How Messiaen's faith and philosophy shaped his innovative musical language
10/12/14 
Young-Hyun Cho
Olivier Messiaen(1908-1992) isone of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. He was a composer, organist and teacher. He does not belong to a clear-cut category, but perhaps he could be viewed as an extension of the music line of Debussy, Stravinsky and Bartok , and a precursor to avant-garde composers like Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. His harmonic language was innovative and his music has unique tone colors.
Olivier Messiaen was born in 1908 in Avignon, France, as a child of a Shakespearean scholar and French poet. He was talented in composing from an early age. He requested the musical score of Debussy's opera, Pelleas et Melisande, as a Christmas gift at the age of ten, which deeply influenced Messiaen's later works. Messiaen studied organ, theory and compositions at the Paris Conservatory from 1919 to 1930. At age 22, he was appointed organist at the Church of Sainte-Trinite in
Paris , the position he held for more than four decades.
During World War II, Messiaen became prisoned at a Nazi camp in Gorlitz. During that time his piece Quartet for the End of the Time (1941)was composed and premiered at the camp by the fellow musician prisoners, including the composer himself, for an audience of 400 fellow prisoners and guards. Upon returning to Paris in 1942, Messiaen became a professor of harmony and later professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory. In 1944, He wrote a treatise on his musical language, Technique of My Musical Language, and Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jesus(20 Contemplations on Infant Jesus).
Vingt Regards sur l'enfant Jesus
1. Background Information
Vingt regards is a monumental piano cycle, consisting of 20 pieces for piano solo. The entire piece requires a two-hour performance and the utmost stamina from the performer for technical agility and artistic introspection. It was written for Yvonne Loriod in 1944 and premiered by her in the same year. Loriod was a formidable pianist, Messiaen's student and later became Messiaen's second wife in 1961.
Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jesus was written as an act of faith from a devout Catholic. His prefacing commentaries, programmatic titles and descriptive thematic phrases for each movement manifest a strong and direct influence of Christianity and Catholicism.
The preface to Vingt Regards cites specific theological treatises that influenced the composition of the work. They include Dom Columba Marmion's Christ and his Mysteries; Maurice Toesca's Les Douze Regards, which spoke of the regards of the shepherds, the angels, the Virgin, and the heavenly Father; the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John of the Cross, Saint Theresa of Lisieux; the Gospels and the Roman Missal.
2. Titles and thematic phrases of the 20 movements
Messiaen published his scores including his preface in French. The texts in italics below are those of Messiaen in translation. The titles and thematic phrases have roots in theology, which indicates the strong Christian/Catholic influence on this work.
I. Regard du Pere. [Contemplation of the Father] The Ўtheme de Dieu' is stated in its complete form. And God said: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
II. Regard de l'etoile [Contemplation of theStar] Theme de l'Etoile et de la Croix. Shock of grace . . . the star shines naively, surmounted by a cross.(The Star and the Cross have the same theme because one opens and the other closes the earthly period of Jesus.)
III. L'echange. [The exchange] Descending in a sheaf, rising in a spiral; the terrible commerce of the human and the divine; God makes man to make gods of us.
IV. Regard de la Vierge [Contemplation of the Virgin]. Innocence and tenderness. . . the woman of purity, the woman of the Magnificat, the Virgin gazes upon her child. . . I wanted to express purity in music: it required a certain force- and especially a lot of naivete, of innocent tenderness.
V. Regard du Fils sur le Fils. [Contemplation of the Son upon the Son]. Mystery, rays of light in the night- refraction of joy, the birds of silence, the person of the Word in human nature - marriage of the human and divine natures within Jesus Christ.
VI. Par Lui tout a ete fait [Everything has been created by Him] Abundance of space and time; galaxy, photons, contrary spirals, inverted lightning: by Him (the Word) was Everything made . . . in an instant, creation reveals to us the luminous shadow of His Voice . . .
VII. Regard de la croix [Contemplation of the Cross]. Theme of the star and the Cross. The Cross says to him: You will be a priest in my arms.
VIII. Regard des hauteurs [Contemplation of the Heights] Glory in the heavens . . . the heavens descend on the manger like the song of a lark. . . Bird songs: nightingale, blackbird, warbler, chaffinch, goldfinch, serin, and especially the skylark.
IX. Regard du Temps [Contemplation of Time] Mystery of the fullness of Time; Time sees born within it the one that is eternal.
X. Regard de l'esprit de joie [Contemplation of the Spirit of Joy] Violent dance, joyous sound of horns, rapture of the Holy Spirit. . . . the joyous love of Blessed God in the Soul of Jesus Christ.
XI. Premiere communion de la Vierge [The First Communion of the Virgin]. A tableau where the Virgin is represented on her knees, bent over herself at night: a luminous halo hangs over her womb. Eyes closed, she adores the fruit she is carrying. This occurs between the Annunciation and the Nativity; it is the first and the greatest of all communions. "My God, my Son, my Magnificat! --my love without the sound of words."
XII. La parole toute puissante [The All-Powerful Word] This Child is the Word who sustains all things through the power of His voice . . .
XIII. Noel [Christmas] The Christmas bells say with us the sweet names of Jesus, Mary, Joseph . . .
XIV. Regard des anges [Contemplation of the Angels] Sparkling, beating: a powerful blast from immense trombones; Your servants are flames of fire - then the song of birds who feast upon blue - and the amazement of the angels grows - for it is not to them but to the human race that God is united . . .
XV. Le baiser de l'enfant-Jesus[The kiss of the infant Jesus] At each Communion, the Infant Jesus sleeps with us, close to the gate; then he opens it onto the garden and comes forth in a blaze of light to embrace us . . .
