Messiaen transcribed bird songs using a tape recorder and a musical notebook, often returning to the same location at the same time for several days to capture their nuances.
Composer Biography
At 33, Olivier Messiaen became a harmony professor at the Conservatoire de Paris, where his students included Pierre Boulez, Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Lalo Schifrin.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Messiaen considered himself as much an ornithologist as a composer, stating, "I am an ornithologist as much as a composer, perhaps more than a composer."
Composer's Artistic Vision
Olivier Messiaen's inspiration stemmed from three recurring themes: Catholic faith, love for nature and bird songs, and the relationship between sound and color.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Messiaen claimed to have synesthesia, a condition where senses are intertwined, which influenced his use of precise color nuances in his harmony and analysis classes and poetic texts.
Composer's Artistic Vision
For Messiaen, the only true music was found in the sounds of nature, and he interpreted bird voices as signifying the divine presence in nature.
Composer Biography
Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992), a French composer, was a pianist and organist, serving as the titular organist of the Église de la Trinité in Paris.
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