Neumes rythmiques

Neumes rythmiques (Rhythmic Neumes) is the third of Olivier Messiaen's Four Studies on Rhythm, which also include the famous Modes of Values and Intensities, but it was the first to be completed (1949).

In reality, the term Rhythmic Neume is paradoxical, because neumes are a melodic notation, rhythmically undefined, or at least not precisely defined. Here, however, Messiaen transposes the piece and describes it this way (my translation:

Observing the different figurations of neumes in plainchant, I had the idea of looking for rhythmic correspondences. The melodic sinuosity indicated by the neumes is transformed into groups of durations. Each rhythmic neume has a fixed intensity and changing resonances, more or less light or dark, always contrasting.

As you will clearly hear, this piece is made up of various distinct melodic/harmonic elements. Each element is characterized by a certain fixed harmonic color, a certain duration, which is initially fixed, and a given intensity, also fixed.

Thus, for Messiaen, each element is a neume. In this way, the succession of neumes transforms into a succession of elements, each with very specific characteristics and, above all, a fixed duration. Consequently, a series of neumes determines a series of events of different harmonic color and intensity, each of which has a precise duration—this latter characteristic, as the title suggests, is important for Messiaen's Four Studies on Rhythm.

To complicate matters, the durations undergo changes throughout the piece. In one series, neumes expand by a small, fixed value; in another, they change according to a series of prime numbers; in a third, they remain fixed.

Beyond the curiosity, this study is very important because it derives from Cantéodjayâ, a work based on Hindu talas (rhythms) that I will present later. It anticipates the inclusion of birdsong, each of which can be assimilated to an "ornithological neume," in the sense that it is an object in itself endowed with very specific characteristics.

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