Classical Music

See all concerts in the Messiaen Festival

Olivier Messiaen (1908-92) would have been 100 this year. This hugely influential composer somehow managed to fuse mathematical experiments in music with a very modern religious sensibility and profound worship of nature; the results were colourful soundscapes that have echoed through all kinds of musical innovations since. Messiaen was a teacher, literally and metaphorically. Here are five suggestions of what anyone, classical aficionado or not, can learn from him.
Feature continues

1 Listen in colour
‘I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and have never heard them, make rhythms for those who know only military marches or jazz, and paint colours for those who see none,’ said Messiaen. The composer suffered from a mild form of synaesthesia, a condition where the senses fuse: in his case, sounds were experienced as colours. The affliction served him well: he even described these colours in his musical scores.
Moral Look again at the everyday and see the colours within. As Messiaen said: ‘You’ve got to feel sound moving – like rainbows shifting from one hue to the next.’

2 Believe in what you do and do what you believe
‘I want to write music that is an act of faith, a music that is about everything without ceasing to be about God,’ the composer said. Messiaen’s
Catholic faith was a huge influence on his work. He turned the humble dedication of the true believer to good use during World War II. Messiaen and his comrades were imprisoned when the German army swept through France, but instead of despairing Messiaen kept on composing. A music-loving German prison guard locked him in his bathroom each day so he could compose in peace while the other prisoners laboured outside. It was there he wrote his ‘Quartet for the End of Time’. The piece is not, as the title suggests, about the end of life in the bleak, freezing prison camp but rather about the end of the world as foretold in the Book of Revelation. On January 15 1941, in the -30C temperatures of Görlitz, Germany, an audience of 5,000 prisoners listened rapt as four musicians, including Messiaen at the piano, played this music of hope on broken instruments. ‘Never have I been listened to with such attention and understanding,’ he reflected.
Moral There’s always a bright side. No matter what your spiritual leanings, even in adversity, there is something you can do to withstand despair; and those with less firmness of purpose will probably thank you for trying.

3 Be inspired by the birds
Composers including Sibelius and Mahler sought to incorporate the sounds of nature into their music but Messiaen went further by actually transcribing birdsong. From his teens, he would sit in forests and gardens, notebook in hand, listening and scribbling down a musical equivalent for the tweeting and chirruping he heard. This culminated principally in ‘Catalogue D’Oiseaux’ (‘Bird Catalogue’) for solo piano, but his orchestral music is also laced with birdsong. As a profoundly religious man, he believed that God created birds without the taint of intellectuality or self-consciousness, therefore their music is pure, a perfect oral expression of oneness with nature.
Moral Birds are compelled to sing; when humans make music, it’s a conscious outpouring but no less marvellous. We should rejoice in the difference between man and even the most tuneful beast. And, of course, sing a lot more.

4 Time is relative
Messiaen’s love of nature extended to landscape. He was particularly inspired by Bryce Canyon in Utah. Fascinated by the strange rock formations and their rich colours he wrote ‘Des Canyons aux Etoiles’ (‘From the Canyons to the Stars’). In homage to nature’s unpredictablity, he incorporated unexpected elements into his compositions. In the ‘Quartet for the End of Time’, he went further still, exploring the notion of time and struggling to break free of its strictures. From the opening movement he sets in motion a musical progression that, if played out, would take aeons to complete. Another movement is scored for ‘infinite slowness’; truly the music of eternity.
Moral Live life at your own pace. Keep in touch with your individual rhythm, change as you age (and try to accept those changes with equanimity), but don’t let your principles wither or fade.

5 Pass on what you know
As professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire and visiting teacher at Darmstadt Summer School, Messiaen inspired and encouraged a host of protégés, including several who would become influential composers in their own right: Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis and George Benjamin among them. Messiaen also encouraged many young musicians, among them Pierre-Laurent Aimard, now director of the Southbank’s year-long Messiaen Festival .
Moral Help those who are starting out. If you believe in progress of any kind, it is not enough to accept help and move on; you have to give back.

See all concerts in the Messiaen Festival