Messiaen Perspectives 1: Sources and Influences

Focusing on Messiaen?s relation to history - both his own and the history he engendered - the Messiaen Perspectives volumes convey the growing understanding of his deep and varied interconnections with his cultural milieux. Messiaen Perspectives 1: Sources and Influences examines the genesis, sources and cultural pressures that shaped Messiaen?s music. Messiaen Perspectives 2: Techniques, Influence and Reception analyses Messiaen?s compositional approach and the repercussions of his music. While each book offers a coherent collection in itself, together these complementary volumes elucidate how powerfully Messiaen was embedded in his time and place, and how his music resonates ever more today. Messiaen Perspectives 1: Sources and Influences presents many new primary sources, including discussion of Messiaen?s birdsong cahiers, sketch and archival materials for his Prix de Rome entries and war-time Portique, along with performance practice insights and theological inspiration in works as diverse as Visions de l?Amen, Harawi, Timbres-durées and the organ Méditations. The volume places the composer within a broader historical and cultural framework than has previously been attempted, ranging from specific influences to more general contexts. As a centrepiece, the book includes an examination of the impact of one of the greatest influences upon Messiaen, Yvonne Loriod.

Introduction; I: Sources; Perspectives on Sources; 1: Olivier Messiaen and the Prix de Rome as Rite of Passage; 2: Olivier Messiaen and Portique pour une fille de France; 3: Formal Genesis in the Sketches for Visions de l'Amen 1; 4: From Music for the Radio to a Piano Cycle: Sources for the Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus; 5: My Collaboration with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod on Harawi; 6: Olivier Messiaen's Timbres-durées; 7: From Réveil des oiseaux to Catalogue d'oiseaux: Messiaen's Cahiers de notations des chants d'oiseaux, 1952–59; 8: In the Beginning Was The Word? An Exploration of the Origins of Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité; I: Intermède; 9: Yvonne Loriod as Source and Influence; II: Influences; Perspectives on Influences; 10: Messiaen and Mozart: A Love without Influence?; 11: Messiaen and the Romantic Gesture: Contemplations on his Piano Music and Pianism; 12: Messiaen and the Problem of Communication; 13: Messiaen and Art Sacré; 14: Messiaen, the Cinq Rechants and ‘Spiritual Violence'; 15: Messiaen in Retrospect