Messiaen, Olivier (EN)

Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper, *10 December 1908 Avignon, †27 April 1992 Paris, French composer, organist and teacher. His father, Pierre Messiaen (1883–1957), was an English teacher in high schools in Avignon, Ambert (Auvergne), Grenoble [Pierre Messiaen fought in the war) and Nantes; he translated all works by Shakespeare; he wrote his memories, Images. O. Messiaen’s mother, Cécile née Sauvage (1883–1927) was a renowned poet and predicted her son Olivier’s great artistic future in the poem L’Âme en bourgeon. The composer’s brother Alain Messiaen (1912–1990) also became a poet and essayist working in Catholic circles in Paris. The artistic circle in which the family ran was described in the novel La veillée de novembre by H. Pourrat. The literary atmosphere of the family house and the beauty of nature surrounding Grenoble shaped the future composer’s personality. At the age of nine, influenced by an English poem La dame de Shalott by A. Tennyson, he composed his first piece for piano (preserved in manuscript). He learned to play the piano from early childhood, and in 1918 in Nantes, he began regular music lessons under G. Arcouët (piano) and J. de Gibon (harmony). In 1919, the Messiaens settled in Paris and O. Messiaen entered the conservatory at the age of ten. He studied piano under G. Falkenberg, the basics of compositional technique and piano accompaniment under N. Gallon, and completed a course on harmony under J. Gallon in 1924. He had the highest grades in all the major subjects (1^er Prix). He studied counterpoint under G. Caussade (1926), piano accompaniment under C.A. Estyle (1927), timpani and percussion under J. Baggers, organ playing and improvisation under M. Dupré, history of music under M. Emmanuel (1928), and composition under P. Dukas (1929); he obtained a diploma of higher music studies in 1930. Three professors influenced his personality the most: M. Dupré, a great virtuoso of the era, who developed Messiaen’s innate ability for improvisation, M. Emmanuel, who directed his interests towards the study of ancient Greek music, prosody, rhythm, choral and forms of the musical language evolution, and P. Dukas, a master of orchestration, who was no stranger to Eastern sources of inspiration. The pieces presented at the end of his studies (Préludes, Trois mélodies, La mort du nombre, Diptyque) were performed in public. His symphonic debut drew attention –Messiaen’s symphonic piece Les Offrandes oubliées was first presented at the Champs-Elysées theatre in 1931. In the same year, thanks to the support of M. Dupré and Ch. Widor, Messiaen received the position of titular organist of the great Cavaillé-Coll organ in the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, a position he held until the end of his life. He failed twice in the Prix de Rome competition, but his subsequent symphonic pieces brought him recognition: Hymn and Ascension in organ and symphonic versions, Le Banquet céleste and Apparition de l’E Église éternelle became well-known among organists. The most successful was Les Offrandes oubliées, performed in Lyon, Monte Carlo and Paris radio, attracting the attention of critics and listeners with their strong expression, religious and humanist content. In 1935, at the Les Amis de l’orgue concert in La Trinité Daniel-Lesur, J. Langlais and J.-J. Grunenwald gave the first performance of the organ cycle La Nativité du Seigneur, Messiaen’s first major work, which established the young composer’s position in the musical world of Paris. In the introduction to the score, the composer included significant words: “Emotion and honesty above all.” The rejection of the aesthetics of neoclassicism, the renewal of humanist values, and the search for means influencing the renewal of expression in music are the slogans included in the manifesto of La Jeune France, a group of composers formed by Messiaen together with Y. Baudrier, Daniel-Lesur and A. Jolivet. The inaugural concert on 3 June 1936 (under the patronage of G. Duhamel, F. Mauriac, M. Prévost and P. Valéry), at which Les Offrandes oubliées and the Hymn were performed as the flagship pieces, became an important event in the musical life of France before World War II. In 1932, Messiaen married Claire Delbos, a violinist and composer, for whom he composed Theme with Variations (dedicated to “Pour Mi”), Fantasy for violin and piano, and the song cycle Poèmes pour Mi. Their only son, Pascal, was born in 1937, (an English teacher, who died in 2020), to whom, together with his mother, the songs from the cycle Chants de terre et de ciel are dedicated. For the Expo de Paris in 1937, Messiaen composed the sextet Fête des belles eaux for the Ondes Martenot, which was becoming increasingly common in compositional practice in France. In the same year, he took up the position of professor at the École Normale de Musique and, at the same time, taught at the Schola Cantorum.

In 1939, Messiaen was mobilised. He did his military service in the infantry: in Lorraine in Metz, Sarreguemines, Sarralbe and Verdun. On 22 June 1940, he was taken prisoner by the Germans near the village of Germiny, together with three companions: cellist É. Pasquier, clarinettist H. Akoka and singer R. Charle. They were imprisoned in a meadow in the temporary POW camp Frontstalag 162 in Toul, where, despite the circumstances, Messiaen began to compose a piece for solo clarinet, which became the basis for the future Quartet for the End of Time. From Toul, they were transported near Nancy, from where POW rail transports were formed from Brabois-Villers and sent deep into the Third Reich. The place of departure of Messiaen’s transport has not yet been explained – from Brabois-Villers or Sarrebourg? The exhausting journey lasted three days and only when they arrived did Messiaen and his companions learn that they were in a POW camp for the lowest-ranking soldiers, in Stalag VIII A, on the outskirts of the Saxon city of Görlitz, on the other side of the Lusatian Neisse, from which the Polish city of Zgorzelec was founded in 1945. In the POW camp, he composed Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, for which he drew inspiration from the Apocalypse of St. John. The five movements of the quartet were first performed at a Polish evening in December 1940, the music interspersed with the recitation of poems by Z. Nardelli, who commemorated this scene in his autobiographical novel Otchłań ptaków. On 15 January 1941, in the theatre barracks 27B, in the presence of four hundred prisoners, the premiere of Quatuor pour la fin du Temps took place. A month later, on 16 February 1941, the composer was released from the camp after seven months of captivity.

In May of that year, he took over the harmony class at the Paris Conservatory and worked on the Technique de mon langage musical. He participated in the musical life of occupied Paris, performing as an organist in the Corps glorieux cycle completed before the war and, among others, organ works by C. Delbos, and as a pianist – Visions de l’Amen (with his student Y. Loriod) at the Pléiade concerts, which brought together artistic and intellectual circles. On 21 April 1945, the first performance of Trois petites liturgies took place, which became an event compared to the performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The sharp reaction of the audience, surprised by the aesthetics of the work, the melodiousness of the cantilena and the use of instruments unusual for religious music, transformed into a stormy press polemic. In 1943–47, Messiaen led private composition classes, attended by S. Nigg, M. le Roux, Y. Grimaud, J.-L. Martinet, P. Boulez and Y. Loriod, and which established Messiaen’s reputation as a teacher. In 1947, a class of musical aesthetics was created at the Conservatory especially for Messiaen, later transformed into a class of analysis and a class of philosophy of music. In the same year, Messiaen presented Visions de l’Amen during a concert tour to Budapest and Prague, and then in 1947 to Amsterdam and Italy, at which time L. Stokowski performed Hymn in New York. In 1949, Messiaen travelled to the United States for the first time to lead a composition course at the Berkshire Music Centre in Tanglewood, where S. Koussevitzky conducted L’Ascension at his farewell concert. He then participated in the first performance of Turangalila conducted by L. Bernstein in Boston and its repetition at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 1949 and 1950, he attended the Darmstadt Summer Course New Music, where he introduced the Mode de valeurs et d’intensités, the concept of total serialism, setting the path for the musical avant-garde, taken by K. Stockhausen and P. Boulez. He took up birdsong, which became a dominant idea in compositions from the 1950s: Le Merle noir and Réveil des oiseaux (stay in Donaueschingen during the premiere, followed by a course in rhythmic analysis in Saarbrücken), Oiseaux exotiques and Catalogue d’oiseaux. At the end of the 1950s, Messiaen had difficult experiences: the death of his father (1957) and, after a long illness, of his wife (1959). In 1961, he married Yvonne Loriod, who created the pianistic performance model for all his piano works, especially in the so-called oiseau style. In 1962, he went to Japan for the first time to perform Turangalîla under the direction of S. Ozawa. The fruit of experiencing the beauty of the Japanese landscape is Sept Haïkaï, presented in 1963 at the Domaine Musical concerts organised by Boulez. In the same year, Messiaen received the Prix Florent Schmitt, and in December, he travelled to Sofia, where K. Iliev conducted Turangalîla. In 1964, he gave courses on rhythm in Buenos Aires. The attention of the French musical world was drawn by the first performance of Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, a piece presented in Sainte-Chapelle under the direction of S. Baud and at a special concert for General Ch. de Gaulle in the cathedral in Chartres (20 June 1965). In May 1966, Messiaen travelled to Finland, received the Prix Tornow Loeffler and the Prix de l’Académie du Disque, and in October was appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory, which he led until his retirement in 1978. His teaching style attracted young composers from all over the world. He educated three generations of composers (including P. Boulez, K. Stockhausen, I. Xenakis, G. Amy, J. Barraqué, F.-B. Mâche, Nguyen Thien Dao, T. Murail, G. Grisey, A. Goehr, G. Benjamin); his lectures were also attended by Polish composers (J. Łuciuk, J. Bruzdowicz, M. Borkowski, K. Baculewski, M. Ptaszyńska, J. Oleszkowicz, G. Pstrokońska-Nawratil, S. Czarnecki and S. Radwan) and musicologists (T. Kaczyński, J. Stankiewicz, M. Woźna-Stankiewicz). In 1967, Messiaen was honoured with membership of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (for chair no. 7 after J. Lurçat). In 1969, the first performance of Transfiguration took place, as well as a trip to Persepolis, where Et exspecto was performed in the Palace of Darius. In the 1970s, Messiaen’s fame went beyond Europe; this was facilitated by trips to the United States (1970) and Canada (1972).

