Olivier Messiaen
"My faith is the grand drama of my life. I'm a believer, so I sing words of God to those who have no faith. I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and have never heard them, make rhythms for those who know only military marches or jazz, and paint colours for those who see none".
(Olivier Messiaen)
Bio
© Malcolm Crowthers
OLIVIER-EUGENE-PROSPER-CHARLES MESSIAEN (b. Dec. 10, 1908, Avignon, France.d. April 27, 1992, Clichy, near Paris), Olivier Messiaen was the son of Pierre Messiaen, a scholar of English literature, and of the poet Cecile Sauvage. Soon after his birth the family moved to Ambert (the birthplace of Chabrier) where his brother, Alain was born in 1913. Around the time of the outbreak of World War 1, Cecile Sauvage took her two sons to live with her brother in Grenoble where Olivier Messiaen spent his early childhood, began composing at the age of seven, and taught himself to play the piano. On his return from the war, Pierre Messiaen took the family to Nantes and in 1919 they all moved to Paris where Olivier entered the Conservatoire.
YVONNE LORIOD
Premiere in Berlin September 2026
The highly expressive music of Yvonne Loriod is brought back to life. La Sainte Face – The Holy Face for soprano and orchestra. This work, handwritten in black ink across 280 pages of score, comprises 15 pieces with very different instrumentations. As a 21-year-old student of Darius Milhaud, Loriod composed for an unusual ensemble: solo soprano, eight flutes, woodwinds and brass, a large percussion section, a few strings, two harps, piano, celesta, and two Ondes Martenot. Loriod's compositional output is still being rediscovered – by figures such as Kent Nagano, who discovered several large-scale orchestral works by his former teacher in the National Library of Paris and is now rescuing them from oblivion with the WDR Symphony Orchestra. See here
Messiaen inspired grand organ to be installed in the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur at Paray-le Monial, France. See news page.
Le Nocturne. OLIVIER MESSIAEN,
DE NUITS ET D’ÉTOILES
A recent paper by Jacques Tchamkerten.
Light, color, birds: Messiaen is essentially a musician of the day, whose intense Christian faith draws him toward the dazzling revelation of the Divine Presence. It is as if the musician unites night and death in a unified whole, like temporal "no man's lands" that exist only through what will follow them, culminating in the Resurrection. For Messiaen, the Resurrection is a reality that, opening onto eternity, abolishes time in an eternal light of which his music, a dialogue between sound and color, between time and space, is the premonitory image.
Free to read from Open Edition Journals. Étude de Lettres. Here
Swiss pianist and organist, Jacques Tchamkerten was born in Geneva in 1960. After studying piano, then organ with Pierre Segond at the Conservatoire de Genève, he undertook the study of the Ondes Martenot with Jeanne Loriod, in whose class he was awarded a gold medal at the Conservatoire de Saint-Maur (France) in 1986. Since then he has performed in a dozen European countries, either with orchestra or in chamber ensembles.
Jacques Tchamkerten specialises in the Ondes Martenot an early electronic keyboard instrument invented in the 1930's. French composers such as Milhaud, Honegger, Koechlin, Messiaen and Jolivet have written works for Ondes Martenot, an instrument on which Mme Loriod was the acknowledged expert. He lectures frequently on his instrument and, besides engagements as a solo or chamber performer, is much in demand as a player in works such as Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher, Messiaen's St François d'Assise, Trois Petite Liturgies and Turangalîla Symphonie where the Ondes Martenot figures as soloist and in the orchestral texture.
He was also a member, from 1990 to 1996, of the Sextuor Jeanne Loriod, an ensemble of six Ondes Martenot. In addition to his activities as an instrumentalist, Jacques Tchamkerten has published several works on Swiss and French music from the twentieth century, notably on Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Ernest Bloch, Arthur Honegger, and Olivier Messiaen and he has written several articles for the new edition of the New Grove Dictionary. In 2011, he was awarded the Pierre and Louisa Meylan Foundation Prize for his body of work.He was also responsible for the library of the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève until his recent retirement.
©M.Ball
!NEW BOOK!
Papers of the Conference on Olivier Messiaen in Toul by Jerzy Stankiewicz see bibliography
Rich Kass interprets the song of the Skylark on the Drum Set.
See Media Page
My Morning with Messiaen -
Les oiseaux et les sources (Messe de la Pentecôte)
Recently added video from organist Timothy Hagy. See Media Page
Musicologist and Messiaen specialist Jerzy Stankiewicz at the inauguration of the Rue Olivier Messiaen in Toul, France 2022
See video here.
More street names dedicated to
Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod
See Gallery
UK Premiere of a work by Yvonne Loriod:
Grains de cendre
(1946) for Ondes Martenot, Piano and Voice
Details of performance here.
Turangalîla Symphonie
BBC PROMS
see review here.
Messiaen's Musical Universe DVDs
Yvonne Loriod
The Complete Véga Recordings
1956 - 1963
Reissued by Warner Classics in January 2024
To commemorate the 100th year of her birth.
Works by Mozart, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, Albeniz, deFalla, Berg, Webern, Schoenberg, Henze, Boulez, Barraqué, Stravinsky and Messiaen.
