Full Description
When Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) completed the vast opera Saint François d'Assise in 1983, he was mentally and physically exhausted, and believed that this monumental work would be his final compositional statement. In fact, he completed seven further works, and these form the focus of the present study. Christopher Dingle suggests that, following the crisis provoked by the opera, Messiaen's music underwent a discernible change in style. He examines these seven works to identify characteristics of the composer's music, in particular an often overlooked aspect of his technique: harmony. Part I of the book begins with a brief historical survey before discussing Saint François d'Assise as the work which defines everything that follows. Part II examines the series of miniatures that came after the opera and their links with Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà ..., his final masterpiece. Éclairs forms the subject of Part III of the book. Each movement is analysed in turn, before the work is considered as a whole and its hidden structure and motivic cohesion is revealed. Finally, Part IV considers the incomplete Concert à 4 and key stylistic features of the works of Messiaen's final years.
Contents
Contents: Part I Final Works: The end; A few techniques from Messiaen's musical language; Messiaen's final work? Saint François d'Assise; Messiaen's final (organ) work: Livre du Saint Sacrement. Part II The Miniatures: Introduction to the miniatures; A work for Yvonne Loriod: Petites Esquisses d'oiseaux; Two works for Boulez: Un Vitrail et des oiseaux pour piano solo et petit orchestre and La Ville d'En-Haut pour piano solo et petit orchestre; A work for Mozart: Un Sourire pour orchestre; A work for Alfred Schlee: Pièce pour piano et quatuor à cordes; The miniatures: an overview. Part III Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà ...: Introduction to Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà ...; I. Apparition du Christ glorieux; II. la constellation du Sagittaire; III. l'Oiseau-Lyre et la Ville-Fiancée; IV. les élus marqués du sceau; V. Demeurer dans l'Amour...; VI. les sept Anges aux sept trompettes; VII. et le Dieu essuiera toutes larmes de leurs yeux...; VIII. les étoiles et la Gloire; IX. plusieurs oiseaux des arbres de Vie; X. le chemin de l'Invisible; XI. le Christ, lumière du Paradis; Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà ...: fundamental harmonic structure, developments of themes and overview. Part IV Final Thoughts?: Death and a new work: Concert à quatre pour flûte solo, hautbois solo, violoncelle solo, piano solo et orchestre; Messiaen's latest style; Appendices; Select bibliography; Discography; Index.
