Livre d'orgue (Messiaen)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Livre d'orgue ("Organ book") is a work for organ by the French composer Olivier Messiaen, composed in 1951–52. A major work of Messiaen, its place in Messiaen's output can be compared to that of Bach's The Art of Fugue.
According to Messiaen,[citation needed][1] different parts of the work were composed in different places, influencing their form: "Reprise par interversion", "Pièce en trio I", and "Les yeux dans les roues" were composed in Paris; "Les mains dans l'abîme", "Pièce en trio II", and "Soixante-quatre durées" were composed in the Alps; and "Chant d'oiseaux" was composed in the forest of Saint-Germain.
A more detailed chronology is given by Vincent Benitez (2017, 289): movements 1, 2, and 6 were composed in Paris in 1951–52; movement 3 was composed in the Dauphiné mountains and the vallée de la Romanche in 1951; movement 4 was begun at the Perrin de Fuligny meadow in the forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1951 and completed the following year at the branderaie de Gardépée, Charente; movement 5 was composed in front of the glacier of Le Râteau and the Tabuchet glacier on Meije in 1951; movement 7 was also composed in 1951, at the champs de Petichet.
The work comprises seven movements:
- "Reprise par interversion" (Permuted repeats).
- "Pièce en trio I" (First trio).
- "Les mains de l'abîme" (The hands of the abyss).
- "Chants d'oiseaux" (Bird songs).
- "Pièce en trio II" (Second trio).
- "Les yeux dans les roues" (The eyes on the wheels).
- "Soixante-quatre durées" (64 durations).
