Messiaen, Olivier (ôlēvyā` mĕsyäN`), 1908–92, French composer and organist, b. Avignon. Messiaen was a pupil of Paul Dukas Dukas, Paul (pōl dükä`), 1865–1935, French composer and critic.
..... Click the link for more information. at the Paris Conservatory. He became organist of La Trinité, Paris, in 1931 and taught at the Schola Cantorum and the École Normale de Musique (1936–39). In 1942 he was appointed professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory, where he taught such 20th-century figures as Pierre Boulez Boulez, Pierre (pyĕr b
..... Click the link for more information. and Karlheinz Stockhausen Stockhausen, Karlheinz (kärl`hīnts shtôk`houzən)
..... Click the link for more information. . Messiaen's music is remarkably original and personal, rich in color and texture. It draws from many schools and styles, including electronic and serial music serial music, the body of compositions whose fundamental syntactical reference is a particular ordering (called series or row) of the twelve pitch classes—C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B—that constitute the equal-tempered scale.
..... Click the link for more information. , and is often based on scale formulas of his own invention or on his studies of Asian music and birdsong. His compositions also reflect his profound religious mysticism, which is also expounded in his didactic prose works.

Messiaen's major works include L'Ascension (1933), for orchestra; Apparition de l'Église Éternelle (1932), La Nativité du Seigneur (1935), Le Banquet Céleste (1936), and Les Corps Glorieux (1939), for organ; Quartet for the End of Time (1941), his best-known piece, composed while he was a prisoner of war in Germany (1940–42); Visions de l'Amen (1943), for two pianos; the orchestral Oiseaux Exotiques (1956), Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum (1965), and Des Canyons aux Étoiles (1974); and The Transfiguration (1969), an oratorio. He also wrote masses, songs, and much chamber music. His symphony in 10 movements, Turangalila Symphony (1948), is considered the most grandiose expression of his theories. Messiaen's only opera is the five-hour St. Francis of Assisi (1983). His last major composition, Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà (1992), was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

Bibliography

See his Technique of My Mystical Language (tr. 1957); biography by R. S. Johnson (1975, rev. 1989); studies by C. H. Bell (1984), P. Griffiths (1985), and R. Nichols (1986).

Messiaen, Olivier (-Eugène-Prosper-Charles)

Olivier Messiaen.

(born Dec. 10, 1908, Avignon, France—died April 27, 1992, Clichy, near Paris) French composer. At age 11 he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he won five first prizes. In 1931 he became principal organist at the church of the Sainte-Trinité, where he would remain for 40 years. He wrote his Quartet for the End of Time in a German POW camp. After the war, he taught at the Conservatoire (1947–78), where his students included Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Iannis Xenakis. His main source of inspiration was his quasi-mystical devout Catholic faith. His love of nature is evident in his many works inspired by birdsong. He also was influenced rhythmically by his study of Indian music, and he systematically explored nontonal harmonic materials. Major works include Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus (1944) and Catalogue d'oiseaux (1958) for piano, La Nativité du Seigneur (1935) for organ, the Turangalîla-symphonie (1948), Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum (1964), and the opera Saint François d'Assise (1983).