Messiaen’s Musical Language on the Holy Child: A Study of Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, No: XIX: Je dors, mais mon coeur veille, No: XIV: Regard des Anges

Messiaen’s Musical Language on the Holy Child

A Study of Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, No: XIX: Je dors, mais mon cœur veille, No: XIV: Regard des Anges

Cagdas Soylar

Messiaen’s Musical Language on the Holy Child

A Study of Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, No: XIX: Je dors, mais mon cœur veille, No: XIV: Regard des Anges

Copyright © 2018 Cagdas Soylar. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1: General Biographical Description

Chapter 2: Messiaen’s Source of Materials

Chapter 3: No: XIX Je Dors, Mais Mon Cœur Veille

Chapter 4: No: XIV Regard Des Anges

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Bibliography

Dedicated to my father and to my mother . . .

A great love is a reflection, a pale reflection, but nevertheless a reflection of the one true love, the divine love.

—Olivier Messiaen

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my supervisor Dr. Paolo Susanni for his guidance, patience and support during this study. I would also like to thank my family and all my friends both in Turkey and in the U.S. for their support and encouragement.

List of Abbreviations

ex.: Example

f: Forte (Loud)

m.: Measure

mf: Mezzo-forte (Moderately loud)

M3: Major-third

m3: Minor-third

No.: Number

pp: Pianissimo (Very soft)

ppp: Pianississimo (As softly as possible)

ST: Semi-tone

T: Tone

Vol.: Volume

Introduction

Olivier Messiaen was a prominent twentieth-century French composer whose works are widely researched and frequently performed. His unique musical language includes highly complicated concepts that are derived from a variety of sources. Greek rhythms, Hindu rhythms, and bird calls influenced him deeply; his Catholic faith, however, had the greatest impact on his compositions. As Messiaen explains in his own words:

I have been asked to deliver to confession of my faith, that is, to talk about what I believe, what I love, what I hope for. What do I believe? That does not take long to say and in it everything is said at once: I believe in God. And because I believe in God, I believe likewise in the Holy Trinity and especially in the Holy Spirit.¹

This book gives a detailed analysis of two religiously motivated pieces from the Vingt Regards Sur l’Enfant-Jésus (Twenty Gazes upon the Infant Jesus), one of the most remarkable solo piano works of the twentieth-century, to explore how Messiaen integrates Christian theology into his musical language.

Je dors, mais mon cœur veille (I sleep but my heart waketh) is a dialogue that represents Messiaen’s mystic love of God, while Regard des Anges (Gaze of the Angels) is a celebration that