Listening to Messiaen’s colourful hands

Arjen Berends

Name: Arjen Berends Main subject: Master Theory of Music Supervisor: Dr. Bert Mooiman Title of Research: Listening to Messiaen's colourful hands Subtitle: Analysing harmony and voice leading in the two homorhythmic chorales from Messiaen’s La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Research question: How to analyse harmony and voice leading in the two homorhythmic chorales from Messiaen’s La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ? Abstract Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), one of the most famous French composers of the 20th century, was also known to be a great organist and improviser, as organist of Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris for over 60 years. His huge oratorio La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ, composed 1965-1969, includes two entirely homorhythmic movements entitled ‘Choral’. As a listener, I am fascinated by Messiaen's extraordinary approach to harmony. The aim of this research is, therefore, to attempt to understand how best to analyse Messiaen's unique harmonic language. Many approaches to analysing Messiaen’s music are vertically orientated, including his own way of describing his use of harmony. He himself never discussed the horizontal aspects of his music. Because of his coloured hearing synaesthesia (son-couleur), Messiaen's analyses are particularly special in their manner of addressing the colours of certain chords. A colour analysis by Messiaen therefore may give the listener some insight in the way Messiaen might have perceived his music. This research includes videos with the music and paintings of the colour analyses by Messiaen and two other musicians with synaesthesia of one of the chorales, specially made for this research. Considering Messiaen’s own lack of emphasis on horizontal aspects of his music, is it possible to understand Messiaen’s music from a horizontal perspective as well? Since the two chorales are homophonic and homorhythmic, the bass and soprano are the most important voices. These parts can be perceived clearly, but the attention of the listener is also caught by other aspects such as the complexity of the chords. It is difficult to determine the precise voice leading of the inner parts because it is ‘blurred’ by the varied orchestration, but by way of harmonic reductions of the chorales, Messiaen’s horizontal compositional techniques can be clarified. This research includes a harmonisation of a melody by Messiaen in the style of the chorales in La Transfiguration. Biography Arjen Berends teaches music theory and arranging at the conservatories of The Hague and Utrecht. He graduated in music education at the Utrecht Conservatory, where he also studied classical piano with Henk Ekkel and Martyn van den Hoek. At the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague he completed his studies in music theory with Paul Scheepers, Arie Boers, Diderik Wagenaar, and Ineke Kien. He is répétiteur of Toonkunstkoor Amsterdam conducted by Boudewijn Jansen; he has previously worked with choral conductors such as Louis Buskens, Iassen Raykov and Béni Csillag.

Some years ago, while discussing the music of Olivier Messiaen with my students, the immense oratorio La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ^¹ (1965-1969) caught my attention. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation commissioned Messiaen in 1965 to compose a new work. This work was performed in 1969 at the 13th Gulbenkian Music Festival and was entitled La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. La Transfiguration is Messiaen's single oratorio, scored for instrumental soloists and a huge orchestra and chorus. Only his opera Saint Françoise d'Assise (composed 1975-1979, orchestrated 1979-1983) is more extensive.

In La Transfiguration Messiaen uses all the different composition techniques typical of his work until the late 1960s. In a way, this piece gives perfect access to Messiaen’s universe. After listening to a recording and playing the score of Choral de la Sainte Montagne, the 7^th movement of La Transfiguration, I was moved by the extraordinary harmonies of this chorale. The 14^th movement of La Transfiguration is also a chorale. Since both chorales are completely homorhythmic, my experience as a listener is strongly oriented towards the harmonic language. In Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie,^² Tome VII, Messiaen explains the colours he associates with each chord of Choral de la Sainte Montagne. Messiaen has a very strong sound-colour experience according to his well-documented synaesthesia. After reading this colour-based analysis, I became curious about other approaches of analysing the harmonies and voice leading in those two chorales.

The goal of this research is to develop my own approach to the analysis of the harmony and voice leading in the two homorhythmic chorales of La Transfiguration, in relation to existing approaches, from the perspective of a theorist and performer.

Research Question

Preface

Main question: How to analyse harmony and voice leading in the two homorhythmic chorales from Messiaen’s La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ?

Sub question 1: What role does the chorale play in Messiaen’s orchestral and ensemble repertoire and what are Messiaen's views on the chorale, homorhythmic writing, harmony and voice leading?

Sub question 2: In which ways have Messiaen's harmony and voice leading been analysed over the past decades?

Sub question 3: How can the harmony and voice leading of the two homorhythmic chorales from La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ be analysed in a way that takes into account the listening experience?

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Research Question