Appel interstellaire
Encyclopedia
Appel Interstellaire is the 6th movement of the piece Des canyons aux étoiles…
by French
composer
Olivier Messiaen
.
The title is followed by quotes:
Appel Interstellaire was the first part of Des canyons aux étoiles... to be written, and it was originally composed for an entirely different purpose. In March 1971 the young French composer Jean-Pierre Guézec died, and his composer-friends contributed a collection of short pieces for solo instruments in his memory. For that collection, Messiaen wrote a brief movement for solo horn
. He liked the piece well enough that when he began work on Des canyons aux étoiles…
, he adapted it for inclusion in the larger piece.
The title translates "Interstellar call", as if this music were a horn call that reaches across the vast span of outer space. The music is extraordinarily difficult for the performer, who must master a range of techniques: flutter-tonguing, closed notes, glissandos, and faintly-sounded oscillations produced with the keys half-closed. Appel Interstellaire begins with a strident call that might reach out across the universe, and between the various calls and extended techniques (and several long silences), the horn sings two lyric passages. Along the way we hear the calls of two birds —the Chinese Thrush
and the Canyon Wren
— and at the end the music fades into silence on a recall of the faint oscillations.
Des canyons aux étoiles…
Des canyons aux étoiles… is a large twelve-movement work by the French composer Olivier Messiaen. It was written to a 1971 commission by the American Alice Tully for a work to celebrate the bicentenary of the United States Declaration of Independence...
by French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
.
The title is followed by quotes:
Appel Interstellaire was the first part of Des canyons aux étoiles... to be written, and it was originally composed for an entirely different purpose. In March 1971 the young French composer Jean-Pierre Guézec died, and his composer-friends contributed a collection of short pieces for solo instruments in his memory. For that collection, Messiaen wrote a brief movement for solo horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
. He liked the piece well enough that when he began work on Des canyons aux étoiles…
Des canyons aux étoiles…
Des canyons aux étoiles… is a large twelve-movement work by the French composer Olivier Messiaen. It was written to a 1971 commission by the American Alice Tully for a work to celebrate the bicentenary of the United States Declaration of Independence...
, he adapted it for inclusion in the larger piece.
The title translates "Interstellar call", as if this music were a horn call that reaches across the vast span of outer space. The music is extraordinarily difficult for the performer, who must master a range of techniques: flutter-tonguing, closed notes, glissandos, and faintly-sounded oscillations produced with the keys half-closed. Appel Interstellaire begins with a strident call that might reach out across the universe, and between the various calls and extended techniques (and several long silences), the horn sings two lyric passages. Along the way we hear the calls of two birds —the Chinese Thrush
Chinese Thrush
The Chinese Thrush is a species of bird in the Turdidae family.It is found in China and Vietnam.Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist montanes....
and the Canyon Wren
Canyon Wren
The Canyon Wren is a small North American wren, and is about 14.5 cm long. It ranges from far southern British Columbia and Montana south through much of Mexico to western Chiapas and east to Oklahoma and Texas...
— and at the end the music fades into silence on a recall of the faint oscillations.