13 CDs album.
The Complete Messiaen Organ Works including a previously unpublished and unrecorded transcription 'Vie pour Dieu des Ressuscités', by organist Jon Gillock
Read more here.
Des Canyons aux Étoiles...
Performed by the Utah Symphony directed by Thierry Fischer under the stars and in the canyon at Zion Park which was one of the places that most influenced Messiaen at the time of writing.
See: In The Press here
Rescue of MESSIAEN HOUSE in FULIGNY - Aube - Champagne area.
This is the house where Messiaen's aunts lived and where he spent his summer vacations for many years. Here he notated his first bird songs and composed, among others, Preludes for piano, Le Banquet Céleste, Le Banquet Eucharistique, Les Offrandes Oubliées, Le Tombeau Resplendissant... and many more sketches that would find themselves in later works. Messiaen continued to visit his aunts and this house throughout his life.
The current owner has decided to sell this house and the couple who wish to buy it intend to demolish it in view of the costs for its restoration.
The Association LA QUALITE DE VIE reacted immediately, and is doing everything possible to have this "house of character" become an historical monument.
The idea is to have this house bought by those who are interested in the world of BIRDS, in HERITAGE, in CONTEMPORARY MUSIC, in the ORGAN, in Olivier MESSIAEN...
A FOUNDATION LE CHANT DES OISEAUX DE FULIGNY will make this place a concentration of Culture : "the grown-ups" and "the school children" will be able to learn to recognise the birds, their song, their life... One can imagine a specialised media library... and in a small auditorium one can listen to all the music and songs of the bird world... And maybe a care centre for injured birds and animals...
CALL FOR DONATIONS for the safeguarding of LA MAISON DES MESSIAEN in Fuligny (in Aube, in Champagne). Read and see more here including a video of Messiaen speaking about the work of Michel Gueritte.
"LA QUALITE DE VIE, an association governed by the law of July 1, 1901, registered with the Troyes Prefecture on February 9, 2007, whose head office is located at 8 route de Soulaines - 10200 VILLE-SUR-TERRE, represented by its current president, M. Michel GUERITTE, has decided to set up an endowment fund, governed by law no. 2008-776 of August 4, 2008 on the modernization of the economy (JO of August 5, 2008), by decree no. 2009-158 of February 11, 2009, and by the present articles of association, in order to safeguard and acquire La Maison des Messiaen, 18 rue du moulin in Fuligny in connection with the association's purpose. Michel GUERITTE is the founder of this fund.
Michel Gueritte, who himself has family connections with the Messiaen's, is spearheading this project so if you wish to partake and help, please email Michel at: michel.gueritte@gmail.com
Read more here.
The Cleveland Museum of Art invited Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod to perform a two-piano concert on October 13, 1978, in the Gartner Auditorium. The Museum has recently unearthed the recording made of the occasion.
See news page.
15th January 1941
QUATUOR POUR LA FIN DU TEMPS
at Stalag VIIIA Gorlitz by Messiaen and fellow musician prisoners Henri Akoka, Étienne Pasquier and Jean Le Boulaire.
See review of concert 15th January 2025 HERE
The memorial and visitor centre at the site of
Stalag VIIIA
Tom's Messiaen vlog - Episode 1
Organist Tom Bell is keeping a video diary as he prepares Messiaen's Livre du Saint-Sacrement for a performance scheduled for November 2020. In his weekly vlog he will be exploring the learning process, the music itself, and the questions around how you perform it.
Messiaen commissioned sculptor Josef Pyrz to create a work on St. François d'Assise
see Gallery page
St. François and a passing bluebird.
A rare and happy flash by Jim Frazier.
This sculpture was made by FRANK C. GAYLORD and is located in the city of CHICAGO-ILINOIS/USA.
Special Offer!
This Limited Edition publication explores the 20 year history of the Festival Messiaen au pays de la Meije. The book pays tribute to the commitment of its founder and artistic director, Gaëtan Puaud and editor/author Raphaëlle Blin highlights the artistic, social and political experiences that maintained and supported creative music making and activities in the landscape that was so dear to Olivier Messiaen. The 160 stunning photographs by Colin Samuels and the testimonies of the performers, composers, musicologists, volunteers and members of the public reveal all the uniqueness of this adventure.
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1998-2018: born of the utopian idea of playing the work Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum for orchestra by Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) according to his wish, at the foot of the glacier in front of which he liked to compose, the Messiaen festival in the land of Meije has become an essential place of contemporary musical life, bringing together the greatest performers and composers.
A book of more than 300 pages with magnificent photos and images by Colin Samuels, retracing the 20 years of the festival with many testimonies of artists and of festival-goers.
With Swiss binding and soft cloth cover : a signed copy to the UK or anywhere in Europe for £31 or €35 including shipping. Any other country including USA and Japan: £36 or €40 includes shipping.
Orders can be made directly from Colin Samuels via Paypal at: paypal.me/ColinSamuels
Multiple copies or questions, please email Colin at: colinsamuels@yahoo.com
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Check out the 'writings and articles' page that includes contributions from Père Jean-Rodolphe Kars ~ Thomas Lacôte ~ Nicholas Armfelt ~ Jeffery Wilson and more.