The composer received a new American commission for Des canyons aux étoiles; in recognition, the city of Philadelphia offered him its keys, and in Utah, a mountain peak was named after him (Mount Messiaen, Messiaen Ax). He received numerous awards: Prix Erasmus (Amsterdam 1971), Prix Sibelius (Helsinki 1971), E. von Siemens Prize (1975), Grand Prix National de la Musique (Paris 1977), Prix Leonie Sonning (Copenhagen 1977), and Bach-Preis (Hamburg 1979). As part of the celebrations related to the 70^th anniversary of Messiaen’s birth, La Recherche Artistique, directed by C. Samuel, organised a large series of concerts in Paris and other cities in France, at which all the composer’s works were performed. Messiaen received membership in the Bayerische Akademie der Künste (Munich) and of the academies of fine arts in Berlin, Brussels, Rome, New York, Boston, Stockholm, Hamburg, London, and Madrid. In 1975, Messiaen began work on the opera St. Francis of Assisi, which premiere (1983) attracted the attention of world critics and earned the composer the Prix d’honneur Rolf Liebermann. In 1984, Messiaen received the Grand Prix of the Berlin Academy and, commissioned by the city of Detroit, began composing the Livre du Saint Sacrement. In 1985, he received the Grand Prix of the city of Paris, the Grand Prix of the Bayerische Akademie der Künste, and in 1986 the Prix Inamori (Kyoto). A Messiaen festival was held in Bonn, in conjunction with performances of works by L. v. Beethoven. Selected scenes from St. Francis of Assisi were presented in concert halls in Europe, America and Japan (Salzburg, Tokyo, London, Berlin, Boston, New York, Bonn, Ghent, Utrecht, Madrid, London, Lyon, Turin, Berkeley, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Katowice, Warsaw). The 80^th anniversary of the composer’s birth was celebrated in Australia, London and Paris, where Boulez presented Un vitrail et des oiseaux; Messiaen was honoured with the Premio Internazionale by Pope Paul VI. In September 1989, Messiaen came to Poland and attended rehearsals and concerts in Katowice and Warsaw, where three scenes from St. Francis were performed. On 16–24 October 1989, the first festival of his symphonic and chamber works in Poland took place in Kraków, in 1990 the Olivier Messiaen Music Days in Białystok, and in 2002 the organ festival in Kraków. In 1987–91, interrupting work a lot, Messiaen composed the symphonic work crowning his creative career, E Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà, the instrumentation of which he completed in November 1991. The last work performed in Messiaen’s presence (5 December 1991) was Un sourire, a short symphonic piece that was a tribute to Mozart. The composer continued working on his last score, Concert à quatre, dedicated to his closest musicians: conductor Myung-Whung Chung, flautist C. Cantin, oboist H. Holliger, cellist M. Rostropovich and Y. Loriod. Attacks of severe pain prevented the composer from continuing to work, and he did not complete the piece. After spinal surgery, he died in a clinic in Clichy near Paris. A funeral mass in the Church of St. The Holy Trinity, where Messiaen had been organist for over 60 years, was celebrated by the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal J. Lustiger, in the presence of the composer’s family, closest friends and crowds of admirers. Messiaen was buried in the village cemetery of Petichet-Saint-Theoffrey, in the Dauphiné Alps, which had inspired and comforted him throughout his life.

Messiaen’s work can be divided into the following periods: 1. his youth to 1935, the influence of Debussy, the introduction of original religious themes in his first symphonic works: Le Banquet eucharistique, Les Offrandes oubliées, 2. 1935–48, the period of individualisation of the modal-tonal style, the development of religious themes (from La Nativité du Seigneur, through Quatuor pour la fin du Temps to Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus), the myth of Tristan (Harawi, Turangalîla, Cinq rechants), 3. 1949–52, the period of serial experiments (Four Rhythmic Etudes) and with musique concrète (Timbres-durées), 4. 1953–83, the apogee of his work – the development of the oiseaux style (Réveil des oiseaux), the dominant colour – Chronochromie, Couleurs de la cité céleste, Des canyons aux étoiles, the great synthesis of the musical language – La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur, Saint. Francis, 5. 1983–92, the sum of the organ style (Livre du Saint Sacrement) and symphonic style (E Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà, Concert à quatre).

Great musical form. Messiaen believed that traditional musical forms had become “exhausted,” but he claimed that there were eternally relevant principles of shaping musical form: development through shaping melodic themes and contrast, repetition, and variation technique. In his youth, he referred to classical forms such as preludes (Eight Preludes), and in symphonic music to the ABA, arch form (Les Offrandes oubliées, Hymn). He never created a typical sonata allegro. He preferred cyclical and most often multi-sectional form (Vingt regards, Des canyons aux étoiles, E Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà). In oiseaux style works, such as Réveil des oiseaux, Messiaen used montage to juxtapose and superimpose sound structures, creating higher-order structures formed into phases of composition, the sequence of which created a holistic form. He drew from nature not only the material itself (birdsong) but also the patterns for constructing the form, shaped on the model of the passage of time in nature: midnight, four in the morning, silence at sunrise, morning songs and noon – the key moments of the 24-hour cycle. The 24-hour cycle was also realised in the Catalogue of Birds (7. La Rousserolle effarvatte / Reed Warbler). Messiaen was an advocate of the slow passage of musical time, filling an extended, large static form: from La Nativité du Seigneur (9 movements), through Vingt regards (20 movements), the Turangalîla symphony (10 movements), and Catalogue of Birds (13 pieces). Most pieces representing the large form consist of a certain number of sections (from 5 to 10), one or two of which are repeated on the principle of the functioning of the refrain in the rondo. This returning section can be expanded melodically or harmonically by adding new planes. Particularly successful are those pieces where the division into sections is blurred in favour of continuity, a dynamic continuation of the progression (Couleurs de la cité céleste), as a result of which a different form of the piece is created each time. According to the composer, “the form depends entirely on colours. Melodic and rhythmic themes, complexes of sounds and sonorities, evolve on the model of colours that whirl around themselves, as in a [Gothic] rosette filled with flaming and barely perceptible colours.” Messiaen created structures that were more revealing at the level of the phase structures of the composition than of a large architectural form. In this way, he announced and anticipated the aspirations of Stockhausen and Xenakis, who were connected with him by the concept of static material, as well as groups and sound complexes that replace individual thematic or rhythmic progressions in the construction of the form. Messiaen was attached to the concept of the leitmotif (modelled on Wagnerian leitmotifs), which he used with pleasure in multi-episode forms (Vingt regards – the theme of God, Love, Child, etc.). The 15 musical themes based on the leitmotif principle found their fullest application in the formal development of the 8 scenes of St. Francis of Assisi (including the theme of St. Francis, the theme of Joy, the theme of the Angel, the theme of the Death of St. Francis).

