View source for Olivier Messiaen

{{Short description|French composer (1908–1992)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox classical composer
| name          = Olivier Messiaen
| image         = Messiaen Harcourt 1937 2.jpg
| alt           = A black-and-white photo of an elderly, balding man with swept-back hair, wearing a suit; he faces the camera.
| caption       = Messiaen in 1937 
| parents       = 
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1908|12|10|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Avignon]], France
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1992|04|27|1908|12|10|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine|Clichy]], France
| list_of_works = [[List of compositions by Olivier Messiaen|List of compositions]]
| spouse        = {{ubl| [[Claire Delbos]] | [[Yvonne Loriod]] }}
}}
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'''Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|m|ɛ|s|i|æ̃}},<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Messiaen,+Olivier |title=Messiaen, Olivier |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}{{dead link|date=September 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|US|m|ɛ|ˈ|s|j|æ̃|,_|m|eɪ|ˈ|s|j|æ̃|,_|m|ɛ|ˈ|s|j|ɑ̃}};<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Messiaen|access-date=18 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/messiaen|title=Messiaen|work=[[Collins English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|access-date=18 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Messiaen|access-date=18 August 2019}}</ref> {{IPA|fr|ɔlivje øʒɛn pʁɔspɛʁ ʃaʁl mɛsjɑ̃|lang}}; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and [[ornithology|ornithologist]]. One of the major composers of the [[20th-century classical music|20th century]], he was also an outstanding teacher of composition and musical analysis.

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Messiaen entered the [[Conservatoire de Paris]] at age 11 and studied with [[Paul Dukas]], [[Maurice Emmanuel]], [[Charles-Marie Widor]] and [[Marcel Dupré]], among others. He was appointed organist at the [[Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris]], in 1931, a post he held for 61 years, until his death. He taught at the [[Schola Cantorum de Paris]] during the 1930s. After the [[Battle of France|fall of France]] in 1940, Messiaen was interned for nine months in the German prisoner of war camp [[Stalag VIII-A]], where he composed his {{lang|fr|[[Quatuor pour la fin du temps]]}} (''Quartet for the End of Time'') for the four instruments available in the prison—piano, violin, cello and clarinet. The piece was first performed by Messiaen and fellow prisoners for an audience of inmates and prison guards.<ref name=":0" /> Soon after his release in 1941, Messiaen was appointed professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1966, he was appointed professor of composition there, and he held both positions until retiring in 1978. His [[List of students of Olivier Messiaen|many distinguished pupils]] included [[Iannis Xenakis]], [[George Benjamin (composer)|George Benjamin]], [[Alexander Goehr]], [[Pierre Boulez]], [[Jacques Hétu]], [[Tristan Murail]], [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], [[György Kurtág]], and [[Yvonne Loriod]], who became his second wife.

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Messiaen perceived colours when he heard certain [[Chord (music)|musical chords]] (a phenomenon known as [[chromesthesia]]); according to him, combinations of these colours were important in his compositional process. He travelled widely and wrote works inspired by diverse influences, including [[Japanese music]], the landscape of [[Bryce Canyon National Park|Bryce Canyon]] in Utah, and the life of [[St. Francis of Assisi]]. His style absorbed many global musical influences, such as Indonesian [[gamelan]] (tuned percussion often features prominently in his orchestral works). He found [[birdsong]] fascinating, notating bird songs worldwide and incorporating birdsong [[Transcription (music)|transcriptions]] into his music. 

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Messiaen's music is [[rhythm]]ically complex. [[Harmony|Harmonically]] and [[melody|melodically]], he employed a system he called ''[[modes of limited transposition]]'', which he abstracted from the systems of material his early compositions and improvisations generated. He wrote music for chamber ensembles and orchestra, voice, solo organ, and piano, and experimented with the use of novel electronic instruments developed in Europe during his lifetime. For a short period he experimented with the [[Serialism#Theory of twelve-tone serial music|parametrisation]] associated with "total serialism", in which field he is often cited as an innovator. His innovative use of colour, his conception of the relationship between time and music, and his use of birdsong are among the features that make Messiaen's music distinctive.

==Biography==
===Youth and studies===
[[File:Messiaen1910.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A studio portrait. A young man stands with his arms folded; he has dark hair, and is wearing a dark Edwardian suit, a white shirt with rounded collars, and a dark tie, To his right, a young woman sits on a wooden bench; she has dark, medium length hair, and is wearing a white blouse and a long white skirt. She holds a young fair-haired boy, who is wearing a light tunic with flared skirt and embroidery at the neck, dark boots and short socks. He holds a walking stick in his right hand. An empty paint tin lies on its side near his feet. The background has a colonnade and clouds in the classical romantic style.|Messiaen with his mother and father in 1910]]

Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen<ref>{{cite web|last=[[Avignon]] Civil Records|title=Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen's birth certificate|url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/694193887220334613/889843906076872744/actenaissance.pdf|access-date=27 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809171624/https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/694193887220334613/889843906076872744/actenaissance.pdf|archive-date=9 August 2022|url-status=dead}}</ref> was born on 10 December 1908 at 20 Boulevard Sixte-Isnard in [[Avignon]], France, into a literary family.<ref>Dingle (2007), p. 3</ref> He was the elder of two sons of [[Cécile Sauvage|Cécile Anne Marie Antoinette Sauvage]], a poet, and {{Ill|Pierre Messiaen|es||fr|lt=Pierre Léon Joseph Messiaen}}, a scholar and teacher of English from a farm near [[Wervicq-Sud]]<ref>''Visions of Amen: The Early Life and Music of Olivier Messiaen'', Stephen Schloesser</ref> who also translated [[William Shakespeare]]'s plays into French.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 10–14.</ref> Messiaen's mother published a sequence of poems, {{lang|fr|L'âme en bourgeon}} (''The Budding Soul''), the last chapter of {{lang|fr|Tandis que la terre tourne}} (''As the Earth Turns''), which address her unborn son. Messiaen later said this sequence of poems influenced him deeply and cited it as prophetic of his future artistic career.<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 15</ref> His brother {{Ill|Alain Messiaen|fr|lt=Alain André Prosper Messiaen}}, four years his junior, became a poet.

At the outbreak of [[World War I]], Pierre enlisted and Cécile took their two boys to live with her brother in [[Grenoble]]. There Messiaen became fascinated with drama, reciting Shakespeare to his brother. Their homemade toy theatre had translucent backdrops made of cellophane wrappers.<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 41</ref> At this time he also adopted the [[Roman Catholic]] faith. Later, Messiaen felt most at home in the Alps of the [[Dauphiné]], where he had a house built south of Grenoble. He composed most of his music there.<ref>Hill (1995), pp. 300–301.</ref>

Messiaen took piano lessons, having already taught himself to play. His interests included the recent music of French composers [[Claude Debussy]] and [[Maurice Ravel]], and he asked for opera vocal scores for Christmas presents.<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 109.</ref> He also saved to buy scores, including [[Edvard Grieg]]'s ''[[Peer Gynt (Grieg)|Peer Gynt]]'', whose "beautiful Norwegian melodic lines with the taste of folk song ... gave me a love of melody".<ref>Christopher Dingle, ''The Life of Messiaen'' (London: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 7.</ref> Around this time he began to compose.

In 1918 his father returned from the war and the family moved to [[Nantes]]. Messiaen continued music lessons; one of his teachers, Jehan de Gibon, gave him a score of Debussy's opera {{lang|fr|[[Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)|Pelléas et Mélisande]]}}, which Messiaen called "a thunderbolt" and "probably the most decisive influence on me".<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 110.</ref> The next year, his father gained a teaching post at [[Sorbonne University]] in Paris. Olivier entered the [[Paris Conservatoire]] in 1919, aged 11.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 16.</ref>

[[File:Classe-dukas.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|alt=A group of ten young men and three young women, in early 20th-century dress, surround an elderly man with greying hair and beard. On the right some of the group lean over a table with open musical scores.|Paul Dukas's composition class at the Paris Conservatoire, 1929. Messiaen sits at the far right; Dukas stands at the centre.]]

