Olivier Eugene Charles Prosper Messiaen (Avignon, December 10th 1908 - † Paris, April 27th 1992) was a Compositeur and organist French of the contemporary time . He was also an expert in Ornithologie and studied years during the language of the birds.

Its work finds its sources in a deep catholic enthusiasm , a taste pronounced for the old musics and the exotic rates/rhythms, and in a thorough scientific study of the song of the birds. Messiaen was a particularly bold type-setter, innovating so much in the harmonic field and melody (Modes with limited transposition, integral serialism) that in the instrumentation (Gamelan, Ondes Martenot) and the very particular use of the musical color. The Quartet for the end of Time (1940), the Twenty glances on the Child Jesus (1944) and the Turangalîla-Symphony (1946 - 48), inter alia major works, contributed to do of Olivier Messiaen one of the most influential type-setters of second half of the 20th century.

Biography

Wire of the teacher Pierre Messiaen (translator of Shakespeare) and of the poetess Cecile Sauvage, it entered at the 11 years age to the Conservatoire of Paris in 1919, where it had as professors in particular Maurice Emmanuel, Marcel Dupre for the composition and the Orgue and Paul Dukas for the composition and the orchestration.

He became organist with the church of the Trinity to Paris at the 22 years age and composed of very many works for this instrument. It Maria first once in 1932 with Claire Delbos, a Violonist which finished its days in a psychiatric hospital. In 1940, he was prisoner of war in Germany (Stalag VIII-A) and composed during its stay its Quatuor for the end of Time . The first was given in the camp on January 15th 1941 by a group of captive musicians. Messiaen was released in March 1941 and turned over to teach in Paris. It met there a young pupil, Yvonne Loriod, which became the first and the principal interpreter of its works for piano. After the death of his first wife in 1959, he married Yvonne Loriod in 1961. With the Academy of Paris, its class of musical analysis, of world famous, became officially class of composition, in 1966.

It had among its pupils Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, Tristan Murail, Gerard Grisey, Kent Nagano, George Benjamin and Betsy Jolas.

A Messiaen festival was set up there is a few years at the village of mountain the Low register, close to Meije, which it affectionnait so much. It takes place in summer.

Musical language

The musical language of Olivier Messiaen cannot really be attached to a particular school - even if Messiaen belonged to the group “Young France” with André Jolivet, Jean Yves Daniel-Lesur and Yves Baudrier. It was titular large-organ of the church of the Trinity until its death and Naji Hakim succeeded to him.

Among the characteristic elements, one finds:

• the color : even if for the common run of people one can take that like a metaphor of the harmony and stamp, Messiaen said to have a visual perception of the sounds;
• the songs of birds which it recorded and transcribed itself, by making complete collections ( catalogs birds for Piano) but also by referring in its other works there;
• the rates/rhythms of which the Hindu rates/rhythms , to which it makes undergo transformations which point out those that the contrapuntists apply to the heights: increase, retrogradation, mirror, etc;
• “limited modes with transposition” , Range S of notes whose composition is not changed by a Transposition with the minor third (3 transpositions) or with the major third (4 transpositions) or with the increased quad (6 transpositions), whereas a usual range has twelve possible transpositions all different;
• the Christian inspiration of a very great number of its works, according to him, the source of the most essential inspiration.

Works

• List of works of Olivier Messiaen

Writings

• Technical of my musical language , 2 volumes, 72 p. and 62 p., Leduc, Paris, 1944.

• Treated rate/rhythm, of color and ornithology (1949-1992) , 7 volumes (including 5th in 2 volumes) published starting from 1994, Leduc, Paris.

Distinctions

• 1975 - Price Ernst von Siemens
• 1978 - Medal of the Canadian Council of the music
• 1988 - Price Paul VI

See too

• List of the type-setters persecuted during the Nazism.

External bonds

• the work of Messiaen and the liturgical year the official gate of the catholic Liturgy
• Biography and catalogs on the site of the IRCAM
• Festival Messiaen
• musicologie.org Biographie, bibliography, discography.
• Biography, catalogs, bibliography
• Catalog of works of Messiaen

Simple: Olivier Messiaen Zh-min-nan: Olivier Messiaen