth of Olivier Messiaen, a giant figure in the 20th-century music scene, whose school also educated composers such as Pierre Boulez, Yvonne Loriod (his student who became his second wife), Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, and George Benjamin.

It is almost impossible to list in one post all the innovations brought by this French composer, who managed to blend aspects Apparently distant from each other in a melting pot capable of provoking disappointment in both traditionalist purists and incendiary avant-gardists: in reality, this disappointment lies in the impossibility of fitting the composer into the facile historical-critical or ideological categorizations prevalent in twentieth-century music.

But, for those who have seen clearly, Messiaen has always been an important point of reference. Boulez, for example, practically dedicated the First Book of Structures for Two Pianos to him, using the series from Mode de valeurs et d'intensitées (1950) as the basis for his composition, which would become almost a manifesto of integral serialism.

Among his contributions, two compositional devices linked to a personal notion of symmetry applied both rhythmically and melodically/harmonically cannot be ignored. These are non-retrogradable rhythms and modes with limited transposition.

The former are palindromic rhythms, meaning they are identical when read from left to right or vice versa (like the word ANNA).
An example is the second line of the image, taken from Prélude, Instants défunts, in which we see a rhythmic figure that is identical when read in both directions. Rhythms like this, which remain unchanged following a temporal inversion and in which Messiaen sees "the charm of impossibility," generate a sensation of temporal immobility that finds its harmonic counterpart in the modes with limited transposition.

These latter are modes that cannot be transposed using the 12 canonical transpositions (12 considering enharmony; we're talking about modes, not keys).
For example, the major scale is not a limited transposition because, enharmonically speaking, each semitone transposition generates a new succession of notes that does not overlap with any other.
The whole-tone scale (C, D, E, F#, G#, A#), on the other hand, when transposed by a semitone generates a new succession (C#, D#, F, G, A, B), but, with the next transposition (D, E, F#, G#, A#, C), the previous case recurs. Therefore, this scale can only be transposed once.

A somewhat unusual example More complex is the alternating scale, also called octophonic or diminished, which proceeds by strictly alternating tones and semitones and can be transposed twice:

C D D# F F# G# A B

C# D# E F# G A A# C

D E F G G# A# B C#

Then we return to the first case.

His expressive vocabulary, however, goes far beyond these famous devices. We also mention his rhythmic evolutions achieved by augmentation or diminution, adding or subtracting a small temporal value from each rhythmic cycle. And his first spectral suggestions, constructed on the piano with chords in which a fundamental f was superimposed with more or less harmonic notes with lower dynamics, in an attempt to blend them with the basic sound (for example, in Prélude, La Colombe or Le Loriot, in the Catalogue d’Oiseaux).

Furthermore, Messiaen also fascinates with some extra-musical traits, which nevertheless had a notable impact on his music as well.

First of all, he was a synesthete: that is, he associated auditory perceptions with visual ones (colors), which over time became increasingly precise, to the point of being able to minutely describe the colors he associated with the sound of scales, chords, instrumental timbres, in the preface to Trois Liturgies.

Then for his passion for ornithology, which is integrated into his music both thematically and with works openly dedicated to birdsong [e.g., Catalogue d’oiseaux, for piano (1956–58), Réveil des oiseaux, piano and orchestra (1953), Oiseaux exotiques, piano and orchestra (1955–56), and others].
Regarding his methods of transposing birdsong, Messiaen says:

The bird sings at extremely fast tempos that are absolutely impossible for our instruments; therefore, I am obliged to transcribe it at a slower tempo. Furthermore, this speed is associated with extreme acuity, being a bird capable of singing in registers so high that they are inaccessible to our instruments; therefore, I transcribe the song one to four octaves lower. And that's not all: for the same reason, I am obliged to eliminate the microintervals that our instruments cannot play.

Finally, his faith, which I personally do not share, but which was always a strength for him.
To the great scandal of his contemporary ideologists, Messiaen rooted his source of inspiration in the organ bench of the Sainte Trinité, where he remained seated for the rest of his life. In his writings, he proclaims a candid following of the Holy Roman Church, but while the Catholic faith inspired Igor Stravinsky and Franz Liszt to write essential and chaste music, Messiaen draws from his Christian experience such a pomp and expressive overabundance that he has been mistakenly defined as a "pantheist" or "sentimental." The texts of the Trois petites Liturgies reveal a profound knowledge of Thomistic philosophy and of Cecilian and Solemn spirituality. The musical transcription of his religious experiences thus proves too concentrated and complex for those expecting easy listening, yet inexplicably maintains a freshness, tenderness, or ferocity that can only come from someone who doesn't make intellectual mysticism their sole source of inspiration.

The following page, published on Wikipedia (click the image to enlarge), taken from Oiseaux exotiques, clearly demonstrates some of this composer's highly personal characteristics:

The use of archaic and exotic rhythms. In the lower lines are two figures labeled "Asclépiade" and "Saphique." which are ancient Greek rhythms, while the Nibçankalîla, which begins on the last line, last measure, is a decî-tâla from the Śārṅgadeva, a list of 120 rhythmic units belonging to the Indian tradition (Messiaen often drew on the rhythmic corpus of the Indian talas). The birdsongs, meticulously notated, also indicating their names. The garralaxe à huppe blanche and the troupiale des vergers are, indeed, birds.

[Some parts and images in this post are taken directly from Wikipedia]

Listen to Oiseaux exotiques from YouTube

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