More than a little intrigued by what I had discovered in the clip of Messiaen teaching at the Paris Conservatoire, I ventured to discover more about this warm and intriguing character.
The first of the other Préludes from the set (of which I was playing the eighth- Un Reflet dans le Vent) is named 'La Colombe,' meaning 'The Dove.' The thing which struck me about this movement was the use of a very specific effect in the final line (1:55). It sounded as though a bell was being played alongside the piano part, or perhaps a prepared piano (a piano whose strings have been fitted with pieces of various materials- metal screws, rubber etc. in order to create a very specific palette of sounds when the keys are struck). Upon inspection of the score, you can see that in fact no particular extended technique is employed, but simply the clever use of a compound diminished octave interval.
This was my introduction to one of the two great inspirations between Messiaen's music- birds. (The other, his deep faith, demands and will have post of it's own!)
I have the following from a larger and, I think, key quote from Messiaen which I'd like to talk about in more detail another time, but for now this is what is pertinent.
"I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and never hear them." - Olivier Messiaen
Messiaen dedicated a huge proportion of his musical output to the study and celebration of the beauty of birdsong. I've included a list below of the works in which birds are in the foreground to give you an idea of the quantity.
Messiaen's 'Bird' Works
Le Merle Noir The Blackbird (flute and piano)
Saint-Francois d'Assise Saint Francis of Assisi (a three-act Opera on the life of St. Francis of Assisi, who is known for his love of nature)
Un oiseau des arbres de vie A Bird of the Trees of Life (orchestral)
Réveil des Oiseaux Awakening Birds (piano and orchestra, transcriptions of the songs of 38 species of birds)
Oiseaux Exotiques Exotic Birds (piano and ensemble of wind and percussion- 10 more species of birds!)
Concert des garrigues- sur les oiseaux de l'Hérault Garrigues Concerto- on the birds of Hérault (piano and orchestra)
Un vitrail at des oiseaux A Stained-Glass Window and Birds (piano and ensemble of wind, brass and percussion)
Prélude- La Colombe Prelude- The Dove (the first of the preludes for solo piano)
Catalogue d'oiseaux Catalogue of the Birds (a collection of 13 piano pieces, each recreating the song of a particular bird, including the Tawny Owl, the Woodlark, the Buzzard and the Curlew)
La Fauvette passerinette Subalpine Warbler (solo piano)
La Fauvette des jardins The Garden Warbler (solo piano)
Petites esquisses d'oiseaux Little Sketches of Birds (solo piano)
Here is a recording of 'Le Merle Noir' (The Blackbird). I recommend listening carefully and the whole way through to hear the full range of colours and impressions Messiaen skillfully draws out of the instruments through his writing.
Being a wind instrument, flute lends itself naturally to imitating birdsong. However, as you can see from the list above, Messiaen did not place limits on his options for instrumental scoring. In fact, much of his bird music was written for the piano, despite the percussive character of the instrument which could be considered to be at odds with the nature of birdsong.
But how did he go about it?
Messiaen's transcriptions were much more than mere 'nods' to birdsong or superficial imitations. He wanted to recreate their sound as faithfully as possible. In order to do this, he would go to quite extreme lengths to make recording samples of the calls of as many species of birds as he could (this really reminded me of Bartók who travelled around Hungary in order to make recordings of folk songs which he incorporated into his own composition). He would then use the spectograms from these recordings to plot pitches onto a musical stave which would form the basis for the piece.
Here you can see examples of the spectograms and comparisons of the original recordings with recordings of the transcriptions:
Messiaen's lifelong love of birdsong and desire to preserve and share it's beauty left an impression on me. I think that it demonstrates his deep respect for the natural world and Creation, and tells us something notable about the way he found inspiration- by finding pre-existent beauty in the sounds of his environment, and searching for ways to authentically bring it into the realm of his compositional output.
I thought to conclude this post with a wee true story about Messiaen and his wife, Yvonne Loriod (an outstanding pianist and one of the great performers of her husband's piano works).
The two were out walking together when Loriod said that she could hear a curlew. Messiaen denied it- saying that it could not be so, given their whereabouts. She insisted, certain because she had been practising the curlew piece from Catalogue d'oiseaux. And when they looked up to see a curlew fly above them, she was proven to be right. His transcription must have been fairly accurate!
"It is likely that in the artistic hierarchy birds are the greatest musicians on our planet." - Olivier Messiaen
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Wonderful - such an inspiration. Thank you.