The Roots of Integral Serialism

Let's return to Messiaen on the centenary of his birth.

Olivier Messiaen was never a serialist, except occasionally, experimentally. Nonetheless, one of his compositions formed the basis for the idea of integral serialism in the 1950s.

Messian — Mode de valeurs et d’intensités (1950)

In this piece, taken from the 1950 Four Studies on Rhythm, we find the first indication of a total organization of the parameters of pitch, duration, intensity, and modes of attack. The ideas contained in this composition aroused great interest in Boulez and Stockhausen, both students of Messiaen.
Messiaen does not use series here, so we cannot speak of serialism. Instead, it is a question of modes, that is, scales from which the composer freely draws notes without respecting their order.
The point is that, in this piece, each pitch is associated with a duration, an intensity, and a mode of attack. The following figure shows the three divisions of the mode used in the piece. Each division will be used in a different voice (click on the image to enlarge).

So, for example, in this piece the high Eb (division I, note 1) will always appear as a 32nd note, ppp, legato to the following note; the A-flat with a cut at the head will always be a 8th note, forte, played staccato (note that, being staccato, part of its duration can be expressed as a rest, as on the following page; nevertheless, the total duration will always be an 8th note), etc. (also here, click on the image to enlarge)

In those years, this piece made a great impression. It's no coincidence that Boulez used the series again in his Structures for two pianos in 1952.

But the interesting thing is that, in 1986, Messiaen itself had to say:

I was very upset by the absolutely disproportionate importance given to a small work, only three pages long and called "Modes of Values and Intensities," under the pretext that it was the origin of the serial explosion in the domain of attacks, durations, intensities, timbres, in short, all musical parameters.
This music may have been prophetic, historically important, but, musically, it's three times nothing...
[“Olivier Messiaen, Music and Color” - New Interviews with Claude Samuel - Belfond - 1986]

Messian – Mode de valeurs et d’intensités (1950)

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