Rhythmic system. Messiaen attached the greatest importance to rhythm as a fundamental element of music. “I consider rhythm to be the fundamental and perhaps the most essential part of music. I think that it probably existed before melody and harmony. I have a secret inclination towards rhythm […] and it seems to me that it marks my presence in contemporary music” (C. Samuel Entretiens…, 1967). The starting point for Messiaen’s creation of his own rhythmic concept were M. Emmanuel’s studies of ancient Greek metres, the revival of Greek metrics in Claude Le Jeune’s Le Printemps, Dom Mocquereau’s research on the neumes of Gregorian chant in relation to ancient Greek theory, and the various Hindu rhythms contained in the rhythmic tables, compiled in the Samgîta-ratnâkara treatise by Çarngadeva, a 13^th-century Hindu theoretician. Messiaen preferred rhythms with prime numbers (3, 5, 7, etc.), in which he distinguished a short rhythmic value (most often a sixteenth note) as the basic unit, which could be multiplied at will. Abandoning the concept of bar and tempo, he called such a progression ametric music, for which he created a coherent set of rules that made up his rhythmic system (Petite théorie de mon langage rythmique, Technique de mon langage musical, Traité de rythme). The basic elements of this system are: added value – valeur ajoutée (“a short value added to any rhythm in the form of a note, rest or dot”), augmented or diminished rhythms (e.g. by adding or removing a dot) and irreversible rhythms (read from left to right or vice versa, with a common central value, maintaining the same order of values). In practice, these rhythmic models constantly cross with each other, resulting in complex polyrhythm. A higher form of rhythmic figures is created by rhythmic canons (created by adding a dot), canons in irreversible rhythms and the most extensive form – the rhythmic pedal. To simplify the notation of these rhythms, Messiaen created (in cooperation with R. Désormière) 4 types of rhythmic notation. According to Messiaen, the classicists of Western European music do not understand what the proper concept of rhythm is and are bad rhythmists. For example, in Bach’s music, which Messiaen considered the peak form of counterpoint development, there is only a basic form of rhythm based on an uninterrupted succession of equal values. For the same reasons, military music and its characteristic form – the military march, as well as jazz, are for Messiaen the negation of rhythm. He considered Mozart to be the most outstanding rhythmist among the classicists because in his music the variety of rhythmic forms is influenced by the accentuation associated with the rhythm of the word, melodic and harmonic accents, producing a diverse and changing rhythmic movement. Of the newer composers, according to Messiaen, the development of rhythm was influenced by Debussy (the use of irregular values, avoidance of repetitions, constant changeability of the musical course) and Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring). Messiaen’s rhythmic system, announced in the introduction to the score of Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, formulated in Technique, comprehensively developed in Traité de rythme, led to the elimination of all forms of repetition and equal divisions of rhythm, corresponding to the evenness of the pulse, breathing and heartbeats, immersing the listener in a state of sleep. Following the example of nature, he introduced the free movement of uneven and free values, rising and falling (arsis, thesis), which, according to Messiaen, was decisive for the rhythmic richness, i.e. the expression of music, which in this way becomes “rhythmic music” (Quatuor, Turangalîla, Rhythmic Etudes, Livre d’orgue). A more complicated manifestation of Messiaen’s rhythmic system is symmetrical permutations (Chronochromie), irrational values ​​and the “new concept of tempo.” The composer believed that the concept of time was changing in 20^th-century music. Contributions to these changes were made by Stockhausen, who developed irrational values ​​in complex structures (Klavierstücke I–IV, Zeitmasse), Boulez, who associated irrational values ​​with Webern’s serial procedure, and Jean-Claude Eloy, who organised the handling of sound mass and the sense of time in the manner of Far Eastern music. In Polish literature, O. Messiaen’s rhythmic system was presented by M. Woźna-Stankiewicz in her doctoral thesis (1982), written before the publication of O. Messiaen’s Traité de rythme.

Modality. After World War I, thanks to M. Emmanuel, there was a renaissance of modality in French music. Messiaen, being a student of M. Emmanuel, took over and developed an interest in modality, creating an original system of 7 modes, which have nothing in common with the modal scales of India, China and ancient Greece, nor with the modality of church scales. He first presented his system in the introduction to the edition of the score of La Nativité du Seigneur, and developed it fully in Technique. Messiaen’s modes are formed from symmetrical groups, in which the last note of each group is also the first note of the next group. Their most important feature is the small and limited number of chromatic transpositions, in contrast to the diatonic and church scales (e.g. the first mode, corresponding to the whole-tone scale used in French music by Debussy and Dukas, among others, consists of 6 two-note groups and can only be transposed twice), hence they are called “modes of limited transposition.” Modes are based on the material of several keys without creating polytonality, the composer can isolate one key or leave the impression of tonal instability. Messiaen’s modal technique is a new organisation of sound material (non-tonal and non-dodecaphonic) and gives original results, especially in consonant systems, the harmony so characteristic of Messiaen’s musical language. During the period of individualisation of style, Messiaen developed a cantilena melody based on modals, with an intense emotional charge (Poèmes pour Mi, Trois petites liturgies, the Tristan trilogy, the Angel part and the death scene in St. Francis). He proclaimed “the primacy of melody, the noblest element of music.” He believed that the contours of his melody were most influenced by Gregorian chant (various forms of antiphons and sequences, alleluia vocalisation and psalmody) and birdsong, and that the most important role in melodic development was played by the privileged intervals of the major sixth and augmented fourth. The melody, in which sound material is taken from the system of modes, is the foundation of Messiaen’s harmony. The basis is the construction of polyphonies (aggregates) using the basic sounds of the overtone series. Messiaen preferred to use the chord with an added note (sixth, augmented fourth) and created new chords characteristic of his harmonic concept: the resonant chord (contains all the notes of mode 3), the fourth chord (all the notes of mode 5) and chord clusters, supporting the progression of melodic lines using the resonance effect and the later created (not yet included in the Technique) chords with focused resonance, circulating chords. These chords, using the stained-glass effect (asymmetrical scattering of notes), depart from the traditional concept of harmony as the basis of the melodic line. Messiaen extended the concept of harmony to the operation of a complex of sounds (the pedal note becomes a “pedal group,” a repeated sound complex). The melodic and harmonic material of Messiaen’s music is based on natural harmony arising from the use of natural resonance, providing a basis for music with a consonant and static sound, and at the same time exceptionally colourful and luminous. The coherence of Messiaen’s musical language depends on the close relationships between the diverse material. Modes that can only be transposed a certain number of times (because the same sounds would return) correspond to rhythms that cannot be reversed (because the same order of values ​​would return). These limitations constitute for the composer a “specific charm of impossibility,” and the coherence of the rhythmic and modal system is created, which is the essence of the principle of Messiaen’s musical language: in the horizontal sense, rhythm is treated similarly to modes in the vertical sense. Analogies also occur between values ​​added to rhythms and sounds added to chords, and in the highest structures between polyrhythm and rhythmic pedals and polymodality. Messiaen’s musical system, although it was not used in its entirety by other creators – according to many analysts (H. Halbreich, B. Schaeffer) – is one of the greatest achievements of contemporary European music.

Colour. Messiaen showed a special sensitivity to the colour of sound throughout his life. This was stimulated by the phenomenon of audition colorée (an internal vision of colour that strongly reveals itself in the composer) at the moment of receiving a sound stimulus. Sounds or their complexes caused the composer to “see” emerging colours and colour complexes in constant motion. The phenomenon of his innate synaesthesia gave rise to Messiaen’s theory of “son-couleur,” in which the composer assigned colours and their complexes to specific sounds and modes. One of the pieces of evidence confirming the existence of this phenomenon was the fact that Messiaen recognised his work La Nativité du Seigneur in the paintings of Ch. Blanc Gatti, from which the painter actually drew inspiration (Lecture at Notre-Dame). During the period of individualisation of language, sound was not Messiaen’s focus (“it is about language, not sound” – Technique). It was only after 1950 that transcriptions of bird calls led to a breakthrough, after which the search for sound and timbre became Messiaen’s coherent dominant idea. Using traditional instruments (although enriched with the ondes Martenot and the aeoliphone), the composer used individual solo instruments (piano, violin, woodwinds, percussion instruments) or groups of instruments to imitate the timbre values ​​of bird calls, constantly returning in the same form (e.g. in Réveil des oiseaux, the song thrush is represented by 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, a trumpet, 4 violins and 4 violas). A given instrument operates a specific segment of the register and volume level; it is characterised by a specific accumulation of rich articulatory means. As a result, when reproducing the sound of the bird, the traditional instrumental idiom was broken, which gave the sound extremely characteristic features and influenced the intensification of its colour values ​​(Réveil des oiseaux, Oiseaux exotiques, Couleurs de la cité céleste). A similar influence was also exerted by the experience of the Japanese landscape around Karuizawa and ancient, courtly Japanese music (Sept Haïkaï). The Apocalypse of St. John, containing descriptions of the precious stones with which the foundations of the Heavenly City are paved, inspired the composer many times (Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, Couleurs de la cité céleste). In religious music, attention is drawn to the rich palette of organ colours, with Messiaen’s characteristic juxtaposition of the lowest and highest registers, as well as the individual registration developed in relation to the late Romantic instrument Cavaillé-Cola in La Trinité (La Nativité du Seigneur, Les Corps glorieux, Livre d’orgue, Livre du Saint Sacrement). Messiaen also used traditional instruments in a new function (the vibraphone as a colour instrument to obtain ecstatic sounds in Trois petites liturgies), and to lead the sublime cantilena he used a new instrument – ​​the ondes Martenot. Light also plays a significant role as a source of religious experience intensifying expression (in the scene of the Transfiguration of Jesus in La Transfiguration, in the scene with the stigmata in St. Francis). Messiaen presented a theoretical approach to colour, together with tables of sound aggregation and an analysis of the colours corresponding to them in Traité de rythme.