Messiaen made excellent academic progress at the Conservatoire. In 1924, aged 15, he was awarded second prize in [[Harmony (music)|harmony]], having been taught in that subject by professor [[Jean Gallon]]. In 1925, he won first prize in piano [[accompaniment]], and in 1926 he gained first prize in [[fugue]]. After studying with Maurice Emmanuel, he was awarded second prize for the history of music in 1928.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 16–17.</ref> Emmanuel's example engendered an interest in ancient Greek rhythms and exotic modes.<ref name=sj10>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), p. 10.</ref> After showing improvisational skills on the piano, Messiaen studied organ with Marcel Dupré.<ref>Bannister (2013), p. 171.</ref> He won first prize in organ playing and improvisation in 1929.<ref name="sj10"/> After a year studying composition with Charles-Marie Widor, in autumn 1927 he entered the class of the newly appointed Paul Dukas. Messiaen's mother died of tuberculosis shortly before the class began.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 20.</ref> Despite his grief, he resumed his studies, and in 1930 Messiaen won first prize in composition.<ref name="sj10"/>

While a student he composed his first published works—his eight ''[[Preludes (Messiaen)|Préludes]]'' for piano (the earlier ''[[Le banquet céleste]]'' was published subsequently). These exhibit Messiaen's use of his modes of limited transposition and [[Palindrome|palindromic]] rhythms (Messiaen called these ''[[Retrograde (music)#Non-retrogradable rhythm|non-retrogradable rhythm]]s''). His official début came in 1931 with his orchestral suite ''Les offrandes oubliées''. That year he first heard a [[gamelan]] group, sparking his interest in the use of tuned percussion.<ref>For further discussion of Messiaen's youth, see, generally, Hill & Simeone (2005).</ref>

===La Trinité, ''La jeune France'', and Messiaen's war===
[[File:Église de la Sainte-Trinité de Paris Face.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=A 19th-century church in the French style, in light coloured stone, with a central tower with rounded top and smaller towers set back to left and right.|[[Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris]], where Messiaen was titular organist for 61 years]]

In the autumn of 1927, Messiaen joined Dupré's organ course. Dupré later wrote that Messiaen, having never seen an organ console, sat quietly for an hour while Dupré explained and demonstrated the instrument, and then came back a week later to play [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]'s ''[[Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 562|Fantasia in C minor]]'' to an impressive standard.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 22.</ref> From 1929, Messiaen regularly deputised at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité for the ailing [[Charles Quef]]. The post became vacant in 1931 when Quef died, and Dupré, [[Charles Tournemire]] and Widor among others supported Messiaen's candidacy. His formal application included a letter of recommendation from Widor. The appointment was confirmed in 1931,<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 34–37.</ref> and he remained the organist at the church for more than 60 years.<ref>Heller (2010), p. 68.</ref> He also assumed a post at the Schola Cantorum de Paris in the early 1930s.<ref>Dingle (2007), p. 45.</ref> In 1932, he composed the ''[[Apparition de l'église éternelle]]'' for organ.<ref>Gillock (2009), p. 32.</ref>
[[File:Claire Delbos and Olivier Messiaen.jpg|thumb|upright|With Claire Delbos]]
He also married the violinist and composer [[Claire Delbos]] (daughter of [[Victor Delbos]]) that year. Their marriage inspired him both to compose works for her to play (''Thème et variations'' for violin and piano in the year they were married) and to write pieces to celebrate their domestic happiness, including the song cycle ''[[Poèmes pour Mi]]'' in 1936, which he orchestrated in 1937. ''Mi'' was Messiaen's affectionate nickname for his wife.<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), pp. 56–57.</ref> On 14 July 1937, the Messiaens' son, Pascal Emmanuel, was born; Messiaen celebrated the occasion by writing [[Chants de Terre et de Ciel]].<ref>Gillock (2009), p. 381.</ref> The marriage turned tragic when Delbos lost her memory after an operation toward the end of World War II. She spent the rest of her life in mental institutions.<ref>Yvonne Loriod, in Hill (1995), p. 294.</ref>

During this period he composed several multi-movement organ works. He arranged his orchestral suite ''[[L'Ascension]]'' for organ, replacing the orchestral version's third movement with an entirely new movement, ''Transports de joie d'une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne'' (''Ecstasies of a soul before the glory of Christ which is the soul's own'').<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 288.</ref> He also wrote the extensive cycles ''[[La Nativité du Seigneur]]'' (''The Nativity of the Lord'') and ''Les Corps glorieux'' (''The glorious bodies'').<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 115.</ref>

In 1936, along with [[André Jolivet]], [[Daniel Lesur]] and [[Yves Baudrier]], Messiaen formed the group ''[[La jeune France]]'' ("Young France"). Their manifesto implicitly attacked the frivolity predominant in contemporary Parisian music and rejected [[Jean Cocteau]]'s 1918 ''Le coq et l'arlequin'' in favour of a "living music, having the impetus of sincerity, generosity and artistic conscientiousness".<ref>From the programme for the opening concert of ''La jeune France'', quoted in Griffiths (1985), p. 72.</ref> Messiaen's career soon departed from this polemical phase.

In response to a commission for a piece to accompany light-and-water shows on [[the Seine]] during the ''[[Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne|Paris Exposition]]'', in 1937 Messiaen demonstrated his interest in using the [[ondes Martenot]], an electronic instrument, by composing ''[[Fête des belles eaux]]'' for an ensemble of six.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 73–75.</ref> He included a part for the instrument in several of his subsequent compositions.<ref>Dingle (2013), p. 34.</ref>

[[File:Messiaen 1937 4.jpg|thumb|left|Messiaen by [[Studio Harcourt]] (1937)]]

At the outbreak of World War II, Messiaen was drafted into the French army. Due to poor eyesight, he was enlisted as a medical auxiliary rather than an active combatant.<ref name="Griffiths (1985), p. 139">Griffiths (1985), p. 139.</ref> He was captured at [[Verdun]], where he befriended clarinettist [[Henri Akoka]]; they were taken to [[Görlitz]] in May 1940, and imprisoned at [[Stalag VIII-A]]. He met a cellist ([[Étienne Pasquier (cellist)|Étienne Pasquier]]) and a violinist ({{Ill|Jean le Boulaire|fr|Jean Lanier}}) among his fellow prisoners. He wrote a trio for them, which he gradually incorporated into a more expansive new work, ''[[Quatuor pour la fin du temps|Quatuor pour la fin du Temps]]'' ("Quartet for the End of Time").<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Kellie D.|title=The sound of hope: Music as solace, resistance and salvation during the holocaust and world war II|publisher=McFarland |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4766-7056-0|pages=168–175}}</ref> With the help of a friendly German guard, {{Ill|Carl-Albert Brüll|de||es}}, he acquired manuscript paper and pencils.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.therestisnoise.com/2004/04/quartet_for_the_2.html|title=The Rest Is Noise: Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time|last=Ross|first=Alex|author-link=Alex Ross (music critic)|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=22 March 2004}}</ref> The work was first performed in January 1941 to an audience of prisoners and prison guards, with the composer playing a poorly maintained upright piano in freezing conditions and the trio playing third-hand unkempt instruments.<ref>Rischin (2003), p. 5.</ref> The enforced introspection and reflection of camp life bore fruit in one of 20th-century classical music's acknowledged masterpieces. The title's "end of time" alludes to the [[Apocalypse]], and also to the way that Messiaen, through rhythm and harmony, used time in a manner completely different from his predecessors and contemporaries.<ref>See extended discussion in Griffiths (1985), Chapter 6: ''A Technique for the End of Time'', particularly pp. 104–106</ref>

The idea of a European Centre of Education and Culture "Meeting Point Music Messiaen" on the site of Stalag VIII-A, for children and youth, artists, musicians and everyone in the region emerged in December 2004, was developed with the involvement of Messiaen's widow as a joint project between the council districts in Germany and Poland, and was completed in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|title=European Center Memory, Education, Culture|website=Meetingpoint Music Messiaen e.V.|date=17 April 2020|url=https://www.meetingpoint-music-messiaen.net/en/european-center-memory-education-culture/|access-date=27 May 2020|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806003754/https://www.meetingpoint-music-messiaen.net/en/european-center-memory-education-culture/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===''Tristan'' and serialism===
{{See also|List of students of Olivier Messiaen}}
Shortly after his release from Görlitz in May 1941 in large part due to the persuasions of his friend and teacher [[Marcel Dupré]], Messiaen, who was now a household name, was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until retiring in 1978.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 155.</ref> He compiled his ''Technique de mon langage musical'' ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 33.</ref> Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher.<ref>Pierre Boulez in Hill (1995), pp. 266ff.</ref> Among his early students were the composers [[Pierre Boulez]] and [[Karel Goeyvaerts]]. Other pupils included [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]] in 1952, [[Alexander Goehr]] in 1956–57, [[Jacques Hétu]] in 1962-63, [[Tristan Murail]] in 1967–72 and [[George Benjamin (composer)|George Benjamin]] during the late 1970s.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. xiii.</ref> The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music.<ref>Matossian (1986), p. 48.</ref>

