Messiaen's Final Works

Dingle, Christopher

ISBN 10: 0754606333 / ISBN 13: 9780754606338

Published by Routledge, 2013

About this Item

When Olivier Messiaen (1902-1992) completed the vast opera Saint Francois d'Assise in 1983, he was mentally and physically exhausted, and believed that this monumental work would be his final compositional statement. Seven further works emerged, however, and these form the focus of the present study. Christopher Dingle suggests that. Num Pages: 392 pages, Includes 21 b&w illustrations and 132 music examples. BIC Classification: AVH. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 239 x 166 x 31. Weight in Grams: 878. . 2013. 1st Edition. hardcover. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780754606338

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Messiaen's Final Works
• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0754606333
• ISBN 13: 9780754606338
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

When Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) completed the vast opera Saint François d’Assise in 1983, he was mentally and physically exhausted, and believed that this monumental work would be his final compositional statement. In fact, he completed seven further works, and these form the focus of the present study. Christopher Dingle suggests that, following the crisis provoked by the opera, Messiaen's music underwent a discernible change in style. He examines these seven works to identify characteristics of the composer's music, in particular an often overlooked aspect of his technique: harmony. Part I of the book begins with a brief historical survey before discussing Saint François d’Assise as the work which defines everything that follows. Part II examines the series of miniatures that came after the opera and their links with Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà..., his final masterpiece. Éclairs forms the subject of Part III of the book. Each movement is analysed in turn, before the work is considered as a whole and its hidden structure and motivic cohesion is revealed. Finally, Part IV considers the incomplete Concert à 4 and key stylistic features of the works of Messiaen’s final years.

About the Author

Christopher Dingle is Reader in Music at Birmingham Conservatoire, UK. He is the author of the acclaimed biography The Life of Messiaen (Cambridge University Press), co-editor of Olivier Messiaen: Music, Art and Literature (Ashgate) and is editing, with Robert Fallon, two further collections of essays, Messiaen Perspectives 1: Sources and Influences and Messiaen Perspectives 2: Techniques, Influence and Reception (both Ashgate). He is also editing The Cambridge History of Music Criticism (CUP, forthcoming) and is a member of the review panel for BBC Music Magazine.