List of compositions by Olivier Messiaen
Encyclopedia
Published during his lifetime
- Le banquet céleste, organ (1928, a recomposition of a section from his unpublished orchestral piece Le banquet eucharistique)
- Préludes, piano (1928-29)
- Diptyque, organ (1930)
- La mort du nombre ("Number's death"), soprano, tenor, violin and piano (1930)
- Les offrandes oubliées ("The forgotten offerings"), orchestra (1930)
- Trois mélodies, song cycle (1930)
- Le tombeau resplendissant, orchestra (1931)
- Apparition de l'église éternelle ("Apparition of the eternal church"), organ (1932)
- Fantaisie burlesque, piano (1932)
- Hymne au Saint Sacrament ("Hymn to the Holy Sacrament"), orchestra (1932, lost 1943, reconstructed from memory 1946)
- Thème et variationsThème et variationsThème et variations is a composition by Olivier Messiaen for solo violin and piano, and lasts around ten minutes. It is considered as equally characteristic as his Quatuor pour la fin du temps and is as immediately accessible as that work...
, violin and piano (1932) - L'ascensionL'AscensionL'ascension is a piece for orchestra, composed by Olivier Messiaen in 1932-33. Messiaen described it as "4 meditations for orchestra".The orchestral piece is in four brief sections:...
("The Ascension"), orchestra (1932-33; organ version including replacement movement, 1933-34) - La Nativité du SeigneurLa Nativité du SeigneurLa Nativité du Seigneur is a work for organ, written by the French composer Olivier Messiaen in 1935....
("The Lord's nativity"), organ (1935) - Pièce pour le tombeau de Paul Dukas, piano, (1935)
- Vocalise, voice and piano (1935)
- Poèmes pour Mi, song cycle (1936, orchestral version 1937)
- O sacrum convivium!, choral motet (1937)
- Chants de terre et de ciel ("Songs of earth and heaven"), song cycle (1938)
- Les corps glorieux ("Glorious bodies"), organ (1939)
- Quatuor pour la fin du tempsQuatuor pour la fin du tempsQuatuor pour la fin du temps, also known by its English title Quartet for the End of Time, is a piece of chamber music by the French composer Olivier Messiaen. It was premiered in 1941...
("Quartet for the end of time"), violin, cello, clarinet, piano (1940-41) - Rondeau, piano (1943)
- Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen"), two pianos (1943)
- Trois petites Liturgies de la Présence DivineTrois petites Liturgies de la Présence DivineTrois petites liturgies de la présence divine is a piece by Olivier Messiaen for women's voices, piano solo, ondes Martenot, and orchestra , in three movements...
("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence"), women's voices, piano solo, ondes Martenot solo, orchestra (1943-44) - Vingt regards sur l'enfant-JésusVingt regards sur l'enfant-JésusVingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus is a collection of pieces by the French composer Olivier Messiaen for solo piano. The French title translates into English roughly as "Twenty gazes/contemplations on the infant Jesus"...
("Twenty gazes on the Christ-child"), piano (1944) - Harawi: Chants d'amour et de mort, ("Harawi: Songs of love and death") song cycle (1944)
- Turangalîla-SymphonieTurangalîla-SymphonieThe Turangalîla-Symphonie is a large-scale piece of orchestral music by Olivier Messiaen. It was written from 1946 to 1948, on a commission by Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The premiere was given by that orchestra on December 2, 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein in Boston...
, piano solo, ondes Martenot solo, orchestra (1946-48) - Cinq réchants, 12 singers (1948)
- CantéyodjayâCantéyodjayâCantéyodjayâ is a work for piano by the French composer Olivier Messiaen, written in 1949. The form of the work's single movement exhibits aspects of sonata-form and rondo, but progresses by superimposition and repetition rather than conventional development.The work's compositional bases are the...
, piano (1949) - Messe de la PentecôteMesse de la PentecôteMesse de la Pentecôte is an organ mass composed by Olivier Messiaen in 1949–50. According to the composer, it is based on twenty years of improvising at Église de la Sainte-Trinité, where Messiaen was organist since 1931....
("PentecostPentecostPentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
mass"), organ (1949-50) - Quatre études de rythme ("Four studies in rhythm"), piano (1949-50)
- Île de feu 1
- Mode de valeurs et d'intensités
- Neumes rhythmique
- Île de feu 2
- Le merle noirLe merle noirLe merle noir is a chamber work by the French composer Olivier Messiaen for flute and piano. It was written and first performed in 1952 and is the composer's shortest independently-published work, lasting just over five minutes. This work has become a staple of the French flute and piano...
("Blackbird"), flute and piano (1952) - Livre d'orgue, organ (1951-2)
- Réveil des oiseaux ("Dawn chorus"), solo piano and orchestra (1953)
- Oiseaux exotiques ("Exotic birds"), solo piano and orchestra (1955-56)
- Catalogue d'oiseaux ("Bird catalogue"), piano (1956-58)
- Book 1
- i Le chocard des alpes ("Alpine choughAlpine ChoughThe Alpine Chough , or Yellow-billed Chough, is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax. Its two subspecies breed in high mountains from Spain east through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia, India and China, and it may nest at a higher altitude...
") - ii Le loriot ("Golden orioleGolden OrioleThe Eurasian Golden Oriole or simply Golden Oriole is the only member of the oriole family of passerine birds breeding in northern hemisphere temperate regions...
") (loriot and Loriod are homophonesHomonymIn linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that often but not necessarily share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings...
) - iii Le merle bleu ("Blue rock thrushBlue Rock ThrushThe Blue Rock Thrush is a species of chat. This thrush-like Old World flycatcher was formerly placed in the family Turdidae....
")
- i Le chocard des alpes ("Alpine chough
- Book 2
- iv Le traquet stapazin ("Black-eared wheatearBlack-eared WheatearThe Black-eared Wheatear is a wheatear, a small migratory passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the Thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae....
")
- iv Le traquet stapazin ("Black-eared wheatear
- Book 3
- v La chouette hulotte ("Tawny owlTawny OwlThe Tawny Owl or Brown Owl is a stocky, medium-sized owl commonly found in woodlands across much of Eurasia. Its underparts are pale with dark streaks, and the upperparts are either brown or grey. Several of the eleven recognised subspecies have both variants...
") - vi L'alouette lulu ("WoodlarkWoodlarkThe Woodlark is the only lark in the genus Lullula. It breeds across most of Europe, the Middle East Asia and the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations of this passerine bird are more migratory, moving further south in winter...
")
- v La chouette hulotte ("Tawny owl
- Book 4
- vii La rousserolle effarvatte ("Reed warblerReed WarblerThe Eurasian Reed Warbler, or just Reed Warbler, Acrocephalus scirpaceus, is an Old World warbler in the genus Acrocephalus. It breeds across Europe into temperate western Asia. It is migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa....
")
- vii La rousserolle effarvatte ("Reed warbler
- Book 5
- viii L'alouette calandrelle ("Short-toed lark")
- ix La bouscarle ("Cetti's warblerCetti's WarblerCetti's Warbler , Cettia cetti, is an Old World warbler which breeds in Europe, northwest Africa and east southern temperate Asia as far as Afghanistan and NW Pakistan. It is the only bush warbler to occur outside Asia...
")
- Book 6
- x Le merle de roche ("Rock thrushRufous-tailed Rock ThrushThe Common Rock Thrush , formerly Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush or Rock Thrush, is a chat belonging to the Muscicapidae family. It was formerly placed in the Turdidae family....
")
- x Le merle de roche ("Rock thrush
- Book 7
- xi La buse variable ("BuzzardCommon BuzzardThe Common Buzzard is a medium to large bird of prey, whose range covers most of Europe and extends into Asia. It is usually resident all year, except in the coldest parts of its range, and in the case of one subspecies.-Description:...
") - xii Le traquet rieur ("Black wheatearBlack WheatearThe Black Wheatear, Oenanthe leucura, is a wheatear, a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the Thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae....
") - xiii Le courlis cendré ("CurlewCurlewThe curlews , genus Numenius, are a group of eight species of birds, characterised by long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. They are one of the most ancient lineages of scolopacid waders, together with the godwits which look similar but have straight bills...