In 1943, Messiaen wrote ''[[Visions de l'Amen]]'' ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for [[Yvonne Loriod]] and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle ''[[Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus]]'' ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her.<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), pp. 11, 64.</ref> Again for Loriod, he wrote ''[[Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine]]'' ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2007), p. 21.</ref>

Two years after ''Visions de l'Amen'', Messiaen composed the song cycle ''[[Harawi (Messiaen)|Harawi]]'', the first of three works inspired by the legend of [[Tristan]] and [[Isolde]]. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from [[Serge Koussevitzky]]. Messiaen said the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement ''[[Turangalîla-Symphonie]]''. It is not a conventional [[symphony]], but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'' because Messiaen believed sexual love to be a divine gift.<ref name="Griffiths (1985), p. 139"/> The third piece inspired by the ''Tristan'' myth was ''Cinq rechants'' for 12 unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the [[Alba (poetry)|alba]] of the [[troubadour]]s.<ref>Griffiths (1985), p. 142.</ref> Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and [[Leopold Stokowski]]. His ''Turangalîla-Symphonie'' was first performed in the US the same year, conducted by [[Leonard Bernstein]].<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 186–192.</ref>

Messiaen taught an [[Musical analysis|analysis]] class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in [[Budapest]].<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 3.</ref> In 1949 he taught at [[Tanglewood]]<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 415.</ref> and presented his work at the [[Darmstadt New Music Summer School|Darmstadt new music summer school]].<ref>Iddon (2013), p. 31.</ref> While he did not employ the [[twelve-tone technique]], after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by [[Arnold Schoenberg]], he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the [[Chromatic scale|chromatic pitch scale]]. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensités" for piano (from the ''[[Quatre études de rythme]]'')<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), p. 104.</ref> which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "[[Serialism|total serialism]]". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Boulez and Stockhausen.<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), pp. 192–194.</ref> During this period he also experimented with [[musique concrète]], music for recorded sounds.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 198.</ref>

===Birdsong and the 1960s===
When in 1952 Messiaen was asked to provide a test piece for flautists at the Paris Conservatoire, he composed the piece {{lang|fr|[[Le Merle noir]]}} for flute and piano. While he had long been fascinated by birdsong, and birds had made appearances in several of his earlier works (for example [[La Nativité du Seigneur|La Nativité]], [[Quartet|Quatuor]] and [[Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jésus|Vingt regards]]), the flute piece was based entirely on the song of the [[common blackbird|blackbird]].<ref>Dingle (2007), p. 139. For a general discussion of Messiaen's fusion of birdsong and music, see Hill & Simeone (2007).</ref>

He took this development to a new level with his 1953 orchestral work ''[[Réveil des oiseaux]]''—its material consists almost entirely of the birdsong one might hear between midnight and noon in the [[Jura Mountains|Jura]].<ref>Hill & Simeone (2007), p. 27.</ref> From this period onward, Messiaen incorporated birdsong into his compositions and composed several works for which birds provide both the title and subject matter (for example the collection of 13 piano pieces [[Catalogue d'oiseaux]] completed in 1958, and {{lang|fr|La fauvette des jardins}} of 1971).<ref>Kraft (2013).</ref> [[Paul Griffiths (writer)|Paul Griffiths]] observed that Messiaen was a more conscientious ornithologist than any previous composer, and a more musical observer of birdsong than any previous ornithologist.<ref>Griffiths (1985), p. 168; see also Kraft (2013).</ref>

[[File:Yvonne Loriod.jpg|thumb|alt=Piano teacher sitting left of a student at a great piano|Yvonne Loriod teaching piano (1982)]]
Messiaen's first wife died in 1959 after a long illness, and in 1961 he married Loriod.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 4.</ref> He began to travel widely, to attend musical events and to seek out and transcribe the songs of more exotic birds in the wild. Despite this, he spoke only French. Loriod frequently assisted her husband's detailed studies of birdsong while walking with him, by making tape recordings for later reference.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 138.</ref> In 1962 he visited Japan, where [[Gagaku]] music and [[Noh]] theatre inspired the orchestral "Japanese sketches", ''[[Sept haïkaï]]'', which contain stylised imitations of traditional Japanese instruments.<ref>Messiaen's visit to Japan is documented in Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 245–251, and there is a more technical discussion in Griffiths (1985), pp. 197–200. [[Malcolm Troup]], writing in Hill (1995), additionally notes the direct influence of Noh theatre on aspects of Messiaen's opera ''St François d'Assise''.</ref>

Messiaen's music was by this time championed by, among others, Boulez, who programmed first performances at his [[Domaine musical]] concerts and the [[Donaueschingen]] festival.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 280</ref> Works performed included ''[[Réveil des oiseaux]]'', ''[[Chronochromie]]'' (commissioned for the 1960 festival), and {{lang|fr|Couleurs de la cité céleste}}. The latter piece was the result of a commission for a composition for three trombones and three [[xylophone]]s; Messiaen added to this more brass, wind, percussion and piano, and specified a xylophone, [[xylorimba]] and [[marimba]] rather than three xylophones.<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), p. 166</ref> Another work of this period, {{lang|la|[[Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum]]}}, was commissioned as a commemoration of the dead of the two World Wars and was performed first semi-privately in the [[Sainte-Chapelle]], then publicly in [[Cathedral of Chartres|Chartres Cathedral]] with [[Charles de Gaulle]] in the audience.<ref>Simeone (2009), pp. 185–195.</ref>

His reputation as a composer continued to grow and in 1959, he was nominated as an [[Officer|Officier]] of the [[Legion of Honour|Légion d'honneur]].<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 245.</ref> In 1966, he was officially appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire, although he had in effect been teaching composition for years.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 306.</ref> Further honours included election to the [[Institut de France]] in 1967 and the [[Académie des beaux-arts|Académie des Beaux-arts]] in 1968, the [[Erasmus Prize]] in 1971, the award of the [[Royal Philharmonic Society]] Gold Medal and the [[Ernst von Siemens Music Prize]] in 1975, the [[Sonning Award]] (Denmark's highest musical honour) in 1977, the [[Wolf Prize in Arts]] in 1982, and the presentation of the {{lang|fr|Croix de Commander}} of the Belgian [[Order of the Crown (Belgium)|Order of the Crown]] in 1980.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 333.</ref>

===''Transfiguration'', ''Canyons'', ''St. Francis'', and ''the Beyond''===
Messiaen's next work was the large-scale ''[[La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ]]''. The composition occupied him from 1965 to 1969 and the musicians employed include a 100-voice ten-part choir, seven solo instruments and large orchestra. Its fourteen movements are a meditation on the story of Christ's [[Transfiguration of Jesus|Transfiguration]].<ref>Bruhn (2008), pp. 57–96.</ref> Shortly after its completion, Messiaen received a commission from [[Alice Tully]] for a work to celebrate the [[United States Bicentennial|U.S. bicentennial]]. He arranged a visit to the U.S. in spring 1972, and was inspired by [[Bryce Canyon National Park|Bryce Canyon]] in [[Utah]], where he observed the canyon's distinctive colours and birdsong.<ref>Griffiths (1985), p. 225.</ref> The 12-movement orchestral piece ''[[Des canyons aux étoiles...]]'' was the result, first performed in 1974 in New York.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 301.</ref>

[[File:Ondes martenot.jpg|thumb|right|An [[ondes Martenot]], an electronic instrument, for which Messiaen included a part in several of his compositions: the orchestra for his opera ''[[Saint François d'Assise]]'' includes three of them]]
In 1971, he was asked to compose a piece for the [[Palais Garnier|Paris Opéra]]. Reluctant to take on such a major project, he was persuaded by French president [[Georges Pompidou]] to accept the commission and began work on ''[[Saint-François d'Assise]]'' in 1975 after two years of preparation. The composition was intensive (he also wrote his own [[libretto]]) and occupied him from 1975 to 1979; the orchestration was carried out from 1979 until 1983.<ref>Programme for Opéra de la Bastille production of ''St. François d'Assise'', p. 18.</ref> Messiaen preferred to describe the final work as a "spectacle" rather than an opera. It was first performed in 1983. Some commentators at the time thought that the opera would be his valediction (at times Messiaen himself believed so),<ref>The composer in conversation with Jean-Cristophe Marti in 1992, see p. 29 of booklet accompanying the recording of ''Saint-François d'Assise'' conducted by [[Kent Nagano]] on Deutsche Grammophon/PolyGram 445 176; see also Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 340 and 342.</ref> but he continued to compose. In 1984, he published a major collection of organ pieces, ''Livre du Saint Sacrement''; other works include birdsong pieces for solo piano, and works for piano with orchestra.<ref>Dingle (2013).</ref>

