Olivier Messiaen

about

Olivier Messiaen (December 10, 1908 – April 27, 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. Messiaen's music is rhythmically complex (he was interested in rhythms from ancient Greece and from Hindu sources), and is harmonically and melodically based on modes of limited transposition, which were Messiaen's own innovation. Many of his compositions depict what he termed "the marvellous aspects of the faith", drawing on his unshakeable Roman Catholicism. He travelled widely, and he wrote works inspired by such diverse influences as Japanese music, the landscape of Bryce Canyon in Utah, and the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Messiaen experienced a mild form of synaesthesia manifested as a perception of colours when he heard certain harmonies. For a short period Messiaen experimented with "total serialism", in which field he is often cited as an innovator. His style absorbed many exotic musical influences such as Indonesian gamelan (tuned percussion often features prominently in his orchestral works), and he also championed the ondes Martenot. Olivier-Eugène-Prosper-Charles Messiaen was born on December 10 in 1908 at Avignon, France, into a literary family. He was the elder of two sons of Cécile Sauvage, a poet, and Pierre Messiaen, a teacher of English from a farm near Wervicq-Sud who translated the plays of William Shakespeare into French. Messiaen's mother published a sequence of poems, L'âme en bourgeon ("The Budding Soul"), the last chapter of Tandis que la ter

top songs

albums

MESSIAEN: Preludes / 4 Rhythmic Studies / Canteyodjaya

Quartet for the End of Time

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Piano Music Vol. 1

Early Gurus Of Electronics

Messiaen, O.: Quatour Pour La Fin Du Temps / Theme and Variations / Les Offrandes Oubliees

Éclair sur l'Au-Delà ...

Visions De L'Amen

Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony

MESSIAEN: Quartet for the End of Time

Messiaen: Vingt Regards Sur L'Enfant Jesus

Messiaen: Organ Works

Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time)

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