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Performing Messiaen's Organ Music
66 Masterclasses
by Jon Gillock
Published by: Indiana University Press
428 Pages, 7 b&w illus., 35 musical exx.
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Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) was the most influential composer for the organ in the 20th century. Shaped by French tradition as well as the innovations of Debussy, Stravinsky, and Bartók, Messiaen developed a unique style that would become his signature. Using Messiaen's own analytical and aesthetic notes as a point of departure, Jon Gillock offers detailed commentary on the performance of Messiaen's 66 organ works. Gillock provides background information on the composition and premiere of each piece, a translation of Messiaen's related writings, and a systematic explanation of performance considerations. Gillock also supplies details about the organ at La Trinité in Paris, the instrument for which most of Messiaen's pieces were imagined.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Foreword by Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen
Preface
Acknowledgments
Note to Reader: How to Use This Book
Part 1. The 66 Masterclasses
Introduction: A Philosophy of the Performer's Role as an Interpreter
1. Le Banquet céleste (1928)
2. Diptyque (1928)
3. Apparition de l'Église éternelle (1932)
4. L'Ascension (1933, version for organ)
I. Majesté du Christ demandant sa Gloire à son Père
II. Alléluias sereins d'une me qui désire le Ciel
III. Transports de Joie d'une Âme devant la Gloire du Christ qui est la sienne
IV. Prière du Christ montant vers son Père
5. La Nativité du Seigneur, Nine Meditations (1935)
I. La Vierge et l'Enfant
II. Les Bergers
III. Desseins éternels
IV. Le Verbe
V. Les Enfants de Dieu
VI. Les Anges
VII. Jésus accepte la Souffrance
VIII. Les Mages
IX. Dieu parmi nous
6. Les Corps glorieux, Seven Short Visions of the Life of the Resurrected (1939)
I. Subtilité des Corps Glorieux
II. Les Eaux de la Grâce
III. L'Ange aux Parfums
IV. Combat de la Mort et de la Vie
V. Force et Agilité des Corps glorieux
VI. Joie et Clarté des Corps glorieux
VII. Le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité
7. Messe de la Pentecôte (1950)
I. Entrée—Les Langues de Feu
II. Offertoire—Les Choses visibles et invisibles
III. Consécration—Le Don de Sagesse
IV. Communion—Les Oiseaux et les Sources
V. Sortie—Le Vent de l'Esprit
8. Livre d'Orgue, Seven Pieces (1951)
I. Reprises par Interversion
II. Pièce en Trio
III. Les Mains de l'Abîme
IV. Chants d'Oiseaux
V. Pièce en Trio
VI. Les Yeux dans les Roues
VII. Soixante-Quatre Durées
9. Verset pour la Fête de la Dédicace (1960)
10. Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité (1969)
I. (Le Père inengendré)
II. (La Sainteté de Jésus Christ)
III. ("La Relation réelle en Dieu est réellement identique à l'Essence")
IV. ("Je suis, je suis!")
V. (Dieu est immense, éternel, immuable—Le Souffle de l'Esprit—Dieu est Amour)
VI. (Le Fils, Verbe et Lumière)
VII. ("Le Père et le Fils aiment, par le Saint-Esprit, eux-mêmes et nous")
VIII. (Dieu est simple)
IX. ("Je suis Celui qui suis")
11. Livre du Saint Sacrement (1984)
I. Adoro te
II. La Source de Vie
III. Le Dieu caché
IV. Acte de Foi
V. Puer natus est nobis
VI. La Manne et le Pain de Vie
VII. Les Ressuscités et la Lumière de Vie
VIII. Institution de l'Eucharistie
IX. Les Ténèbres
X. La Résurrection du Christ
XI. L'Apparition du Christ ressuscité à Marie-Madeleine
XII. La Transsubstantiation
XIII. Les deux Murailles d'Eau
XIV. Prière avant la Communion
XV. La Joie de la Grâce
XVI. Prière après la Communion
XVII. La Présence multipliée
XVIII. Offrande et Alléluia final
12. Monodie (1997, posthumous)
13. Offrande au Saint Sacrement (2001, posthumous)
14. Prélude (2002, posthumous)
Part 2. The Organ at L'Èglise de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris
15. Les Grandes Orgues de l'Èglise de la Sainte-Trinité à Paris (A brochure by Olivier Messiaen, October 1980)
16. Evolution of the Organ, 1930–1992
17. Characteristics of the Organ since 1966
Appendix A: A Biographical Sketch of Olivier Messiaen
Appendix B: Pieces Appropriate for Specific Services and Feasts during the Liturgical Year
Glossary of Terms and Techniques Unique to Messiaen
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Jon Gillock studied with Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory and premiered several of his late organ works in the United States and Japan. Gillock has performed several concerts on the organ at La Trinité in Paris, the church at which Messiaen served as organist for more than 60 years.
"An organist and a former student of Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), Gillock has compiled a useful, comprehensive companion to the organ works of this important composer. Drawing on intensive experience with the music and his close relationship with Messiaen, the author provides organists and others interested in this music with an engaging, accessible narrative that sheds much new light on Messiaen's complex music, which has confounded performers for many years. The first of the book's two parts examines Messiaen's entire output for organ in a series of 66 master classes, each devoted to a work or movement (arranged chronologically by composition date). Historical information, performance issues, and technical and aesthetic perspectives abound; Gillock is especially adept at linking the music to its religious roots. Part 2 provides technical, aesthetic, and historical information on the organ at Paris's Église de la Sainte-Trinité—Messiaen's organ. Included is a 1980 essay by the composer on the instrument. Appendixes provide a short biographical sketch and a liturgical calendar identifying appropriate feast days for the performance of specific works. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. —Choice"
~B. Doherty, New College
"Performing Messiaen's Organ Music provides an essential reference for organists and a useful guide for all interpreters of Messiaen. Rich with historical background, descriptive analysis, and subjective insight, it makes these towering works more intelligible to organists and will enable them to consult an authoritative source for their performances."
~Notes
"[This] book . . . has been acclaimed for its exhaustive scope and insights. Nov. 16, 2011"
~New York Times
"Performing Messiaen's Organ Music is a significant contribution to both the Messiaen literature as well as to performance practice in general. . . . [T]hrough his numerous interpretative insights about Messiaen's organ works, Gillock has shown himself to be not only a first-rate artist but also a fabulous teacher of a music whose beauty and grandeur reflect the qualities of the French Romantic-symphonic organ school from which it emerged.16.1 2011"
~Performance Practice review
"For anyone who plays Messiaen on the organ, this is a book to treasure."
~Music & Vision
"Gillock excels at conveying his understanding of the meaning and spirit of the pieces, and this aspect forms the core of the book. . . . With the most complete primary-source guide in English to the performance of this music, Gillock presents an invaluable and deeply felt manual. . . . [He] . . . imparts vividly in words the involvement and passion the performer needs in order to bring the music to life, encouraging the player again and again to feel the gesture. September 1, 2010"
~The Diapason
"Drawing on intensive experience with the music and his close relationship with Messiaen, the author provides organists and others interested in this music with an engaging, accessible narrative that sheds much new light on Messiaen's complex music, which has confounded performers for many years. . . . Highly recommended.July 2010"
~Choice
"Jon Gillock is a true messenger of Messiaen's music. . . . Through him, audiences can easily understand the musical message of the great composer Olivier Messiaen. In his performances, [Gillock] takes the listener with him into Messiaen's spiritual world from the sounding of the first note until the very end."
~Yuko Hayashi, New England Conservatory
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