In the summer of 1978, Messiaen was forced to retire from teaching at the Paris Conservatoire due to French law. He was promoted to the highest rank of the ''Légion d'honneur'', the ''Grand-Croix'', in 1987, and was awarded the decoration in London by his old friend [[Jean Langlais]].<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 357.</ref> An operation prevented his participation in the celebration of his 70th birthday in 1978,<ref>Dingle (2007), p. 207.</ref> but in 1988 tributes for Messiaen's 80th included a complete performance in London's [[Royal Festival Hall]] of ''St. François'', which the composer attended,<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 371.</ref> and [[Erato Records|Erato]]'s publication of a 17-CD collection of his music, including a disc of Messiaen in conversation with [[Claude Samuel]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkivmusic.com/albumpage/128304-E1120|access-date=8 September 2013|publisher=ArkivMusic|title=Messiaen Edition|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042938/http://www.arkivmusic.com/albumpage/128304-E1120|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Although in considerable pain near the end of his life (requiring repeated surgery on his back),<ref>[[Yvonne Loriod|Loriod, Yvonne]], in Hill (1995), p. 302.</ref> he was able to fulfil a commission from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, ''[[Éclairs sur l'au-delà...]]'', which premièred six months after his death. He died in the [[Beaujon Hospital]] in [[Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine|Clichy]] on 27 April 1992, aged 83.<ref>Gillock (2009), p. 383.</ref>

On going through his papers, Loriod discovered that, in the last months of his life, he had been composing a [[Concert à quatre|concerto]] for four musicians he felt particularly grateful to: herself, the cellist [[Mstislav Rostropovich]], the [[Oboe|oboist]] [[Heinz Holliger]] and the flautist Catherine Cantin<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://musicalworld.com/artists/catherine-cantin/|title=Catherine Cantin, Flutist - MusicalWorld.com|website=musicalworld.com|access-date=26 June 2018|archive-date=4 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604173136/http://musicalworld.com/artists/catherine-cantin/|url-status=dead}}</ref> (hence the title ''Concert à quatre''). Four of the five intended movements were substantially complete; Loriod undertook the orchestration of the second half of the first movement and of the whole of the fourth with advice from George Benjamin. It was premiered by the dedicatees in September 1994.<ref>Dingle (2013), pp. 293–310.</ref>

==Music==
{{See also|List of compositions by Olivier Messiaen}}
[[File:Messiaen Oiseaux exotiques excerpt.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=A page from a printed musical score. The tempo marking is "Presque vif", and the orchestration is for wind, strings and percussion instruments.|''Example 1''. A page from ''[[Oiseaux exotiques]]''. It illustrates Messiaen's use of ancient and exotic rhythms (in the percussion near the bottom of the score "[[Asclepiad (poetry)|Asclepiad]]" and "[[Sapphic stanza|Sapphic]]" are ancient Greek rhythms, and Nibçankalîla is a decî-tâla from Śārṅgadeva). It also illustrates Messiaen's precision in notating birdsong: the birds identified here are the [[White-crested laughingthrush|white-crested laughing thrush]] (''garralaxe à huppe blanche'') in the [[Brass instrument|brass]] and [[woodwind|wind]] instruments, and the [[orchard oriole]] (''troupiale des vergers'') played on the xylophone.]]
Messiaen's music has been described as outside the western musical tradition, although growing out of that tradition and being influenced by it.<ref>Griffiths (1985), p. 15.</ref> Much of his output denies the western conventions of forward motion, [[Musical development|development]] and [[Diatonic scale|diatonic]] harmonic resolution. This is partly due to the symmetries of his technique—for instance the modes of limited transposition do not admit the conventional [[Cadence (music)|cadences]] found in western classical music.<ref name=intro>Griffiths (1985), Introduction.</ref>

"[Messiaen's youthful] fascination with Shakespeare's depiction of human passion and with his magical world also influenced the composer's later works."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.schott-music.com/shop/persons/az/olivier-messiaen/index.html|access-date=8 September 2013|publisher=Schott Music|title=Olivier Messiaen|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130908181716/http://www.schott-music.com/shop/persons/az/olivier-messiaen/index.html|archive-date=8 September 2013}}</ref> Messiaen was not interested in depicting aspects of theology such as [[sin]];<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 213.</ref> rather he concentrated on the theology of joy, [[Agapē|divine love]] and [[Salvation|redemption]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bruhn|first1=Siglind|author1-link=Siglind Bruhn|last2=Deely|first2=John|author2-link=John Deely|title=Religious Symbolism in the Music of Olivier Messiaen|journal=[[The American Journal of Semiotics]]|date=January 1996|volume=13|issue=1|pages=277–309|doi=10.5840/ajs1996131/412}}</ref>

Messiaen continually evolved new composition techniques, always integrating them into his existing musical style; his final works still retain the use of modes of limited transposition.<ref name=intro/> For many commentators this continual development made every ''major'' work from the ''Quatuor'' onwards a conscious summation of all that Messiaen had composed up to that time. But very few of these works lack new technical ideas—simple examples being the introduction of communicable language in ''Meditations'', the invention of a new percussion instrument (the [[Geophone (percussion instrument)|geophone]]) for ''Des canyons aux etoiles...'', and the freedom from any synchronisation with the main pulse of individual parts in certain birdsong episodes of ''St. François d'Assise''.<ref>See for instance Griffiths (1985), p. 233, "[''Des canyons aux étoiles...''] is therefore not so much a synthesis, as has sometimes been suggested, but more a step into the future that also joins the circle with the composer's past."</ref>

As well as discovering new techniques, Messiaen studied and absorbed foreign music, including Ancient Greek rhythms,<ref name=sj10/> [[Hindu]] rhythms (he encountered [[Śārṅgadeva]]'s list of 120 [[Tala (music)|rhythmic units]], the deçî-tâlas),<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 77.</ref> Balinese and Javanese Gamelan, birdsong, and Japanese music (see ''Example 1'' for an instance of his use of ancient Greek and Hindu rhythms).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://americamagazine.org/issue/677/article/maestro-joy|access-date=8 September 2013|work=America: the National Catholic Review|title=Maestro of Joy|author=Coleman, John|date=24 November 2008}}</ref>

While he was instrumental in the academic exploration of his techniques (he compiled two treatises; the second, in five volumes, was substantially complete when he died and was published posthumously), and was a master of music analysis, he considered the development and study of techniques a means to intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional ends. Thus Messiaen maintained that a musical composition must be measured against three separate criteria: it must be interesting, beautiful to listen to, and touch the listener.<ref name="Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 47">Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 47.</ref>

Messiaen wrote a large body of music for the piano. Although a considerable pianist himself, he was undoubtedly assisted by Loriod's formidable technique and ability to convey complex rhythms and rhythmic combinations; in his piano writing from ''Visions de l'Amen'' onward he had her in mind. Messiaen said, "I am able to allow myself the greatest eccentricities because to her anything is possible."<ref name="Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 114">Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 114.</ref>

===Western influences===
Developments in modern French music were a major influence on Messiaen, particularly the music of Debussy and his use of the [[whole-tone scale]] (which Messiaen called ''Mode 1'' in his modes of limited transposition). Messiaen rarely used the whole-tone scale in his compositions because, he said, after Debussy and Dukas there was "nothing to add",<ref name="Technique de mon langage musical">Messiaen, ''Technique de mon langage musical''</ref> but the modes he did use are similarly symmetrical.

