THE COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUE OF THE PROMINENT TWENTIETH-CENTURY FRENCH COMPOSER OLIVIER MESSIAEN

Çağdaş SOYLAR Pianist/Author, DMA

Abstract: At the beginning of the twentieth-century, social, political, and economic changes had a huge impact on music. Technology also played an important role in music development. Composers started using an incre-asingly dissonant pitch language in their compositons. Melody, in a tradiaitonal way, became unrecognizable.

Olivier Messiaen, a French composer and organist, was one of the leading composers of the twentieth-century.

He derived his compositional technique from variety of sources, including Greek rhythms, Hindu rhythms, and bird calls. He made his music rhythmically intriguing by frequently using rhythms of added values, augmented and diminished rhythms, non-retrogradable rhythms, and polyrhythms in his compositions. He was also an ornithologist spending a lot of time transcribing bird calls. Learning about his compositional technique is of tremendous help in understanding his musical language and the performance of his music.⁹

Keywords: Dissonant, Non-Retrogradable Rhythms, Polyrhythms, Augmented Rhythms

INTRODUCTION and CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Olivier Messiaen, French composer, organist, ornithologist and teacher, was born in 1908 and died in 1992.

He started composing at the age of eight and studied the organ at the Paris Conservatory with Marcel Dupré, one of the most remarkable organists of all time. In 1931, he began working as an organist at the church of Sainte-Trinité in Paris and then became professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory in 1966. He retained this position until his retirement in 1978. He achieved highly personal and complicated compositional techni-que and provided many materials such as books, interviews, and programme notes to help future generations understand his musical language (Soylar, 2018: ix).

THE PURPOSE of the RESEARCH

The purpose of this research is to introduce Olivier Messiaen’s compositional technique as well as to gain an in-depth knowledge of his musical language.

CONTENT

This research consists of Messiaen’s source of materials such as modes of limited transposition, rhythms with added values, augmented and diminished rhythms, non-retrogradable rhytms, rhythmic pedals, the chord in fourths, the chord on the dominant, and the chord of resonance. All the materials are presented with examples.

9 This article is prepared from the doctoral dissertation, The Musical Language of Messiaen’s Vingt Regards Sur l’Enfant- Jésus, No:

XIX: Je dors, mais mon cœur veille, No: XIV Regard Des Anges, by Cagdas Soylar at Yaşar University, Music Department in Izmir, Turkey. The dissertation got also published into book under the title of Messiaen’s Musical Language on the Holy Child by Wipf and Stock Publishers in the United States in 2018.

THE METHOD of the RESEARCH

The research materials has been gathered from published secondary resources and from direct performance of his music. The Technique of My Musical Language, the book written by the composer himself, has been the main source of this research as he introduces his unique compositional technique with musical examples.

FINDINGS

Messiaen’s Compositional Technique

Modes of Limited Transposition: The most important feature of Messiaen’s compositional technique is a group of modes known as the modes of limited transposition. These constitute a system of seven symmetrical modes having limited number of transpositions before they replicate themselves. In other words, a mode can only be transposed a limited number of times before replicating itself in its original state (Messiaen & Satter-field, 2007: 58).

The first mode is the Whole Tone scale that consists exclusively of whole-tones. This mode has two possible transpositions.¹⁰ The second mode is the Octatonic scale. This scale

is an eight-note scale arranged in alternating tone and semitones.¹¹ It has only three possible transpositions.

The third mode is structured according to a T-ST- ST sequence and has four possible transpositions. The fo-urth mode interval sequence is ST-ST-m3-ST and has six possible transpositions. The fifth mode is structured according to the ST-M3-ST interval pattern and has six possible transpositions. Mode six consists of two overlapping pentachords that each consists of two consecutive whole-tones followed by two consecutive se-mitones. Mode seven is generated by a ST-ST-ST-T-ST-ST-ST-ST-T-ST interval pattern and has six possible transpositions (Soylar, 2018: 17).

Rhythms with Added Values: Rhythm is arguably the most difficult feature of Messiaen’s music to unders-tand. His interest in a wide array of asymmetrical rhythms is a fundamental part of his music. Most often, highly complex and varying rhythms have no time signatures. Although the rhythms are associated with regu-lar meters, they have irreguregu-larly added and deleted values. An added value is a short value that can be added to any rhythm in the form of either notes, rests or dots (Messiaen & Satterfield, 2007: 16). This kind of addition to a rhythm makes the rhythm’s value irregular and flexible.

