Olivier Messiaen's Liturgical Improvisations: A Theological Practice and its Resonances
Lead Research Organisation:
Birmingham City University
Department Name: ADM Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Abstract
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), one of the most innovative and influential composers of the twentieth century, also served as organist at the church of La Trinité in Paris. Pierre Boulez comments in his preface to Messiaen's Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie, that Messiaen's role as organist was "one of the most solid anchor-points of his musical thought." Much of his contribution to the liturgy in this role was improvised.
The principal research question for this project is what can we learn about Messiaen's compositional practice by understanding his improvisations? Analysis of his improvisatory practice can only be complete with full understanding of its liturgical context, and of Messiaen's self-conception as a theological musician. Subsidiary questions will include from where does Messiaen draw his motivic material for improvisation; how does he develop this material; what can this tell us about his response to the liturgical context; how does this illuminate our understanding of his published organ works?
The primary sources are sketch materials and recordings of his improvisations at La Trinité; these unpublished recordings have only recently been made available in the Messiaen Archive at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The project will analyse selected recordings relating them to their context in the catholic liturgy, to Messiaen's statements about liturgical and theological music, and to Messiaen's published works for organ. Although many of Messiaen's organ works originated in improvisation, the relationship between his improvisatory language and the worked-through act of composition remains to be established.
Messiaen's musical sources will be identified and their treatment analysed and contextualised. I will develop an intertextual interpretation of Messiaen's musical-theological commentary, using the texts associated with the plainchant material, the specific office of the liturgical calendar and the development of this material in his improvisations. This underexplored aspect of Messiaen's musicianship will generate important insights into his wider compositional language.
My undergraduate Theology degree, which included a special paper on Liturgy, constitutes a thorough grounding for contextual element;
enhanced by my practical and self-reflective experience as a liturgical organist. My MA dissertation analysed recorded performances of Messiaen's organ compositions. Within the MA I have written inter alia about Charles Tournemire's L'Orgue Mystique (published 1927-32), a work which develops plainchant themes and relates to the composer's improvisations; about the responses of Parisian organists to the liturgical changes following the Second Vatican Council; and about Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899), the builder of La Trinité's organ.
The principal research question for this project is what can we learn about Messiaen's compositional practice by understanding his improvisations? Analysis of his improvisatory practice can only be complete with full understanding of its liturgical context, and of Messiaen's self-conception as a theological musician. Subsidiary questions will include from where does Messiaen draw his motivic material for improvisation; how does he develop this material; what can this tell us about his response to the liturgical context; how does this illuminate our understanding of his published organ works?
The primary sources are sketch materials and recordings of his improvisations at La Trinité; these unpublished recordings have only recently been made available in the Messiaen Archive at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The project will analyse selected recordings relating them to their context in the catholic liturgy, to Messiaen's statements about liturgical and theological music, and to Messiaen's published works for organ. Although many of Messiaen's organ works originated in improvisation, the relationship between his improvisatory language and the worked-through act of composition remains to be established.
Messiaen's musical sources will be identified and their treatment analysed and contextualised. I will develop an intertextual interpretation of Messiaen's musical-theological commentary, using the texts associated with the plainchant material, the specific office of the liturgical calendar and the development of this material in his improvisations. This underexplored aspect of Messiaen's musicianship will generate important insights into his wider compositional language.
My undergraduate Theology degree, which included a special paper on Liturgy, constitutes a thorough grounding for contextual element;
enhanced by my practical and self-reflective experience as a liturgical organist. My MA dissertation analysed recorded performances of Messiaen's organ compositions. Within the MA I have written inter alia about Charles Tournemire's L'Orgue Mystique (published 1927-32), a work which develops plainchant themes and relates to the composer's improvisations; about the responses of Parisian organists to the liturgical changes following the Second Vatican Council; and about Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899), the builder of La Trinité's organ.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Christopher Dingle (Primary Supervisor) | |
| James Forman (Student) |