Messiaen had a great admiration for the music of [[Igor Stravinsky]], particularly the use of rhythm in earlier works such as ''[[The Rite of Spring]]'', and his use of orchestral colour. He was further influenced by the orchestral brilliance of [[Heitor Villa-Lobos]], who lived in Paris in the 1920s and gave acclaimed concerts there. Among composers for the keyboard, Messiaen singled out [[Jean-Philippe Rameau]], [[Domenico Scarlatti]], [[Frédéric Chopin]], Debussy, and [[Isaac Albéniz]].<ref name="Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 114"/> He loved the music of [[Modest Mussorgsky]] and incorporated varied modifications of what he called the "M-shaped" melodic motif from Mussorgsky's ''[[Boris Godunov (opera)|Boris Godunov]]'',<ref name="Technique de mon langage musical"/> although he modified the final interval from a [[perfect fourth]] to a [[tritone]] (''Example 3'').<ref>Bruhn (2008), p. 46.</ref>

Messiaen was further influenced by [[Surrealism]], as seen in the titles of some of the piano ''[[Preludes (Messiaen)|Préludes]]'' (''Un reflet dans le vent...'', "A reflection in the wind")<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), p. 26.</ref> and in some of the imagery of his poetry (he published poems as prefaces to certain works, for example ''Les offrandes oubliées'').<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), p. 76.</ref>

===Colour===
Colour lies at the heart of Messiaen's music. He believed that terms such as "[[Tonality|tonal]]", "[[Musical mode|modal]]" and "[[Serialism|serial]]" are misleading analytical conveniences.<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), pp. 49–50.</ref> For him there were no modal, tonal or serial compositions, only music with or without colour.<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 63.</ref> He said that [[Claudio Monteverdi|Monteverdi]], [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]], [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], [[Modest Mussorgsky|Mussorgsky]], and [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]] all wrote strongly coloured music.<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 62.</ref>

In some of Messiaen's scores, he notated the colours in the music (notably in ''Couleurs de la cité céleste'' and ''Des canyons aux étoiles...'')—the purpose being to aid the conductor in interpretation rather than to specify which colours the listener should experience. The importance of colour is linked to Messiaen's [[synaesthesia]], which caused him to experience colours when he heard or imagined music (his form of synaesthesia, the most common form, involved experiencing the associated colours in a non-visual form rather than perceiving them visually). In his multi-volume music theory treatise ''Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie'' ("Treatise of Rhythm, Colour and Birdsong"), Messiaen wrote descriptions of the colours of certain chords. His descriptions range from the simple ("gold and brown") to the highly detailed ("blue-violet rocks, speckled with little grey cubes, [[cobalt blue]], deep [[Prussian blue]], highlighted by a bit of violet-purple, gold, red, ruby, and stars of mauve, black and white. Blue-violet is dominant").<ref>See Messiaen, Olivier ''Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie''. See also Bernard, Jonathan W. (1986). "Messiaen's Synaesthesia: The Correspondence between Color and Sound Structure in His Music". ''[[Music Perception]]'' '''4''': 41–68.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Fink|first=Monika|title=Farb-Klänge und Klang-Farben im Werk von Olivier Messiaen|journal=Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography|volume=28|issue=1–2|year=2003|pages=163–172|issn=1522-7464}}</ref>

When asked what Messiaen's main influence had been on composers, George Benjamin said, "I think the sheer ... colour has been so influential, ... rather than being a decorative element, [Messiaen showed that colour] could be a structural, a fundamental element, ... the fundamental material of the music itself."<ref>George Benjamin, speaking in interview with Tommy Pearson, broadcast on BBC4 in the interval of [[The Proms|Prom concert]] in 2004 at which Benjamin conducted a performance of ''Des canyons aux étoiles...'' Asked what made Messiaen so influential he said, "I think the sheer—the word he loved—colour has been so influential. People, composers, have found that colour, rather than being a decorative element, could be a structural, a fundamental element. And not colour just in a surface way, not just in the way you orchestrate it—no—the fundamental material of the music itself. More than that I can't say except that for my own small world he was incredibly important, and an exceptionally special and indeed wonderful person. I met him when I was very young (I was 16) and stayed closely in touch with him until he died in 1992, and was immensely fond of him..."</ref>

===Symmetry===
Many of Messiaen's composition techniques made use of symmetries of time and [[Pitch (music)|pitch]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Benitez|first=Vincent|title=Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist|journal=Music Analysis|date=July 2009|volume=28|issue=2–3|pages=267–299|doi=10.1111/j.1468-2249.2011.00293.x}}</ref>

====Time====
[[File:Messiaen Instants défunts bar 1.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=A fragment of printed piano music in 3/4 time, the upper stave is marked "ppp" and "expressif", the lower is marked "mf".|''Example 2''. The first bar of the piano ''Prélude'', ''Instants défunts''. An early example of Messiaen's use of palindromic rhythms (which he called ''non-retrogradable rhythms'').]]
From his earliest works, Messiaen used non-retrogradable (palindromic) rhythms (''Example 2''). He sometimes combined rhythms with harmonic sequences in such a way that, if the process were repeated indefinitely, the music would eventually run through all possible permutations and return to its starting point. For Messiaen, this represented the "charm of impossibilities" of these processes. He only ever presented a portion of any such process, as if allowing the informed listener a glimpse of something eternal. In the first movement of ''Quatuor pour la fin du temps'' the piano and cello together provide an early example.<ref>For discussion, see for example Iain G. Matheson's article "The End of Time" in Hill (1995), particularly pp. 237–243.</ref>

====Pitch====
Messiaen used modes he called ''modes of limited transposition''.<ref name=intro/> They are distinguished as groups of notes that can only be [[Transposition (music)|transposed]] by a semitone a limited number of times. For example, the whole-tone scale (Messiaen's Mode 1) exists in only two transpositions: C–D–E–F{{music|sharp}}–G{{music|sharp}}–A{{music|sharp}} and D{{music|flat}}–E{{music|flat}}–F–G–A–B. Messiaen abstracted these modes from the harmony of his improvisations and early works.<ref>Hill (1995), p. 17.</ref> Music written using the modes avoids conventional diatonic harmonic progressions, since for example Messiaen's Mode 2 (identical to the ''[[octatonic scale]]'' used by other composers) permits precisely the [[Seventh chord|dominant seventh]] chords whose tonic the mode does not contain.<ref>Griffiths (1985), p. 32.</ref>

===Time and rhythm===
[[File:Messiaen Quatuor Danse de fureur excerpt.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=A fragment of printed music, with one stave and no notations.|''Example 3''. An excerpt from ''Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes'' from ''Quatuor pour la fin du temps''. It illustrates Messiaen's use of ''additive'' rhythms—in this example the addition of unpaired semiquavers ([[sixteenth note]]s) to an underlying quaver ([[eighth note]]) pulse and the lengthening of the final quaver by addition of a [[dotted note|dot]]. It illustrates the use of what Messiaen called the ''Boris'' M-shaped motif (the last five notes of the excerpt).]]
As well as making use of non-retrogradable rhythms and the Hindu decî-tâlas, Messiaen also composed with "additive" rhythms. This involves lengthening individual notes slightly or interpolating a short note into an otherwise regular rhythm (see ''Example 3''), or shortening or lengthening every note of a rhythm by the same duration (adding a semiquaver to every note in a rhythm on its repeat, for example).<ref>Bruhn (2008), pp. 37–49.</ref> This led Messiaen to use [[rhythmic cell]]s that irregularly alternate between two and three units, a process that also occurs in Stravinsky's ''The Rite of Spring'', which Messiaen admired.<ref>Dingle & Simeone (2007), p. 48.</ref>

A factor that contributes to Messiaen's suspension of the conventional perception of time in his music is the extremely slow tempos he often specifies (the fifth movement ''Louange à l'eternité de Jésus'' of ''Quatuor'' is actually given the tempo marking ''infiniment lent'').<ref>Pople (1998), p. 82.</ref> Messiaen also used the concept of "chromatic durations", for example in his ''Soixante-quatre durées'' from ''Livre d'orgue'' ({{Audio|Messiaen-livre-7-soixante.ogg|listen}}), which is built from, in Messiaen's words, "64 chromatic durations from 1 to 64 demisemiquavers [thirty-second notes]—invested in groups of 4, from the ends to the centre, forwards and backwards alternately—treated as a retrograde canon. The whole peopled with birdsong."<ref>Quoted by [[Gillian Weir]], who discusses the work in Hill (1995) pp. 364–366.</ref>

===Harmony===
[[File:Messiaen Song of the Golden Oriole.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=A fragment of printed piano music, labelled with the French word ''Loriot''. The music is marked ''Bien modéré'' with a tempo of 100 quaver (quarter-note) beats per minute, "san sourd" on the upper stave and "coulé, doré" on the lower.|''Example 4''. The song of the [[golden oriole]] from ''Le loriot'', part of ''[[Catalogue d'oiseaux]]''. The birdsong played by the pianist's left hand (notated on the lower staff) provides the fundamental notes, and the quieter harmonies played by the right hand alter their timbre.]]
In addition to making harmonic use of the modes of limited transposition, Messiaen cited the [[Harmonic series (music)|harmonic series]] as a physical phenomenon that gives chords a context he felt was missing in purely serial music.<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), pp. 241–242.</ref> An example of Messiaen's use of this phenomenon, which he called "resonance", is the last two bars of his first piano ''Prélude'', ''La colombe'' ("The dove"): the chord is built from harmonics of the fundamental note E.<ref>Griffiths (1985) p. 34.</ref>

Messiaen also composed music in which the lowest, or fundamental, note is combined with higher notes or chords played much more quietly. These higher notes, far from being perceived as conventional harmony, function as harmonics that alter the timbre of the fundamental note like [[Mixture (music)|mixture stops]] on a [[pipe organ]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Benitez|first=Vincent|title=Aspects of Harmony in Messiaen's Later Music: An Examination of the Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass Note|journal=Journal of Musicological Research|date=April 2004|volume=23|issue=2|pages=187–226|doi=10.1080/01411890490449781|s2cid=191492252}}</ref> An example is the song of the golden oriole in ''Le loriot'' of the ''[[Catalogue d'oiseaux]]'' for solo piano (''Example 4'').