Oiseau style. In the early 1950s, after rejecting experiments related to total serialism (Mode de valeurs et d’intensités) and concrete music for tape (Timbres-durées), Messiaen turned to nature, an inexhaustible source of musical material. The presence of birdsong was initially marked in the titles (La colombe), and then in the texture of the pieces (L’âbîme L’Abîme des oiseaux, L’Amen des anges Anges, des Saints, du chant des oiseaux, Regard des hauteurs). Initially, the bird motif was an inspiration, used as a short quote, developed in a motivic work (Liturgue de cristal, Trois petites liturgies, Jardin du sommeil d’amour). For the first time, the bird’s voice gained autonomy and the bird’s name was written in the score of the piece Les oiseaux et les sources (part 4 Messe de la Pentecôte). From 1950 onwards, this became the guiding principle for the formation of the new “Oiseau style” and resulted in the rejection of the previous modal-rhythmic language, the last expression of which was the Turangalîla symphony. The first manifestation of the new attitude to the material of the bird’s voice, which fills the entire piece, is Le Merle noir, in which the composer faithfully quotes the voice of the titular bird and then uses it freely. The developed stage of the oiseau style is presented by Réveil des oiseaux, composed exclusively from earlier recordings of bird voices. Their songs, using Hindu rhythms and Greek metric feet, were used to create Oiseaux exotiques. Messiaen made the most of bird song in the Catalogue of Birds, a collection of 13 pieces for solo piano (an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of music). After Chronochrome, where in the Epôde part the composer used only the voices of blackbirds in the canon, the orchestra was reduced in size, solo instruments were used selectively, and the piano was used as a solo instrument (Sept Haïkaï, Couleurs de la cité céleste). In later works, birdsong also takes on symbolic meaning (Livre du Saint Sacrement, St. Francis – birds from Assisi and from the land of Jesus Christ). “It is possible that in the artistic hierarchy, birds are the greatest musicians that inhabit our planet […] The fantasy of bird melodic contours, especially those created by blackbirds, exceeds human imagination” (Technique). The composer came to these conclusions after many years of contact with birds, studies, and cooperation with ornithologists. In the first notations and uses of bird song, Messiaen did not distinguish species and did not sign the name of the bird in the score (Liturgie de cristal – “like some bird”). As a result of many years of study and constant practice, including concert tours around the world, Messiaen recognised over 50 species by ear, and identified the remaining 550 European birds using ornithological keys. He knew the species of birds in France and in both Americas particularly well, and listened to many birds in Japan, New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia. He also learned about many inaccessible species through recordings. Messiaen noted down the calls of birds in the field by hand; he did not use recordings either to collect material or for transcription. However, the recording of a real bird’s voice could not be used in a composition, because it exceeded the scales of the instruments, so Messiaen developed transcription methods: 1. multiple slowing down of the singing tempo while maintaining the natural rhythm patterns, 2. moving it four octaves lower (to the heights accessible to the instruments), 3. enlarging intervals smaller than a semitone to a semitone interval, and semitones to a whole tone. In the polyphonic notation of the intertwining of voices, he later supplemented it in the same place and at the same time. Striving for the most precise rendering of birdsong, Messiaen made two assumptions regarding the material: 1. absolute fidelity to nature, the most “true” rendering of the bird’s song in the piece, with a distinction between “accurate” compositions (Réveil des oiseaux, Epôde from Chronochromie) and “close to reality” containing many real moments or composed from real elements (Catalogue of birds, Couleurs de la cité céleste), 2. using birdsong as sound material detached from the natural context, subjected to transformation in the process of composition, birdsong as a symbolic quotation (Oiseaux exotiques, La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur, and especially Saint Francis and E Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà). In addition to the bird signatures, Messiaen’s scores contain literary programmes written by the composer (Réveil des oiseaux, Catalogue of birds), reporting the course of events in nature. They indicate the successive entrances of birds and instruments, birds in vicinity of which another bird-soloist appears, there are isolated moments of silence that truly exist in nature and a suggested mood. Messiaen’s programmes do not play a role analogous to the programme music of the last century, but indicate the course of musical phenomena subordinated to the order of events in nature, and only help to capture the structural skeleton of the piece. Using the information contained in the programme, one could accept the composer’s suggestions regarding the reception of music in the oiseau style as associating the sound of an instrument with its designate, the song of a bird. However, Messiaen clearly stated that in the process of reception of a work, the identification of specific musical creations with the song of birds, which implies them, does not apply. “If [the listener] does not know birds, they will get the pleasure of pure music” (C. Samuel Entretiens, 1967), and therefore, consequently, it cannot be considered a contemporary version of illustrationism. Messiaen’s creative method includes the following stages: the composer listens to birdsong in nature, selects a specific song, writes it down in transcription and moves on to creative activities, i.e. makes another selection from among the recorded songs, undertakes compositional activities – among which he uses montage, through which he builds the form. In Polish literature, Messiaen’s oiseau style was presented by J. Stankiewicz in his work Postać brzmieniowa figur śpiewu ptaków w „Réveil des Oiseaux” Oliviera Messiaena (1974–79) and by P. Rydel in his book Głosy ptaków oraz styl oiseaux Oliviera Messiaena jako wskaźnik interpretacji utworów fortepianowych kompozytora sprzed roku 1952 (2012).

The phenomenon of the Quartet for the End of Time. The creation of the piece is connected with the military service and captivity of O. Messiaen. The first performance of the five pieces in December 1940 consisted of the following pieces created: in the barracks in Verdun – parts 2 and 7 (initially constituting one piece), sketches in the camp in Toul – part 3 for solo clarinet, in the stalag in Görlitz – part 4 trio and 5 (transcription); in order to complete the quartet for the premiere on 15 January 1941, the composer completed the form with three pieces: part 1 (created in Verdun, but for a different cast), parts 6 and 8 (transcription) and gave the whole the title Quartet for the End of Time.

The composition of the Quartet in Görlitz was largely due to the twelve Polish prisoners of war, who were with Messiaen, including two painters J. Świderski and T. Łakomski, a musician and music lover Ś. Krawczyński, Cz. Mętrak, a biologist M. Mazaraki and A. Śliwiński, who brought to Krakow a programme for a Polish-French evening with a performance of five parts of the unfinished Quartet. The writer Z. Nardelli, having received an order to establish a camp library, employed Messiaen as an assistant librarian, protecting the composer from forced labour. At Messiaen’s request, the Polish prisoners of war built a separate cabin in this library, the “Messiaen cell,” where the composer could hide from the reality of the camp. It was there that the composer wrote down the score of the Quartet, not with a pencil and eraser, as legend has it, but with two types of ink.

While working in the POW camp in Görlitz (autumn 1939, winter 1940/41) on a piece for the musicians present with him – for violin, clarinet, cello and piano, Messiaen made comprehensive use of the techniques of his musical language, opening up the perspective of his future work. For the first time, he formalised the theory of rhythm, introduced bird voices (“perform like a bird”), gave expression to an individual modal concept and its harmonic aspect, and an unusual flourishing of the cantilena melody. Drawing inspiration from the Apocalypse of St. John, he was strongly impressed by the aurora borealis over the POW camp. He constructed a theological scenario of an eight-part musical form.

The captivity in the transit camps and in the stalag in Görlitz became Messiaen’s inner experience, comparable to the greatest experiences of the war ordeal of the 20^th century (T. Borowski, Primo Levi), which accompanied the composer throughout his life. He said about the premiere concert of the Quartet that his music had never been listened to with such excitement. The legend surrounding this premiere is still alive and is reborn in the colourful comments published about the piece. And the first anonymous critic, V. M., in the camp newspaper “Le Lumignon,” called the creation and performance of the quartet “a miracle.” The official French premiere in Paris in 1941 and the performance of the quartet at the SIMC festival in London in 1945 passed without much resonance. After twenty years, a new interest in the Quartet began, which slowly became Messiaen’s leading piece and entered the largest concert halls in the world and the interiors of sacral architecture. Performances were undertaken by famous soloists, who also constantly make new recordings of the piece. Special ensembles were formed for the performance: O. Messiaen Ensemble in Paris, Denmark and Germany. The piece, described as a masterpiece of 20^th-century chamber music, has become the most frequently performed and recorded piece in the canon of contemporary music.