XVI. Regard des prophetes, des bergers et des Mages [Contemplation of the prophets, the shepherds and the Magi]. Exotic music - tam-tams and oboes, enormous, nasal concert.
XVII. Regard du silence [Contemplation of silence] Silence in the hand, an upside-down rainbow . . . each silence of the Manger reveals music and colors which are the mysteries of Jesus Christ . . .
XVIII. Regard de lЎonction terrible [Contemplation of the terrible unction] The Word assumes a definite human form; the choice of the flesh of Jesus by the awesome Majesty of God . . .
XIX. Je dors, mais mon c©ur veille [I sleep, but my heart keeps watch] It is not the bow of an angel that smiles, it is the sleeping Jesus who loves us on his Holy Day and who give us forgetfulness. . .
XX. Regard de l'eglise d'amour [Contemplation of the Church of Love] Grace made us love God as God loves us; after the shower of night, the spirals of anguish, here are bells, glory, and the kiss of love . . . All the passion of our arms around the Invisible One . . .
3. Recurrent thematic ideas/Cycling themes
According to Messiaen's preface, the cycle has recurrent thematic ideas or cycling themes, which serve as a unifying factor for this lengthy collection of works. Just as is the case with the titles and thematic phrases for each movement, the cycling themes have roots in theology. The five themes appear in different pieces of the set and they are often presented by themselves or in combinations.
Theme de Dieu (Theme of God) --- The theme symbolizes God's love, being introduced at the very opening. GodЎs love is epitomized by the thematic phrases of the biblical quotation in the foreword to the piece: ЎAnd God says: ЎThis is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.ЎЎ
Theme de l'etoile et de la croix (Theme of the Star and the Cross) --- The theme symbolizes JesusЎ birth in Bethlehem and death in Golgotha. Messiaen described this piece in his foreword as Ўthe shock of grace. . . and the star shines naively, topped by a cross.Ў
Theme de l'amour mystique(Theme of Mystical Love) --- Messiaen interprets that mystical love stands for human's love and that it evokes communion of the divine being with human love . Messiaen thought that GodЎs love provides the basis for humankindЎs love of God.
Theme d'accords (Theme of Chords) --- The theme is a unifying factor of the cycle as it mostly appears in combination with other themes. Messiaen called this theme an Ўamplifying variation,Ў which evokes ecstasy and the dazzle of the rainbow. Messiaen called it a symbol of peace, wisdom, and vibration of light and sound.
Theme de joie (Theme of Joy)--- The theme symbolizes Messiaen's belief about God as a happy being, and that the love of God brings joy, which is close to an excited expression in an enlightened sensation.
4. Number Symbolism
Messiaen found prime numbers interesting because they cannot be divided by numbers other than themselves. He believed them to be numbers of divinity having the same indivisible character as God. The number 3, a number of Trinity, was used in the Theme of God, with his harmonic components based on the relationship of three semitones and with rhythm in triplets. The number 7 is a symbol of divine repose and ChristЎs death. Theme of the Star and the Cross, first appearing in movЎt No. 2 with a symbol of JesusЎ birth, is presented again in movЎt No. 7. This time the theme appears in slow notes and dark colored chords, symbolizing Jesus' death. The number 10 is a symbol of completion. The 20 movements could be folded as two groups of 10 movements. The first group closes with No. 10 Regard de l'esprit de joie, which is a intensely joyful dance with a frenetic pace of activity. The second group opens with No. 11, Premiere communion de la Vierge, softly describing the first communion of Virgin Mary.
5. Birdsongs
Messiaen said, "Among the artistic hierarchy, the birds are probably the greatest musicians to inhabit in our planet." Messiaen saw birds as a kind of passport to nature, and thereby to God. He became a dedicated ornithologist, traveling to explore many kinds of birdsongs, and incorporated birdsongs into his music. Also, Messiaen found ancient Greek rhythm and Hindu rhythm interesting and incorporated them into his music.
6. Concept of Time and Rhythm
Messiaen used irregular and additive rhythms. He wanted to avoid the attention of the listener to an awareness of time, which he believed to be divisible and created by humans. Messiaen believed time as indivisible as God. He wanted to avoid the regularity of the rhythm by adding small valued rhythms or creating juxtapositions of those rhythms. He considered palindrome rhythm (non-retrogradable rhythm) as a reflection of the mathematical order in nature. He found analogies to this palindrome rhythm in the structure of the universe, in which planets revolve around the Sun while other heavenly bodies revolve around God.
7. Modes of Limited Transposition
"Charm of Impossibilities" is a term, which Messiaen created to refer to his principal music innovations in rhythm and harmony: "Non-retrogradable rhythm" and "Modes of Limited Transposition." "Non-retrogradable rhythm" refers to the impossibility to play in retrograde without repeating the original order of rhythmic values. "Modes of Limited Transposition" refers to the impossibility to transpose by all twelve notes of the octave without returning to the original. They both create a sequential and continuous quality of music and serves his aspiration towards eternity.
8. Adaptation of the medieval music: Gregorian chant
Messiaen believed that Gregorian chant was truly religious music. Messiaen valued its unbroken, continuous and sequential melodies without being affected by human pretension, and saw this as being close to the essence and eternity of God. He adapted melodies faster and more joyful to his music to manifest the delicacy of the Gregorian chant. The example appears in No. 10, Regard de l'esprit de joie. The Gregorian chant is transformed into a spirited and lively dance, first appearing at the beginning and then later at the culminating and climactic end.
Summary
In summary, MessiaenЎs faith and philosophy played a leading role in inspiring his new innovations in musical composition. This is especially clear in his monumental work for solo piano, Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jesus. In this cycle of 20 pieces, his devout faith is in full display as well as his views of theology, time, order, and the universe. For those unfamiliar with this work, I invite you to listen and hear the innovative musical ideas described.