In his use of conventional diatonic chords, Messiaen often transcended their historical connotations (for example, with his frequent use of the [[Added tone chord|added sixth chord]] as a [[Resolution (music)|resolution]]).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bruhn|first=Siglind|author-link=Siglind Bruhn|title=Traces of a Thomistic De musica in the Compositions of Olivier Messiaen|journal=[[Logos (journal)|Logos]]|year=2008|volume=11|issue=4|pages=16–56|doi=10.1353/log.0.0015|s2cid=51268362}}</ref>

===Birdsong===
[[File:Sylvia borin.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A small bird sitting on a tree branch with a few leaves. The underneath of the bird is light coloured, the back and wings dark brown. The beak is dark brown.|The [[garden warbler]] provided the title and much of the material for Messiaen's ''[[La fauvette des jardins]]''.]]
Birdsong fascinated Messiaen from an early age, and in this he found encouragement from Dukas, who reportedly urged his pupils to "listen to the birds". Messiaen included stylised birdsong in some of his early compositions (including ''L'abîme d'oiseaux'' from the ''Quatuor pour la fin du temps''), integrating it into his sound-world by techniques like the modes of limited transposition and chord colouration. His evocations of birdsong became increasingly sophisticated, and with ''Le réveil des oiseaux'' this process reached maturity, the whole piece being built from birdsong: in effect it is a [[Dawn chorus (birds)|dawn chorus]] for orchestra. The same can be said for "Epode", the five-minute sixth movement of ''Chronochromie'', which is scored for 18 violins, each playing a different birdsong. Messiaen notated the bird species with the music in the score (examples 1 and 4). The pieces are not simple transcriptions; even the works with purely bird-inspired titles, such as ''[[Catalogue d'oiseaux]]'' and ''Fauvette des jardins'', are tone poems evoking the landscape, its colours and atmosphere.<ref>For extensive discussion of the use of birdsong in Messiaen's work, see Kraft (2013).</ref>

===Serialism===
For a few compositions, Messiaen created scales for duration, attack and timbre analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. He expressed annoyance at the historical importance given to one of these works, ''Mode de valeurs et d'intensités'', by musicologists intent on crediting him with the invention of "total serialism".<ref name="Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 47"/>

Messiaen later introduced what he called a "communicable language", a "musical alphabet" to encode sentences. He first used this technique in his ''[[Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité]]'' for organ; where the "alphabet" includes motifs for the concepts ''to have'', ''to be'' and ''God'', while the sentences encoded feature sections from the writings of [[Thomas Aquinas|St. Thomas Aquinas]].<ref>See, for example, Richard Steinitz in Hill (1995), pp. 466–469.</ref>

==Writings==
{{div col|colwidth=40em}}
* {{cite book |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |year=1933 |title=Vingt leçons de solfège modernes |publisher=Editions H. Lemoine |location=Paris |oclc=1080796385|ref=none}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |date=1936 |title=Ariane et Barbe-Bleue de Paul Dukas |magazine=[[La Revue musicale]] |issue=116 |pages=79–86 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |date=31 March 1938 |title=Les sept chorals-poèmes pour les sept paroles du Christ en croix |magazine={{ill|Le monde musical|es||fr}} |issue=3 |page=34 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |date=May 1938 |title=L'orgue mystique de Tournemire |magazine=Syrinx |issue= |pages=26–27 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |date=1939 |title=Le rythme chez Igor Strawinsky |magazine=[[La Revue musicale]] |issue=191 |pages=91–92 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |year=1939 |title=Vingt leçons d'harmonie |publisher=[[Éditions Alphonse Leduc|Alphonse Leduc]] |location=Paris |oclc=843636910 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |year=1944 |title=Technique de mon langage musical |publisher=[[Éditions Alphonse Leduc|Alphonse Leduc]] |location=Paris |oclc=690654311 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Broad|first=Stephen|chapter=Technique de mon langage musical|title=[[Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism]]|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2016|access-date=1 December 2021|chapter-url=https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/technique-de-mon-langage-musical|doi=10.4324/9781135000356-REM601-1|isbn=978-1-135-00035-6 }}</ref>
* {{cite book |contributor-last=Messiaen |contributor-first=Olivier |contribution=Preface |contributor-mask=2 |last=Jolivet |first=André |author-link=André Jolivet |year=1946 |title=Mana: Six pièces pour piano |publisher=Costallat |location=Paris |oclc=884442941|ref=none}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |date=1947 |title=Maurice Emmanuel: ses "Trente chansons bourguignonnes" |magazine=[[La Revue musicale]] |issue=206 |pages=107–108 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |date=1958 |title=Musikalisches Glaubens-bekenntnis|language=de|magazine={{ill|Melos (magzine)|de|Melos (Zeitschrift)|lt=Melos}}|issue=25/12 |pages=381–385 |author-mask=2}}
* {{cite book |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |year=1960 |title=Conférence de Bruxelles |publisher=[[Éditions Alphonse Leduc|Alphonse Leduc]] |location=Paris |oclc=855187 |author-mask=2|ref=none}} Essentially a republishing of {{harvnb|Messiaen|1958}}.
* {{cite book |contributor-last=Messiaen |contributor-first=Olivier |contribution=Preface |contributor-mask=2 |last=Roustit |first=Albert |year=1970 |title=La prophétie musicale dans l'histoire de l'humanité précédée d'une étude sur les nombres et les planètes dans leur rapports avec la musique |publisher=Horvath |location=Roanne |url=https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb353956051.public#:~:text=42%2DRoanne%20%3A-,Horvath,-%2C%201970|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |year=1978 |title=Conférence de Notre Dame |publisher=[[Éditions Alphonse Leduc|Alphonse Leduc]] |location=Paris |oclc=4354577 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |year=1986 |title=Messiaen on Messiaen: The Composer Writes about His Works |publisher=Frangipani Press |location=Bloomington |oclc=911921727 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |year=1987 |title=Les 22 concertos pour piano de Mozart |publisher=Librairie Séguier |location=Paris |oclc=928373831 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |year=1988 |title=Conférence de Kyoto |others=Introduction and Japanese translation by Naoko Tamamura |publisher=[[Éditions Alphonse Leduc|Alphonse Leduc]] |location=Paris |oclc=22921969 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |contributor-last=Messiaen |contributor-first=Olivier |contribution=Preface |contributor-mask=2 |last=Sauvage |first=Cécile |author-link=Cécile Sauvage |year=1991 |title=Tandis que la terre tourne |publisher=Librairie Séguier |location=Paris |oclc=463610307 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Messiaen |first=Olivier |year=1994–2002 |title=Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie |publisher=[[Éditions Alphonse Leduc|Alphonse Leduc]] |location=Paris |oclc=931220676 |type=7 volumes |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Messiaen |first1=Olivier |last2=Loriod |first2=Yvonne |author-link2=Yvonne Loriod |year= |title=Analyses des oeuvres pour piano de Maurice Ravel |publisher=[[Éditions Durand]] |location=Paris |oclc=995326437 |author-mask=2|ref=none}}
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
* [[Olivier Messiaen Competition]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
*{{cite book |editor=Anderson, Christopher S.|title=Twentieth-century Organ Music |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-136-49790-2 |year=2013 |last=Bannister|first=Peter|chapter=Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)}}
*{{Cite book |title=Olivier Messiaen: A Research and Information Guide |author=Benitez, Vincent P. |publisher=Routledge |place=New York and London |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-415-97372-4}}
*{{Cite book |title=Olivier Messiaen: A Research and Information Guide, 2nd ed. |author=Benitez, Vincent P. |publisher=Routledge |place=New York and London |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-367-87354-7}}
*{{Cite book |title=The Life of Messiaen|author=Dingle, Christopher |publisher=Cambridge University Press |place=Cambridge & New York |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-63547-9}}
*{{cite book |last=Dingle |first=Christopher |title=Messiaen's final works |year=2013 |publisher=Ashgate |location=Burlington, VT |isbn=978-0-7546-0633-8}}
*{{Cite book |title=Olivier Messiaen: Music, Art and Literature |editor-last1=Dingle |editor-first1=Christopher |editor-last2=Simeone |editor-first2=Nigel |publisher=Ashgate |place=Aldershot |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7546-5297-7}}
*{{cite book |author=Gillock, Jon |year=2009 |title=Performing Messiaen's Organ Music: 66 Masterclasses |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana|isbn=978-0-253-35373-3}}
*{{Cite book |title=Olivier Messiaen and the Music of Time |author=Griffiths, Paul |author-link=Paul Griffiths (writer) |publisher=Cornell University Press |place=Ithaca, New York |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-8014-1813-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/oliviermessiaen00grif}}
*{{cite book |editor=Shenton, Andrew |title=Messiaen the theologian |year=2010 |publisher=Ashgate |location=Farnham |isbn=978-0-7546-6640-0 |author=Heller, Karin |chapter=Olivier Messiaen and Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger}}
*{{Cite book |title=The Messiaen Companion |editor=Hill, Peter |editor-link=Peter Hill (pianist) |publisher=Faber and Faber |place=London |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-571-17033-3}}
*{{Cite book |title=Messiaen |last1=Hill |first1=Peter |last2=Simeone |first2=Nigel |publisher=Yale University Press |place=New Haven and London |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-300-10907-8}}
*{{cite book |editor-last1=Hill |editor-first1=Peter |editor-last2=Simeone |editor-first2=Nigel |title=Olivier Messiaen: Oiseaux exotiques |year=2007 |publisher=Ashgate |location=Aldershot |isbn=978-0-7546-5630-2}}
*{{cite book |last=Iddon |first=Martin |year=2013 |title=New Music at Darmstadt: Nono, Stockhausen, Cage, and Boulez |series=Music since 1900 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-03329-0}}
*{{cite book |author=Kraft, David |year=2013 |title=Birdsong in the Music of Olivier Messiaen |location=London |publisher=Arosa Press |isbn=978-1-4775-1779-6}}
*{{cite book |author=Matossian, Nouritza |author-link=Nouritza Matossian |year=1986 |title=Xenakis |location=London |publisher=Kahn and Averill |isbn=978-1-871082-17-3}}
*{{cite book |last=Pople |first=Anthony |title=Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps |year=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-58538-5}}
*{{Cite book |title=For the End of Time: The Story of the Messiaen Quartet |author=Rischin, Rebecca |place=Ithaca, N.Y. |publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-8014-4136-3}}
*{{Cite book |title=Olivier Messiaen: Music and Color: Conversations with Claude Samuel |author=Samuel, Claude (tr. E. Thomas Glasow) |publisher=Amadeus Press |place=Portland, Oregon|year=1994|isbn=978-0-931340-67-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/musiccolorconver0000mess}}
*{{Cite book |title=Olivier Messiaen's System of Signs: Notes towards Understanding his Music |author=Shenton, Andrew |publisher=Ashgate |place=Aldershot |year=2008 |isbn= 978-0-7546-6168-9}}
*{{Cite book |title=Messiaen the Theologian |author=Shenton, Andrew |publisher=Ashgate |place=Aldershot |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7546-6640-0}}
*{{Cite book |title=Messiaen |author=Sherlaw Johnson, Robert |author-link=Robert Sherlaw Johnson |publisher=University of California Press |place=Berkeley and Los Angeles|year=1975|isbn=978-0-520-02812-8}}
*{{cite book |editor=Shenton, Andrew |title=Messiaen the theologian |year=2009 |publisher=Ashgate |location=Farnham |isbn=978-0-7546-6640-0 |author=Simeone, Nigel |chapter='Un oeuvre simple, solennelle...'}}
{{div col end}}