This work by Messiaen has become an emblematic piece, performed on official anniversaries and ceremonies, such as the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, the 50^th anniversary of Martin King’s death, as well as in the Bundestag and the Saxon Parliament. It has also been performed in unusual places, such as prisons (USA, Ireland), a vineyard hangar (Australia), the metal interior of a cistern in Houston. In the year of Messiaen’s birth centenary, the number of performances exceeded the number of days in the year, which means that every day the Quartet resounded in a different place on the globe: not only in the Musikverein, in Carnegie Hall, at the Verbier Festival or in countless American universities, but also in such diverse places as in Kiev’s Lavra, Waterloo, Pau, Auckland, Bogota, Jerusalem, Vilnius, Athens, Rovaniemi, in the cathedral in Iasi, in Kazan, Bruges, Hawaii, on the Greek island of Chios, or six subsequent performances in different halls in Paris. Only an attempt to play the recording in space failed, because the Challenger crashed. In Poland alone, since the first performance in 1973, there have been over a hundred performances (since 2008, in Zgorzelec, an annual performance on the anniversary of the premiere). This phenomenon was attempted to be captured and described at the international conference “Message of the Quartet for the End of Time” in Krakow in 2002. The Quartet has also become the subject of various transcriptions and arrangements; jazz arrangements are becoming fashionable (D. Krakauer). It is performed on stage, with light shows or in choreographic arrangements. Its music is borrowed for film, theatre and other special occasions. The presence of Messiaen’s masterpiece in concert or festival programmes is referred to as the greatest event and culmination of the programme, and the number of concert performances increases every year. The musical perfection and expression of Messiaen’s work and the message of his music created in captivity won. Today, the message of the Quartet is clear all over the world, bringing hope, love and peace.

Music as an act of faith. Messiaen’s artistic ideology was deeply influenced by his Catholic faith. “Some of my works are intended to show the theological truths of the Catholic faith. This is the most important direction of my work, the most noble, undoubtedly useful and valuable, perhaps the only one that I will not regret at the hour of my death” (C. Samuel Entretiens…). Already his first symphonic works (Le Banquet eucharistique, Les Offrandes oubliées) and organ works (Le banquet céleste, Diptyque, Apparition de l’E Église éternelle) stood out in the French music of the time for their religious inspiration and influenced the creation of the Young France group. Messiaen sang the mysteries of glory (gloire) and divine joy (joie divine, joie parfaite), not death and suffering contained in the passion and Stabat Mater, which had attracted composers for centuries; he addressed the sacrament of the Eucharist, present in all his works (from Le Banquet eucharistique to Livre du Saint Sacrement). The mystery of the incarnation found expression in the monumental cycles: La Nativité du Seigneur, Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, L’Ascension and La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ. The basic dogma of the Catholic faith – the unity of the Holy Trinity – found development in Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité, the Word in La Parole toute puissante from Vingt regards and Trois petites liturgies, and the Holy Spirit in Livre pour l’orgue and Messe de la Pentecôte. Messiaen drew rich inspiration from the Heavenly City (Couleurs de la c Cité céleste), the apocalyptic vision of the end of time and the passage to eternity (Quatuor pour la fin du Temps), and the life of the resurrected (Les Corps glorieux, Résurrection from Chants de terre et de ciel, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum). The expression of joy, glory and light permeating Messiaen’s entire work (Regard de l’Esprit de joie from Vingt regards, La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur) culminates in the opera St. Francis of Assisi in the scene of the appearance of the stigmata of St. Francis. Messiaen reached directly to the New and Old Testaments, especially the Gospels of St. John and St. Matthew, the Apocalypse, the Psalms and the missal. In the scores, above individual pieces from the cycles, he placed mottos-quotes, which indicate the sources of inspiration and are the key to the interpretation of the piece. Messiaen owed much to the studies of the texts of St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica), John of Ruusbroec, St. John of the Cross and St. Francis, and from contemporary authors E. Hello, Don Columba Marmion, R. Guardini, U. von Balthasar, and Th. Merton. Thanks to direct connections with the practice of the organist of the Holy Trinity Church, Messiaen developed the organ texture to such an extent that his work in this field entered the canon of organ literature and is compared by many authors (H. Halbreich) to the work of Bach. Messiaen’s pursuit of developing compositional technique in conjunction with his theological studies, and thus creating a symbolic musical language (developed to the stage of langage communicable in Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité) earned him the title of “theological composer.” In the domain of sacred music (Lecture at Notre-Dame), Messiaen distinguished first of all “liturgical music” (directly related to the office), the only proper form of which is Gregorian chant and its variations. A broader field is “religious music,” which, in his opinion, encompasses the entire domain of religious creativity throughout the ages, styles and cultures. The highest, individual stage is Messiaen’s “colorful music” (musique colorée), which uses the connections between “colour and sound” (son-couleur) through the experience of “illumination” (éblouissement), leading to what is invisible and cannot be expressed in words – to crossing “to the other side” (l’Au-Delà). He proclaimed that “colourful music” can help us live better, prepare our death, resurrection and the New Life awaiting us (St. Francis of Assisi), cf. Olivier Messiaen La Cité céleste – Das himmlische Jerusalem. Over Life and Work of the French Composers, ed. Th.D. Schlee, D. Kämper, Cologne 1998.

Messiaen occupies a unique position in the music of the 20^th century. He grew organically out of the cultural tradition of French harpsichordists, the French organ school and Debussy’s poetics, enriched with antique, Far Eastern and exotic elements and an unprecedented attitude to Nature. He shared with his contemporaries (mainly Schoenberg) the effort to renew the musical language, but against the background of the universal search for new sound values, his artistic and ethical attitude stands out with a highly different approach to sound matter and the process of composition itself. He was alien to practicing “art for art’s sake,” and especially to paying homage to speculative concepts, dominant in our century. He tried to create everything from scratch on his own: the rhythmic system and the concept of another musical time, the modal system and new harmonic relations, and he boldly formed a great form. This creative search for another sound matter, as a musical material, resulted in a new sound, recognisable as a completely individual. In his opinion, through timbre and rhythm, he created a new musical language, through which he sought to express his ideas, which, at the same time, were not far from universal ideas. “Speaking helplessly about Divine Love, I tried to find music that would be a new time, a new space, music that glorifies and sings” (F. Goldbeck’s survey, 1946). However, Messiaen differed from his contemporaries more in his understanding of the role of art, the dimension of its spirituality, which resulted from his ideological and artistic attitude as a Catholic creator: a deep faith in God and fascination with Nature as an expression of divine creativity. Throughout his life, he worked as a church organist, which helped to bring him closer to ideas and the absolute. On the other hand, his passion was listening to birdsong in various corners of the world: in Assisi, Palestine, Japan, his native France or on the islands of New Caledonia. For Messiaen, birdsong was a creation of the highest expressive, symbolic and aesthetic value. Basing his work on elements of the Franciscan attitude, Messiaen treated music as a mission, as a need to express himself and his inner truth. In this sense, Messiaen’s work, the last of the galaxy of great French composers, is unique, has a highly humanistic and universal dimension.

Literature:

Interviews – G. Bender Un entretien avec Olivier Messiaen, “Le Guide du Concert” 1946 no. 15; Olivier Messiaen ou les harmonies poétiques et ingénieuses, survey by F. Goldbeck, “Contrepoints” 1946 no. 3; B. Gavoty, Daniel-Lesur Olivier Messiaen, in: Pour ou contre la musique moderne?, Paris 1957; B. Gavoty Qui-êtes vous, Olivier Messiaen?, “Journal Musical Français Jeunesses Musicales de France” 1961 no. 97, English transl. “Tempo” 1961 no. 58; Résurrection du Rythme – texte d’Olivier Messiaen dit par l’Auteur, Dunod-OFC CD; Entretiens avec Olivier Messiaen, LP Véga 35 X 340bis CD (supplement to Turangalîla-Symphonie, Véga, 1961); R. Lyon Propos impromptu (interview with Messiaen) and Entretien avec Olivier Messiaen, “Le Courrier Musical de France” 1964 no. 8 [and 1978 no. 64]; M. Cadieu’s interview, “Les Lettres Françaises” 1965 no. 1062, Polish transl., Olivier Messiaen on contemporary music, fragments, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1965 no. 17, whole in Czech translation in: V. Štěpánek Francouzká moderna moderní hudba, Prague 1967; C. Samuel Entretiens avec Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1967, Japanese ed. Tokio 1975, English ed. London 1976; Matière-lumière, espace-temps, son-couleur…, in: La musique serielle aujourd’hui, survey by A. Boucourechliev, “Preuves” 1966 nr 179; B. Gardiner Dialogue with Messiaen, “Musical Events”, 1967 October, German transl. “Melos” XXXVI, 1969; H.W. Zimmermann Ein Gespräch mit Olivier Messiaen, “Musik und Kirche” XXXIX, 1969; L. Pinzauti Gespräche mit Olivier Messiaen, “Melos” XXXIX, 1972; T. Kaczyński Messiaen o Wagnerze, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1976 no. 26; Je suis l’apôtre du son-couleur, interview by J.-V. Richard, one-time jubilee edition, Paris 1978; Olivier Messiaen o swojej „Transfiguracji” i o muzyce polskiej, interview by T. Kaczyński, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1978 no. 18/19; Die Vögel erwachen und improvisieren, interview by A. Rössler, “Neue Musikzeitung” 1979 no. 6/7; H. Watts Canyons, colours and birds: An Interview with Oliver Messiaen, “Tempo” 1979 no. 128; J. Stankiewicz Operę napiszę i wystawię sam…, interview with O. Messiaen, “Nurt” 1981 no. 4; A. Goléa Rencontres avec Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1961, Geneva 1984; A. Rössler Entretiens avec Olivier Messiaen, “Jeunesse et Orgue” 1984 no. 58; Olivier Messiaen Entretien avec C. Samuel, CD Erato 75505 (1988); B. Massin Olivier Messiaen. Une poétique du merveilleux, Aix-en-Provence 1989; M. Slavickŷ Rozhovory z Domu umělců, Prague 1990; Les vertus de l’analyse, in: Acanthes l’an XV. Composer, enseigner, jouer, la musique d’aujourd’hui, Paris 1991, also English transl.; J.-Ch. Marti Entretien avec Olivier Messiaen in French and German [premiere Saint François d’Assise], in: L’Avant scène Opéra, ed. M. Pazdro, Paris 1992. C. Samuel Permanences d’Olivier Messiaen. Dialogues et commentaires, Arles 1999; T. Meyer “J’écris pour exprimer ma foi” [not published interview with Messiaen in 1987, in which the composer refers to spiritual foundations of his music and Catholic faith], “Dissonanz” 2005 no. 89 March; L. Samama, O. Messiaen’s last interview on his life’s work Quartet for the End of Time, 8 October 1991 Dutch TV NOS.

