Messiaen, O.: 3 Melodies / Harawi

Featuring

Hetna Regitze Bruun
Kristoffer Nyholm Hyldig
Olivier Messiaen

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Compositional Technique

In Harawi, Messiaen uses words from the Andean Quechua language for their sound quality and onomatopoeic effect, rather than their semantic meaning.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Messiaen was fascinated by birdsong since his teenage years, describing birds as 'probably the greatest musicians to inhabit our planet,' and meticulously notated them for use in his music.

Compositional Technique

Messiaen developed 'modes of limited transpositions,' selecting patterns of 6, 8, 9, or 10 notes from the chromatic scale that repeat after a limited number of transpositions, which became sources for his melodies and harmonies.

Composer Biography

Olivier Messiaen, born in 1908, came from a literary family; his father was a translator and his mother, Cécile Sauvage, was a published poet.

Composition History

Harawi, along with the Turangalîla-symphonie and Cinq Rechants, forms what Messiaen called his 'Tristan trilogy,' exploring themes of love and death.

Composer Biography

Messiaen served as organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris from 1931 until his death, making a significant contribution to the organ repertoire.

Composition History

The song cycle Harawi, subtitled 'Songs of Love and Death,' was inspired by Peruvian legends and folksongs, as well as the Celtic legend of Tristan and Isolde, whose love is fulfilled only in death.