==Further reading==
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* Baggech, Melody Ann (1998). An English translation of Olivier Messiaen's "Traite de Rythme, de Couleur, et d'Ornithologie". Norman: The University of Oklahoma.
* Bauer, Dorothee (2023). Olivier Messiaen's ''Livre du Saint Sacrement'' Mystery of the Eucharistic Presence. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh, edited and translated by David Vogels
* Barker, Thomas (2012). [https://www.academia.edu/2913752/The_Social_and_Aesthetic_Situation_of_Olivier_Messiaens_Religious_Music_Turangal%C3%AEla_Symphonie "The Social and Aesthetic Situation of Olivier Messiaen's Religious Music: Turangalîla Symphonie"]. ''International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music'' 43/1:53–70.
* Benitez, Vincent P. (2000). "A Creative Legacy: Messiaen as Teacher of Analysis". ''College Music Symposium'' 40: 117–139.
* Benitez, Vincent P. (2001). ''Pitch Organization and Dramatic Design in ''Saint François d'Assise'' of Olivier Messiaen''. PhD diss., Bloomington: Indiana University.
* Benitez, Vincent P. (2002). "Simultaneous Contrast and Additive Designs in Olivier Messiaen's Opera ''Saint François d'Assise''" ''[[Music Theory Online]]'' 8.2 (August 2002).
* Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Aspects of Harmony in Messiaen's Later Music: An Examination of the Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass Note". ''Journal of Musicological Research'' 23, no. 2: 187–226.
* Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Narrating Saint Francis's Spiritual Journey: Referential Pitch Structures and Symbolic Images in Olivier Messiaen's ''Saint François d'Assise''". In ''Poznan Studies on Opera'', edited by Maciej Jablonski, 363–411.
* Benitez, Vincent P. (2008). "Messiaen as Improviser". ''[[Dutch Journal of Music Theory]]'' 13, no. 2 (May 2008): 129–144.
* Benitez, Vincent P. (2009). "Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist". ''[[Music Analysis (journal)|Music Analysis]]'' 28, nos. 2–3 (2009): 267–299 (published 21 April 2011).
* Benitez, Vincent P. (2010). "Messiaen and Aquinas". In ''Messiaen the Theologian'', edited by Andrew Shenton, 101–126. Aldershot: Ashgate.
* Benítez, Vincent Pérez (2019). ''Olivier Messiaen's Opera, Saint François d'Assise''. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-253-04287-3}}.
* Boivin, Jean (1993). ''La Classe de Messiaen: Historique, reconstitution, impact''. Ph.D. diss. Montreal: Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal.
* Boswell-Kurc, Lilise (2001). ''Olivier Messiaen's Religious War-Time Works and Their Controversial Reception in France (1941–1946)''. Ph.D. diss. New York: New York University.
*{{cite book|author=Bruhn, Siglind|author-link=Siglind Bruhn|year=2007|title=Messiaen's Contemplations of Covenant and Incarnation: Musical Symbols of Faith in the Two Great Piano Cycles of the 1940s|location=Hillsdale, New York|publisher=Pendragon Press|isbn=978-1-57647-129-6|ref=none}}
* Burns, Jeffrey Phillips (1995). ''Messiaen's Modes of Limited Transposition Reconsidered''. M.M. thesis, Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
* Cheong Wai-Ling (2003). "Messiaen's Chord Tables: Ordering the Disordered". ''[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]'' 57, no. 226 (October): 2–10.
* Cheong Wai-Ling (2008). "Neumes and Greek Rhythms: The Breakthrough in Messiaen's Birdsong". ''[[Acta Musicologica]]'' 80, no. 1:1–32.
* Dingle, Christopher (2013). ''Messiaen's Final Works''. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. {{ISBN|978-0-7546-0633-8}}.
* Fallon, Robert Joseph (2005). ''Messiaen's Mimesis: The Language and Culture of the Bird Styles''. Ph.D. diss. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley.
* Fallon, Robert (2008). "Birds, Beasts, and Bombs in Messiaen's Cold War Mass". ''[[The Journal of Musicology]]'' 26, no. 2 (Spring): 175–204.
* {{Cite book|title=Oh My God: Messiaen in the Ear of the Unbeliever|last=Festa|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Festa|place=San Francisco|publisher=Bar Nothing Books|year=2008|ref=none}}
* {{Cite book|title=Rencontres avec Olivier Messiaen|last=Goléa|first=Antoine|author-link=Antoine Goléa|publisher=Julliard |place=Paris|year=1960|ref=none}}
* {{cite Grove|last=Griffiths|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Griffiths (writer)|year=2001|title=Messiaen, Olivier (Eugène Prosper Charles)|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.18497|ref=none}}
*{{cite book |last1=Griffiths |first1=Paul |last2=Nichols |first2=Roger |author-link2=Roger Nichols (musical scholar) |year=2002 |chapter=Messiaen, Olivier (Eugène Prosper Charles) |editor-last=Latham|editor-first=Alison|title=The Oxford Companion to Music |edition=new |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-866212-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198662129|url-access=registration|via=[[Internet Archive]]|ref=none}}
* Hardink, Jason M. (2007). ''Messiaen and Plainchant''. D.M.A. diss. Houston: Rice University.
* Harris, Joseph Edward (2004). ''Musique colorée: Synesthetic Correspondence in the Works of Olivier Messiaen''. Ph.D. diss. Ames: The University of Iowa.
* Hill, Matthew Richard (1995). ''Messiaen's ''Regard du silence'' as an Expression of Catholic Faith''. D.M.A. diss. Madison: University of Wisconsin–Madison.
* Laycock, Gary Eng Yeow (2010). ''Re-evaluating Olivier Messiaen's Musical Language from 1917 to 1935''. Ph.D. diss. Bloomington: Indiana University, 2010.
* Luchese, Diane (1998). ''Olivier Messiaen's Slow Music: Glimpses of Eternity in Time''. Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
* McGinnis, Margaret Elizabeth (2003). ''Playing the Fields: Messiaen, Music, and the Extramusical''. Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
* Nelson, David Lowell (1992). ''An Analysis of Olivier Messiaen's Chant Paraphrases''. 2 vols. Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
* Ngim, Alan Gerald (1997). ''Olivier Messiaen as a Pianist: A Study of Tempo and Rhythm Based on His Recordings of ''Visions de l'amen. D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami.
* Peterson, Larry Wayne (1973). ''Messiaen and Rhythm: Theory and Practice''. Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
* Puspita, Amelia (2008). ''The Influence of Balinese Gamelan on the Music of Olivier Messiaen''. D.M.A. diss. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati
* {{Cite book|title=L'Œuvre pour orchestre d'Olivier Messiaen|last=Reverdy|first=Michèle|author-link=Michèle Reverdy|place=Paris |publisher=Alphonse Leduc|year=1988|isbn=978-2-85689-038-7|ref=none}}
*{{cite book | last=Rischin | first=Rebecca | title=For the End of Time: The Story of the Messiaen Quartet | publisher=Cornell University Press | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-8014-7297-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5zBeGrMJJf4C|edition=new|ref=none}}
*Schultz, Rob (2008). "Melodic Contour and Nonretrogradable Structure in the Birdsong of Olivier Messiaen". ''[[Music Theory Spectrum]]'' 30, no. 1 (Spring): 89–137.
*{{Cite book|title=Visions of Amen: The Early Life and Music of Olivier Messiaen|last=Schloesser|first=Stephen |publisher=Eerdmans |place=Grand Rapids|year=2014|isbn=9780802807625|ref=none}}
* Shenton, Andrew (1998). ''The Unspoken Word: Olivier Messiaen's 'langage communicable{{'}}''. Ph.D. diss. Cambridge: Harvard University.
*{{Cite book|title=Olivier Messiaen's System of Signs|last=Shenton|first=Andrew|publisher=Routledge |place=Abingdon, Oxon & New York|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7546-6168-9|ref=none}}
*{{Cite book|title=Messiaen the Theologian|editor-last=Shenton |editor-first=Andrew |publisher=Routledge |place=Abingdon, Oxon & New York|year=2010|isbn=978-0-7546-6640-0|ref=none}}
*{{Cite book|title=Messiaen Studies|last=Sholl|first=Robert|publisher=Cambridge University Press |place=Cambridge & New York|year=2008|isbn=978-0-521-83981-5|ref=none}}
*{{cite book|last=Sholl|first=Robert|title=Olivier Messiaen: A Critical Biography|publisher=[[Reaktion Books]]|year=2024|isbn=978-1789148657|ref=none}}
* Simeone, Nigel (2004). "'Chez Messiaen, tout est priére': Messiaen's Appointment at the Trinité". ''[[The Musical Times]]'' 145, no. 1889 (Winter): 36–53.
* Simeone, Nigel (2008). "Messiaen, Koussevitzky and the USA". ''[[The Musical Times]]'' 149, no. 1905 (Winter): 25–44.
*{{Cite book|title=The Organ Music of Olivier Messiaen|last=Waumsley|first=Stuart|edition=new|place=Paris |publisher=Alphonse Leduc|year=1975|oclc=2911308|lccn=77-457244|ref=none}}
* Welsh Ibanez, Deborah (2005). ''Color, Timbre, and Resonance: Developments in Olivier Messiaen's Use of Percussion Between 1956–1965''. D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami
* Zheng, Zhong (2004). ''A Study of Messiaen's Solo Piano Works''. Ph.D. diss. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
{{div col end}}