Monographs and other book editions – C. Sauvage Oeuvres, introduction J. Tenant, Paris 1929, new ed., introduction C.-J. Launay, Paris 2002; P. Messiaen Images, Paris 1944; B. Gavoty Musique et mystique. Le „cas” Messiaen, Paris 1945; V. Zinke-Bianchini Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1949; C. Rostand Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1957; A. Messiaen La Divine Comédie des musiciens, introduction Daniel-Lesur, Paris 1965; P. Mari Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1965, E. Appia “Les trois petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine” d’Olivier Messiaen, in: De Palestrina à Bartók. Etudes musicologiques, Paris 1965; 1970; P. Malavard “Visions de l’Amen”. Chorégraphie sur la musique d’Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1966; E. Karkoschka Das Schriftbild der Neuen Musik. Bestandsaufnahme neuer Notationssymbole, introduction in: Deutung, Realisation und Kritik, Celle 1966; C. Régamey Olivier Messiaen “Trois petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine”, in: Musique du vingtième siècle, Lausanne 1966; S. Ahrens, H.-D. Möller, A. Rössler Das Orgelwerk Messiaens, Duisburg 1968; S. Waumsley The Organ Music of Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1969; B. Schaeffer Messiaen, in: Nowa muzyka. Problemy współczesnej techniki kompozytorskiej, Kraków 1958, 1969; T.A. Zieliński Nowy modalism – Messiaen, in: Style, kierunki i twórcy muzyki XX wieku, Warsaw1972; K.- J. Kemmelmeyer Die gedruckten Orgelwerke Olivier Messiaens bis zum “Verset pour la fête de la Dédicace”, 2 volumes, Regensburg 1974; S. Jarociński Olivier Messiaen, in: Orfeusz na rozdrożu, Kraków 1974; P. Boulez Olivier Messiaen, in: Anhaltspunkte. Essays, Stuttgart 1975; R. Nichols Messiaen, London 1975, 2^nd extended ed., New York 1986; R.S. Johnson Messiaen, London 1975, 1989; M. Forster Technik modaler Komposition bei Olivier Messiaen, Neuhausen-Stuttgart 1976; S. Gut Le Groupe Jeune France. Y. Baudrier, Daniel-Lesur, A. Jolivet, Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1977; P. Borum, E. Christens Messiaen – en handbog, Copenhangen 1977; M. Reverdy L’oeuvre pour piano d’Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1978; I. Hohlfeld-Ufer, A. Rössler Die musikalische Sprache Olivier Messiaens, dargestellt an dem Orgelzyklus „Die Pfingstmesse”. Zur Interpretation der Orgelwerke Messiaens, Duisburg 1978; A. Périer Messiaen, Paris 1979; K. Ernst Der Beitrag Olivier Messiaens zur Orgelmusik des 20. Jahrhunderts, Freiburg im Breisgau 1980; H. Halbreich Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1980; K. Schweizer Olivier Messiaen Turangalîla-Symphonie, Munich 1982; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Das vokale Werk Messieans bis 1939, in: Karol Szymanowski in seiner Zeit, ed. Michał Bristiger, Roger Scruton, Petra Weber-Bockholdt, München 1984; C.H. Bell Olivier Messiaen, Boston 1984; T. Kaczyński Messiaen, Kraków 1984; P. Griffiths Olivier Messiaen and the Music of Time, London 1985; A. Rössler Beiträge zur geistigen Welt Olivier Messiaens, Duisburg 1986, also English ed.; A. Michaely Die Musik Olivier Messiaens. Untersuchungen zum Gesamtschajfen, Hamburg 1987; W. Jekimowski Olivier Messiaen. Żizń i tworczestwo, introduction R.K. Szczedrin, Moscow 1987; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Rytm Oliviera Messiaena, in: Muzykologia krakowska 1911–1986, ed. Elżbieta Dziębowska, Kraków 1987; Th. Hirsbrunner Olivier Messiaen Leben und Werk, Laaber 1988; M. Reverdy L’oeuvre pour orchestre d’Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1988; C.E. Seifert Messiaen’s “Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus”. A Historical and Pedagogical Study, Illinois 1989; P.H.I. Kim Olivier Messiaen’s “Catalogue d’oiseaux” for Solo Piano. A Phenomenological Study, New York 1989; B. Schaeffer Olivier Messiaen, in: Kompozytorzy XX w., 2 volumes, Kraków 1990; The Messiaen Companion, ed. P. Hill, London 1995; J. Boivin La Classe de Messiaen, Paris 1995; R. Zgłobicki Obozy i cmentarze wojenne w Zgorzelcu, Zgorzelec 1995; M. Hsu Olivier Messiaen, the Musical Mediator. A Study of Influence of Liszt, Debussy and Bartók, Madison 1996; C. Massip Portraits d’Olivier Messiaen, Paris 1996; H. Lauerwald Ein komponierender Prisonnière de guerre, in: In fremdem Land. Kriegsgefangene im Stalag Görlitz 1939–1945, Görlitz 1997; S. Bruhn Musikalische Symbolik in Olivier Messiaens Weihnachtsvignetten. Hermeneutisch-analytische Untersuchungen zu den “Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus”, Frankfurt am Main 1997; E. Aprahamian “Bien cher Félix…” Letters from Olivier Messiaen and Y. Loriod to F. Aprahamian, Cambridge 1998; Anthony Pople Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, Cambridge 1998; R. Rischin For the End of Times. The Story of the Messiaen Quartet, Cornel University Press, Ithaca 2003, French transl. É. Akoka, G. Marlière, Paris 2006; P. Hill, N. Simeon Olivier Messiaen, Yale University Press, New Naven 2005, French transl. L. Kayas, Paris 2008; R. Fallon Messiaen’s Mimesis: the Langage and Culture of the Bird Style, Berkeley 2005; S. Cappelletto Messiaen. L’angelo del Tempo, Biella 2007; Ch. Dingle The Life of Messiaen, Cambridge 2007; A. Rössler Beiträge zur gesitigen Welt Olivier Messiaen, Duisburg 2008; Messiaen au Conservatoire, ed. A. Bongrain, Paris 2008; M. Navrátil Olivier Messiaen. Medaillon ke 100. vŷročí narození, Ostrava 2008; A. Lesure, C. Samuel Olivier Messiaen. Le Livre du centenaire, Lyon 2008 [Book commemorating O. Messiaen’s 100^th birthday anniversary]; Regards sur Olivier Messiaen 1908–1992. Seventeen acccompanying notes on works of Olivier Messiaen, ed. F. Langlois [catalogue of Messiaen’s works Éditions Durand], Paris 2008; S. Bruhn Les Visions d’Olivier Messiaen, Paris 2008; J. Gillock, Performing Messiaen’s Organ Music: 66 Masterclasses, Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2009; H. Lauerwald Primum vivere. Zuerst leben. Wie Gefangene des Stalag VIII A Görlitz erlebten, Bautzen 2009; Reliogion und Glaube als künstlerische Kernkräfte im Werk von Olivier Messiaen. Ein symposion des Meetingpoint Music Messiaen, ed. A. Goetze, J.P. Hiekel, Görlitz 2010; O. Glandaz Messiaen à l’orgue, introduction and ed. J. Tain, Paris 2014; J. Stankiewicz Olivier Messiaen. Człowiek i artysta w Stalagu VIII A w Görlitz. Przewodnik biograficzny na otwarcie Europejskiego Centrum Edukacyjnego Zgorzelec-Görlitz Meetingpoint Music Messiaen, introduction C. Samuel, Zgorzelec 2014, Ukrainian transl. W. Hrabowski, introduction S. Pawłyszyn, Shevchenko Scientific Society Lviv, Drohobych 2019; J. Amblard Vingt regards sur Messiaen, une étiologie de la médiation, Aix-en-Provence, 2015; E. Reibel Nature et musique, Paris 2016; J. Amblard Messiaen. L’Essentiel de l’oeuvre, Aix 2019; R.D.E. Burton Olivier Messiaen. Texts, Contexts & Intertexts (1937–1948), ed. R. Nichols, Oxford 2016; I. Sahbaï À la recherche de son et de sens [contributions and memories of O. Messiaen’s student], Paris 2021.

