Messiaen the Theologian

313 Pages·2010·4.063 MB·English

by  Andrew Shenton (editor)

Messiaen the theologian
For Yvonne Loriod
Messiaen the theologian
edited by
andrew shenton
Boston University, USA
First published 2010 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Taylor & Francis
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
shenton, andrew
Messiaen the theologian.
1. Messiaen, olivier, 1908–1992–Criticism and interpretation. 2. Messiaen, olivier, 1908–
1992–religion. 3. spirituality in music.
i. title
780.9’2-dc22
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Messiaen the theologian / [edited by] andrew shenton.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7546-6640-0 (hardcover: alk. paper) 1. Messiaen, Olivier, 1908–1992–
Criticism and interpretation. 2. Music–20th century–history and criticism.
i. shenton, andrew
Ml410.M595M488 2009
780.92–dc22
2009016970
ISBN 9780754666400 (hbk)
Bach musicological font developed by © Yo tomita
Contents
List of Figures and Plates vii
List of Tables ix
List of Music Examples xi
Notes on Contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xix
Editor’s Note xxi
introducing Messiaen the theologian 1
Andrew Shenton
Part I MessIaen the theoLogIan
1 religious literature in Messiaen’s Personal library 15
Yves Balmer
2 Messiaen as Preacher and evangelist in the Context of european
Modernism 29
Peter Bannister
3 Messiaen’s saintly naïveté 41
Sander van Maas
Part II MessIaen’s reLatIonshIP wIth theoLogIans
4 olivier Messiaen and Cardinal Jean-Marie lustiger: two Views of
the liturgical reform according to the second Vatican Council 63
Karin Heller
5 Messiaen’s relationship to Jacques Maritain’s Musical Circle and
neo-thomism 83
Douglas Shadle
6 Messiaen and aquinas 101
Vincent P. Benitez
vi Messiaen the Theologian
Part III MessIaen, Poets anD theoLogICaL theMes
7 dante as guide to Messiaen’s gothic spirituality 127
Robert Fallon
8 Five Quartets: the search for the still Point of the turning world
in the war Quartets of t. s. eliot and olivier Messiaen 145
Andrew Shenton
9 the Charm of impossibilities: Mystic surrealism as Contemplative
Voluptuousness 163
Stephen Schloesser
Part IV theoLogy In MessIaen’s MusIC
10 ‘Une œuvre simple, solennelle …’: Messiaen’s Commission from
andré Malraux 185
Nigel Simeone
11 olivier Messiaen and the avant-garde Poetics of the Messe de la
Pentecôte 199
Robert Sholl
12 Messiaen as explorer in Livre du Saint Sacrement 223
Luke Berryman
13 Buddhist temple, shinto shrine and the invisible god of
Sept Haïkaï 241
Cheong Wai Ling
Glossary of People 263
Select Bibliography 271
Index 287
list of Figures and Plates
Figures
7.1 symmetrical form and prime numbers in dante and Messiaen 132
7.2 Outside-to-inside (closing fan) process of rearranging end-rhymes
in a sestina 133
7.3 symmetrical permutation moving inside-to-outside
(or opening fan) 135
7.4 symmetrical, crossed form of the Turangalîla-symphonie 135
7.5 Mount Purgatory, dante’s earthly paradise, is located on the
opposite side of the earth from Zion, not far from Messiaen’s
earthly paradise of new Caledonia 137
7.6 salvador dalí’s watercolour of Malecoda, a demon from
canto 23 of Inferno 142
11.1 Messiaen’s table of rhythms for the ‘entrée’, Traité IV, p. 88 208
13.1 surface symmetry in the programmes of Sept Haïkaï 260
Plates
8.1 Poster for the premiere of the Quatuor pour la fin du Temps 151
10.1 Messiaen’s handwritten plan of the orchestral layout for the
performance of Et exspecto in the choir of Chartres Cathedral 197
13.1 Buddhist temple gate guardians Ni-o [仁王] at todaiji [東大寺],
nara [奈良] 243
13.2 Different perspectives of the torii at Itsukushima Shrine
Miyajima 245

list of tables
6.1 Formal outline of first half of La Transfiguration, ‘Perfecte conscius
illius perfectae generationis’ 118
10.1 guests at the performance of Et exspecto resurrectionem
mortuorum in la sainte-Chapelle, 7 May 1965 195
13.1 the superimposition of three tiers of chords in Chronochromie and
Éclairs 247
13.2 an overview of Sept Haïkaï V 254
13.3 the shifting roles of the eight violins in Sept Haïkaï i, ii, iV, V
and Vii 256