===Films===
*''Apparition of the Eternal Church'' – Paul Festa's 2006 film about responses of 31 artists to Messiaen's music.
*''Messiaen at 80'' (1988). Directed by Sue Knussen. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121010211839/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/425502 BFI database entry]
*''Olivier Messiaen et les oiseaux'' (1973). Directed by Michel Fano and Denise Tual.
*''Olivier Messiaen – The Crystal Liturgy'' (2007 [DVD release date]). Directed by Olivier Mille.
*''Olivier Messiaen: Works'' (1991). DVD on which Messiaen performs "Improvisations" on the organ at the Paris Trinity Church.
*''The South Bank Show: Olivier Messiaen: The Music of Faith'' (1985). Directed by Alan Benson. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131101065547/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/354541 BFI database entry].
*''Quartet for the End of Time'', with the President's Own Marine Band Ensemble, A Film by H. Paul Moon

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000018497?rskey=AD8pWW&result=1. "Messiaen, Olivier" in ''Oxford Music Online'' (by subscription)]
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/c6e5c5f4-984e-432a-87b8-b6afa288bca1/ BBC Messiaen Profile]
*[https://www.oliviermessiaen.org/ oliviermessiaen.org] Up to date website by Malcolm Ball, includes the latest recordings and concerts, a comprehensive bibliography, photos, analyses and reviews, a very extensive bio of Yvonne Loriod with discography, and more.
*[http://www.infography.com/content/793388452750.html Infography about Olivier Messiaen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201001/http://www.infography.com/content/793388452750.html |date=30 September 2007 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070220062516/http://www.oliviermessiaen.net/ oliviermessiaen.net], hosted by the Boston University Messiaen Project [BUMP]. Includes detailed information on the composer's life and works, events, and links to other Messiaen websites.
*[http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/messiaen/ www.philharmonia.co.uk/messiaen], the Philharmonia Orchestra's Messiaen website. The site contains articles, unseen images, programme notes and films to go alongside the orchestra's series of concerts celebrating the Centenary of Olivier Messiaen's birth.
*[https://www.thenation.com/article/music-end-time/ Music for the End of Time] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203033416/https://www.thenation.com/article/music-end-time/ |date=3 December 2019 }}, David Schiff article in ''[[The Nation]]'', posted 25 January 2006 (13 February 2006 issue). Formally a review of ''Messiaen'' by Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone, but provides an overview of Messiaen's life and works.
*[http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/western-europe/messiaenolivier/ Music and the Holocaust – Olivier Messiaen]
*{{BrahmsOnline|2276}}
*[http://messiaen.jacksonhardaker.com/ My Messiaen Modes] A visual representation of Messiaen's modes of limited transposition.

===Listening===
*{{YouTube|zUJzRpR9SE4|Louange à l'immortalité de Jésus}} played by [http://www.martinatrumpp.com Martina Trumpp], violin and [http://www.bohumirstehlik.com Bohumir Stehlik], piano
*[http://www.lunanova.org/podcasts/MessiaenVar.mp3 Thème et variations] – Helen Kim, violin; Adam Bowles, piano [http://www.lunanova.org/ Luna Nova New Music Ensemble]
*[http://www.lunanova.org/podcasts/MerleNoir.mp3 Le merle noir] – John McMurtery, flute; Adam Bowles, piano [http://www.lunanova.org/ Luna Nova New Music Ensemble]
*[http://www.lunanova.org/podcasts/quatuor.mp3 Quatuor pour la fin du temps] – [http://www.lunanova.org/ Luna Nova New Music Ensemble]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090318153312/http://www.tomposter.co.uk/audio/ ''Regard de l'esprit de joie'' from ''Vingt regards...''], Tom Poster, pianist
*{{YouTube|khcBhe-TOc0|Example of Birdsong in Messiaen}} played on a Mühleisen pipe organ
*[http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/108/article_2484.asp In-depth feature on Olivier Messiaen by Radio France International's English service]
*{{YouTube|s7Ub_krJTJg|Oiseaux exotiques}} by [https://web.archive.org/web/20190409152008/http://ukhoensemble.com/ Ukho Ensemble Kyiv]
* Olivier Messiaen. [https://andrewpink.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/messiaen-banquet.mp3 ''Le Banquet Céleste''] (1928). Andrew Pink (2021) [https://andrewpink.org/exordia/ ''Exordia ad missam''].

{{Olivier Messiaen}}
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