Articles in magazines – H. Martelli Olivier Messiaen “Le tombeau resplendissant”, “La Revue Musicale” 1933 no. 138; F. Aprahamian Olivier Messiaen, “Tempo” 1944 no. 9; L. Aubert “Chant des déportés”d’Olivier Messiaen, “Opéra” 1945 no. 27; H. Barraud Olivier Messiaen, compositeur mystique?, “Contrepoints” 1946 no. 1 ; Y. Baudrier Olivier Messiaen au tournant de l’évolution musicale, “Opéra” 1946 no. 48; M. Frémiot Le rythme dans le langage d’Olivier Messiaen, “Polyphonie” 1948 no. 2; W. Poźniak Olivier Messiaen, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1948 no. 12; M. Gieure Turangalîla-Symphonie d’Olivier Messiaen and R. Delange Olivier Messiaen, “Schweizerische Muzikzeitung und Sängerblatt” 1951 no. 2 and no. 10; E. Forneberg Olivier Messiaen, “Zeitschrift für Musik” 1951 no. 5; S. van Amering Olivier Messiaens “L’Ascension”, “Mens en melodie” 1952 no. 1; M. Fano Aspect de la musique contemporaine, “Le Point” 1954 March; J. Barraque Rythme et développement, “Polyphonie” IX/X, 1954; D. Drew Messiaen. A Provisional Study, “The Scores” 1954 no. 10 and 1955 no. 13–14; N. Demuth Messiaen and His Organ Music, “The Music Times” XCVI, 1955; C. Rostand Messiaen et ses trois styles, “Schweizerische Muzikzeitung und Sängerblatt” XCVII, 1957; S. Gunther Olivier Messiaen “Trois petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine”. Eine rhythmische Studie and Das Orgelwerk von Olivier Messiaen, “Musik und Kirche” XXVIII and XXX, 1958, 1960; E. Seidel Messiaen’s “Livre d’orgue”, “Zeitschrift für Musik und Kirche” 1958 no. 6; K.H. Ruppel Olivier Messiaens “Turangalîla-Sinfonie”, in: Musik unserer Zeit, Munich 1960; N. Demuth Messiaen’s Early Birds, “The Musical Times” CI, 1960; F. Klinda Die Orgelwerke von Olivier Messiaen, “Musik und Kirche” XXX, I960; M. Hanuszewska Olivier Messiaen, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1961 no. 24; A. Goléa Olivier Messiaen “Chronochromie”, “Melos” XXIX, 1962; A. Goléa Olivier Messiaen et la musique du XX siècle, “Revue Musicale de Suisse Romande” 1963 no. 2; N. Armfelt Emotion in the Music of Messiaen, “The Musical Times” CVI, 1965; J.N. Chołopow O triech zarubieżnych sistiemach garmonii. O tieorii Messiaena, “Muzyka i sowriemiennost’” issue 4, Moscow1966; G. Costinescu Olivier Messiaen, compositor francez contemporan, “Muzica” 1966 no. 9; C. Taranu Confluiença Enescu- Messiaen şi reflectarea ei în muzica contemporana romaneasca, “Lucrari de Muzicologie” III, Cluj 1967; H.-E. Frischknecht Rhythmen und Dauerwerte im “Livre d’Orgue” von Olivier Messiaen, “Musik und Gottesdienst” 1968 no. 1. R. Smalley Debussy and Messiaen, “The Musical Times” CIX, 1968; F.-B. Mâche Messiaen – doświadczenia i perspektywy, transl. A. Skrzyńska, “Res Facta” 3, 1969; H. Heiss Struktur und Symbolik in “Reprises par interversion” und “Les mains de l’abîme” aus Olivier Messiaens “Livre d’orgue”, “Zeitschrift für Musiktheorie” I, 1970; G. Tremblay Oiseaux-nature, Messiaen, musique, “Les Cahiers Canadiens de Musique” I, 1970; T. Hold Messiaens Birds, “Music and Letters” LII, 1971; P. Griffiths Poèmes and Haïkaï. A Note on Messiaen Development, “The Musical Times” CXII, 1971; H. Koegler Messiaen’s “Chronochromie” als Ballett, “Musica” 1971 no. 2; T. Kaczyński Messiaenowskie ucieczki od muzyki, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1971 no. 18; L.-M. Suter La polyrythmie d’Olivier Messiaen dans un fragment de la „Turangalîla-Symphonie”, “Schweizerische Muzikzeitung und Sängerblatt” CXI, 1971; J.H. Chołopow Simmietricznyje łady w tieorieticzeskich sistiemach Jaworskogo i Messiaena, “Muzyka i sowriemiennost’” issue 7, Moscow 1971, Polish transl. J. Szprot “Modi o ograniczonej transpozycyjności” w teoretycznych koncepcjach Messiaena i Jaworskiego, “Res Facta” 7, 1973; I. Krastewa Le langage rythmique d’Olivier Messiaen et la métrique ancienne grecque, “Schweizerische Muzikzeitung und Sängerblatt” CXII, 1972; T. Kaczyński Polskie prawykonanie “Visions de l’Amen” Messiaena, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1972 no. 9. H. Heiss Struktur und Symbolik in “Les yeux dans les roues” aus Olivier Messiaens “Livre d’orgue”, “Zeitschrift für Musiktheorie” III, 1972; C. Marinelli Lettura di Messiaen, “La rassegna musicale” 1972 no. 5; K. Schweizer Olivier Messiaens Klavieretüde “Mode de valeurs et d’intensités”, “Archiv für Musikwissenschaft” XXX, 1973; E. Seidel Bemerkungen zum 2. “Pièce en Trio” des “Livre d’orgue” von Olivier Messiaen, “Musica Sacra” 1973 no. 6; T. Kaczyński System Messiaena, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1973 no. 6; R. Toop Messiaen, Goyevaerts, Fano, Stockhausen, Boulez, PNM XII, 1974; K. Oppens Messiaens zwölfsätzige “Amerikanische Symphonie”, “Musica” 1975 no. 2; P. Griffiths Catalogue de couleurs. Notes on Messiaens Tone Colours on His 70^th Birthday, “The Musical Times” CXIX, 1978; J. Stankiewicz Postać brzmieniowa figur śpiewu ptaków w “Réveil des Oiseaux” Oliviera Messiaena, “Muzyka” 1979 no. 2; T. Kaczyński Kompozytor – poetą, “Poezja” 1980 no. 3; M. Kurenniemi Messiaen, the Ornithologist, “The Music Review” 1980 no. 2; J. Stankiewicz Olivier Messiaen “Temat z wariacjami”, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1984 no. 1; A. Michaely Verbum Caro. Die Darstellung des Mysteriums der Inkarnation in Olivier Messiaens “Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus”, “Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft” VI, Hamburg 1984; M. Stegemann Olivier Messiaen “Mode de valeurs et d’intensités”, in: Werkanalyse in Beispielen, ed. S. Helms, H. Hopf, Regensburg 1986; T. Hirsbrunner Olivier Messiaen vu par son frère Alain, “Revue Musicale de Suisse romande” 1987 no. 3; K. Schweizer Materialdenken und Stilbildung bei Olivier Messiaen Anmerkungen zu Satz VI des Oratoriums “La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ”, “Schweizerisches Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft” VIII, IX 1988/89; M. Woźna Fortepian w cyklach wokalnych Oliviera Messiaena, in: Muzyka fortepianowa, «Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Muzycznej w Gdańsku» issue 8, Gdańsk 1989; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Medytacje muzyczne Oliviera Messiaena, “Chrześcijanin a współczesność” 1989 no. 4; A. Rössler Über die Universalität der Musik Olivier Messiaens (10.12.1908–27.4.1992), “Der Kirchenmusiker” 1992 no. 4; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Olivier Messiaen — trubadur 20. storoĉia, “Slovenská Hudba” XIX, 1993 no. 1; G. Mortier Über Messiaens Oper “Saint François d’Assise”, in: Europäische Mythen der Neuzeit. Faust und Don Juan, ed. P. Csobadi, Salzburg 1993; M. Woźna Leitmotyw rytmiczny w twórczości Oliviera Messiaena, “Muzyka” 1995 no. 3, Slovakian transl. in: Hudba ako posolstvo, Bratislava 1995, French transl. in: Musica lagellonica Year 1997, vol. 2, Kraków 1997; J. Stankiewicz “Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ” Oliviera Messiaena, transl. V. Godár, “Slovenskä Hudba” XXI, 1995; J. Stankiewicz “Kwartet na koniec Czasu” – legenda i sława, “Ruch Muzyczny” 2009 no. 3, new ed. Lviv 2010; J. Stankiewicz Świętosław Krawczyński i Olivier Messiaen. Pamiętne spotkanie w Stalagu VIII A w Görlitz, “Palestra Świętokrzyska” 2009 no. 9–10, online: http://www.ora.kielce.pl/data/Pliki/47_Palestra_Grudzie__2009.pdf; J. Stankiewicz Powstanie „Kwartetu na koniec Czasu” w Stalagu VIII A Görlitz (1940/41). Olivier Messiaen w kręgu polskiej inteligencji i artystów, “Łambinowski Rocznik Muzealny” 2010 no. 33, online: https://www.cmjw.pl/gfx/cmjw/userfiles/_public/lrm/lrm_33/lrm_33- str.103.pdf; J. Stankiewicz Un quatuor conçu et créé dans un camp nazi, “Schweizer Musikzeitung” 2012 no. 5; S. Bruhn Oliviera Messiaena recepcja i adaptacja teologii i estetyki Tomasza z Akwinu, transl. W. Chłopicki, “Teoria muzyki” 2014 no. 5; J. Stankiewicz Kanon XX/XXI: Messiaen, “Ruch Muzyczny” 2017 no. 4; J. Stankiewicz Jak Olivier Messiaen stał się żołnierzem [campaign 1940/41], “Ruch Muzyczny” 2017 no. 7–8; J. Stankiewicz Droga Oliviera Messiaena do Toul [Messiaen’s imprisonment in Germiny, the first German prison camp in Toul, France, transport to the camp in Görlitz], “Ruch Muzyczny” 2019 no. 8–9; J. Stankiewicz Olivier Messiaen à la guerre et en captivité au Stalag VIII A de Görlitz dans l’optique des recherches polonaises. Rectifications et complémants, “La Revue du Conservatoire de Paris” 2019 no. 7 (May), online: https://larevue.conservatoiredeparis.fr/index.php?id=2318 J. Stankiewicz Sekretna posiadłość Messiaena [La Sologne, discovery by a sculptor J. Pyrz], “Ruch Muzyczny” 2021 no. 1; J. Stankiewicz Nowa era “Kwartetu na koniec Czasu” [80^th anniversary of the uprising with the participation of Polish prisoners of war, a widely known and performed work by Messiaen], “Ruch Muzyczny” 2021 no. 2; J. Stankiewicz Fuligny w Szampanii. Saga rodu Messiaenów, “Ruch Muzyczny” 2022 no. 21.

