Oliver Messiaen

born 1908 in Avignon (F) – died 1992; from 1919 to 1939 received an all-round musical education at the Conservatoire de Paris, including the study of the organ, Improvisation under Marcel Dupré, and Composition and Instrumentation under Paul Dukas. In 1931 he was organist at the church Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris, serving there for 55 years, and also produced his first orchestral composition «Les ouffrandes oubliées». In 1936 he founded with Yves Baudrier, André Jovilet, and Daniel-Lesur the group «Jeune France,» which advocated more feeling and spirituality in music, in opposition to the prevailing neoclassical tradition in Paris. Military service and incarceration in 1940/41. Before and afterwards, active as an instructor. In 1943, Messiaen founded a private composition class in which his future wife, the pianist Yvonne Loriod, and Pierre Boulez participated. During the same period, he published his most important harmonic and rhythmic innovations in the textbook «Technique de mon langage musical» (1944). Messiaen received an official composition class in 1966 and could influence different generations of composers up until 1978.
Messiaen consistently celebrated four «impetus-giving» moments in his work: «a determined expression of the Catholic faith, the perception of tonality as color, a unique rhythmic sense, and the incorporation of bird calls. These are likewise the central elements of his oeuvre...» (Aloyse Michaely). Messiaen developed a distinctive musical language marked by its great effectiveness and composed an extensive body of work.

Julia Gerlach