10 There are only two whole-tone scales; the WT 0 (C-D-E-F♯-G♯-A♯-C), and the WT 1 (C♯-D♯-F-G-A-B-C♯).

11 The three standard models of the octatonic scale are based on the tone-semitone pattern and are therefore the following: Octatonic-O (C-D-E♭-F-F♯-G♯-A-B-C), Octatonic-1 (C♯-D♯-E-F♯-G-A-B♭-C-C♯), and Octatonic-2 (D-E-F-G-A♭-B♭-B-C♯-D).

Figure 16. Added value

Augmented and Diminished Rhythms: One of the fundamental aspects of Messiaen’s music is the technique of augmentation and diminution of a given rhythm. He frequently uses a rhythm followed by its instant aug-mentation or diminution.

Figure 17. Technique of My Musical Language, vol. 2, ex. #20.

He applies this technique in one of two ways: exactly (in a systematic manner) or inexactly (in an irregular manner).

Example of an inexact augmentation:

Figure 18. Technique of My Musical Language, vol. 2, ex. #25.

Non-Retrogradable Rhythms: Olivier Messiaen gives a clear explanation of what

non-retrogradable rhythms are: “ Whether one reads them from right to left or from left to right, the order of their values remains the same” (Messiaen & Satterfield, 2007: 20). This symmetrical system of rhythmic structu-ring is one the fundamental features of his compositions. He derived this structure from Hindu rhythms called

‘deçî-tâlas’ and used it frequently (Soylar, 2018: 19).

Figure 21. Technique of My Musical Language, vol. 2, ex. #31.

Rhythmic Pedals: The simplest explanation of rhythmic pedal is that rhythm which repeats itself, in ostinato.

Messiaen describes it as “rhythm which repeats itself indefatigably, in ostinato…without busying itself about the rhythms which surround it” (Messiaen & Satterfield, 2007: 26).

The Chord in Fourths: There are six-note chords that consist of alternating augmented and perfect fourths.

The six-note, or complete version of the chord is often subdivided into smaller three-note partitions.

Figure 23. Technique of My Musical Language, vol. 2, ex. #213.

The Chord on the Dominant: Chord on the dominant includes all the notes of the major scale (Messiaen & Satterfield, 2007: 50).

Figure 24. Technique of My Musical Language, vol. 2, ex. #201.

Below is the primary resolution of the chord on the dominant

Figure 25. Technique of My Musical Language, vol. 2, ex. #202.

Generally, two-note appoggiaturas follow this seven-note structure.

Figure 26. Technique of My Musical Language, vol. 2, ex. #203.

The Chord of Resonance: “ Nearly all the notes perceptible, to an extremely fine ear, in the resonance of a low C, figured, tempered, in this chord” (Messiaen & Satterfield, 2007: 50). They are frequently voiced as a dominant-seventh chord in the left hand and a half-diminished seventh chord in the right hand. They are often presented in their different inversions.

Figure 27. Technique of My Musical Language, vol. 2, ex. #208.

Example of the inversions on a common bass note (C-sharp or D- flat)

Figure 28. Technique of My Musical Language, vol. 2, ex. #209.

All the notes of the third mode of limited transpositions are presented by the chord of resonance (Soylar, 2018:

22).

Figure 29. Technique of My Musical Language, vol. 2, ex. #211.

CONCLUSION

Olivier Messiaen developed a highly personal compositional technique that has deeply influenced many com-posers. He uses different modes, pitch collections, and special rhythms to represent unique concepts in his compositions. Those materials not only reflect the literal meaning of the titles of his works, but articulate a progression and amalgamation of literal and abstract concepts that follow one another in simultaneously gene-rating both a literal history and the musical progression and the formal structure of his compositions (Soylar, 2018: 44). As a pianist, understanding his compositional technique and musical language helps tremendously while performing his piano music.

REFERENCES

Messiaen, O., & Satterfield, J. (2007). The Technique of My Musical Language: Text with Musical Examp-les. Paris: Alphonse Leduc.

Soylar, C. (2018). Messiaen’s Musical Language on the Holy Child. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Pub-lishers.