Articles in collective works – J. Roy Olivier Messiaen, in: Présence contemporaines. Musique française, Paris 1962; U. Dibelius Olivier Messiaen Mystik und Rationalität, in: Moderne Musik 1945–1965, Munich 1966; J. Patkowski Porzucone koncepcje kompozytorskie – pełna serializacja materiału dźwiękowego. (Uwagi na marginesie „Mode de valeurs et d’intensités” Messiaena, „Structures” I Bouleza i „Studie” I Stockhausena), in: Horyzonty muzyki, Kraków 1970; D. Bosseur Olivier Messiaen, in: Musique de notre temps, ed. G. Kadar, Paris 1973; J. Stankiewicz Śpiew ptaków w muzyce Oliviera Messiaena, in: Spotkania muzyczne w Baranowie, vol. 2, part 1, ed. T. Malecka and L. Polony, Kraków 1980; M. Woźna Das vokale Werk Messiaens bis 1939, in: K. Szymanowski in seiner Zeit, ed. M. Bristiger, R. Scruton, P. Weber-Bockholdt, Munich 1984; T. Hirsbrunner Messiaen und Boulez, in: Das musikalische Kunstwerk, C. Dahlhaus’s memorial book, ed. H. Danuser, Laaber 1988; Th.D. Schlee Die “Cinq rechants” von Olivier Messiaen, in: Zum Verhältnis von zeitgenössischer Musik und zeitgenössischer Dichtung, ed. O. Kolleritsch, Vienna 1988; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Fortepian w cyklach wokalnych Oliviera Messiaena, in: Muzyka fortepianowa VIII, ed. Janusz Krassowski, Gdańsk 1989; R. de Obaldia, SéraphiqueMessiaen, in: L’Avant scène Opéra, ed. M. Pazdro, Paris 1992, also in: O. Messiaen homme de foi, Paris 1995; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Indické rytmy w hudobnom univerze Oliviera Messiaena, in: Hudba ako posolstvo. Hudba a totalita, eed. Peter Važan, Bratislava 1995; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Postacie rytmiczne Oliviera Messiaena, in: Dzieło muzyczne między inspiracją a refleksją, ed. J. Krassowski, Gdańsk 1998; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Synteza rytmiczna Oliviera Messiaena, in: Affetti musicologici, Z.M. Szweykowsk’s memorial book, ed. P. Poźniak, Kraków 1999; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Messiaenowska technika permutacji rytmicznych, in: Muzykolog wobec dzieła muzycznego, collection of works dedicated to Doctor Elżbieta Dziębowska on 70^th birthday anniversary, ed. M. Woźna-Stankiewicz, Z. Dobrzańska-Fabiańska, Kraków 1999; J. Stankiewicz Olivier Messiaen w Polsce; Dzieła Oliviera Messiaen i ich wykonania w Polsce and M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Polskie analizy języka muzycznego Oliviera Messiaena in: Recepcja twórczości Oliviera Messiaena. Materiały Międzynarodowej Konferencji Naukowej, 11–12 grudnia 1998 r., ed. G. Pstrokońska-Nawratil, M. Zduniak, Wrocław 2000; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz On the Trail of Creative Inspiration: “Harawi” by Olivier Messiaen, in: Music in the World of Ideas. ed. Helen Geyer, Maciej Jabłoński, Jan Stęszewski, Poznań 2001; J. Stankiewicz “Quatuor pour la fin du Temps” von Olivier Messiaen, in: Via Regia kontrovers – Dialog der Horizonte. Internationale Workshop 2006 in der Europastadt Görlitz-Zgorzelec, ed. P. Baumgardt, G, Müller, Görlitz-Zgorzelec 2007; J. Stankiewicz O pierwszym wykonaniu „Kwartetu na koniec Czasu” Oliviera Messiaena w Stalagu VIII A w Görlitz. Casus dzieła szczególnego, in: Olivier Messiaen we wspomnieniach i refleksji badawczej, ed. M. Szoka, R.D. Golianek, Łódź 2009; J. Stankiewicz Ile wykonań „Kwartetu na koniec Czasu” Oliviera Messiaena odbyło się w Stalagu VIII A w Görlitz? Nowe fakty i hipotezy 70 lat później, “Res Facta Nova” 2011 no. 12; J. Stankiewicz Olivier Messiaen jeniec wojenny w rękach niemieckich na terenie Francji, in: Cum debita reverentia. Księga pamiątkowa dedykowana profesor Danucie Jasińskiej, ed. J. Humięcka-Jakubowska, H. Wiszniewska, Poznań 2019; J. Stankiewicz Białe plamy w wojennym życiorysie Oliviera Messiaena, in: Muzykolog humanista. Wobec doświadczenia muzyki w kulturze. Księga pamiątkowa dedykowana profesor Małgorzacie Woźnej-Stankiewicz, ed. Z. Dobrzańska-Fabiańska, M. Dziadek, Kraków 2021.

Special issues of magazines – Hommage à Messiaen, “Melos” XXV, 1958 no. 12 (includes articles by P. Boulez, A. Golé, C. Rostand, K.-H. Stockhausen and others); Expériences musicales, “La Revue Musicale” 1959 no. 244 (special issue); “Muzyka”, ed. E. Dziębowska 1978 no. 4 (includes articles: J. Gembalski Utwory organowe Oliviera Messiaena; T. Kaczyński Oliviera Messiaena „Kwartet na koniec świata” and M. Woźna Idee twórcze Oliviera Messiaena , Slovakian transl. Tvorivé idey Oliviera Messiaena, “Slovenská Hudba” 2003 no. 2); Olivier Messiaen, «MusikKonzepte» XXVIII, ed. H.-K. Metzger, R. Riehn, Munich 1982; Nachrufe auf Olivier Messiaen (contains statements by P. Boulez, N.A. Huber, W. Lutosławski, D. Schnebel, I. Xenakis and others), “MusikTexte” 1992 issue 45.