")
- xi La buse variable ("Buzzard
- Book 1
- ChronochromieChronochromieChronochromie is an orchestral work by French composer Olivier Messiaen, completed in 1960. It consists of seven movements: Introduction, Strophe I, Antistrophe I, Strophe II, Antistrophe II, Epode and Coda. The sixth movement consists of 18 string instruments playing different birdsong...
("Time-colour"), orchestra (1959-60) - Verset pour la fête de la dédicace, organ (1960)
- Sept haïkaï ("Seven haikuHaiku' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
s"), solo piano and orchestra (1962) - Couleurs de la cité céleste ("Colours of the Celestial City"), solo piano and ensemble (1963)
- Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum ("And I await the resurrection of the dead"), wind, brass and percussion (1964)
- La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-ChristLa Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-ChristLa Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ is a work written between 1965 and 1969 by Olivier Messiaen. It is based on the Jesus transfiguring on a mountain according to the report of the Synoptic Gospels. The writing is on a very large scale; the work requires around 200 performers...
("The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ"), large 10-part chorus, piano solo, cello solo, flute solo, clarinet solo, xylorimba solo, vibraphone solo, large orchestra (1965-69) - Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité ("Meditations on the mystery of the Holy Trinity"), organ (1969)
- La fauvette des jardins ("Garden warblerGarden WarblerThe Garden Warbler, Sylvia borin, is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe into western Asia. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, and winters in central and southern Africa...
"), piano (1970) - 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...
("From the canyons to the stars…"), solo piano, solo horn, solo glockenspiel, solo xylorimba, small orchestra with 13 string players (1971-74) - Saint-François d'AssiseSaint-François d'AssiseSaint François d'Assise is an opera in three acts and eight scenes by French composer and librettist Olivier Messiaen, written from 1975 to 1983. It concerns Saint Francis of Assisi, the title character, and displays the composer's devout Catholicism...
("St. Francis of Assisi"), opera (1975-1983) - Livre du Saint Sacrament ("Book of the Holy Sacrament"), organ (1984)
- Petites esquisses d'oiseaux ("Small sketches of birds"), piano (1985)
- Un vitrail et des oiseaux ("Stained-glass window and birds"), piano solo, brass, wind and percussion (1986)
- La ville d'En-haut ("The city on high"), piano solo, brass, wind and percussion (1987)
- Un sourire ("A smile"), orchestra (1989)
- Concert à quatreConcert à quatreConcert à quatre is one of the final works of the French composer Olivier Messiaen.Written between 1990 and 1991, Messiaen originally intended the piece to have five movements. However, work on another large-scale piece, Éclairs sur l'au-delà…, prevented him from completing it before his death...
("Quadruple concerto"), piano, flute, oboe, cello and orchestra (1990-91, completed Loriod and Benjamin) - Pièce pour piano et quatuor à cordes ("Piece for piano and string quartet") (1991)
- Eclairs sur l'au-delàÉclairs sur l'au-delà…Éclairs sur l'au-delà… is an orchestral piece by the French composer Olivier Messiaen. Composed in 1987–91, it was his last completed work, his very last work being Concert à quatre...
("Flashes on the beyond"), orchestra (1988-92)
Published posthumously
A number of works exist which were not published in Messiaen's lifetime, including the following, some of which have been published posthumously, and some of which are lost.- La dame de Shallott, for piano (1917)
- La banquet eucharistique, for orchestra (1928)
- Variations écossaises, for organ (1928)
- Fantaisie, for violin and piano (1933, published 2007 - see this note on errors in the score)
- Mass, 8 sopranos and 4 violins (1933)
- Fêtes des belles eaux, for six ondes Martenots (1937)
- Musique de scène pour un Œdipe, electronic (1942)
- Chant des déportés, chorus and orchestra (1946)
- Timbres-durées, musique concrète (1952), realised by Pierre Henry in the radiophonic workshop of French radioOffice de Radiodiffusion Télévision FrançaiseThe Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française was the national agency charged, between 1964 and 1974, with providing public radio and television in France.-Post World War II:...
, an experiment which Messiaen later deemed a failure
External links
- oliviermessiaen.net A comprehensive and annotated works list, hosted by the Boston University Messiaen Project.