It’s the Birthday of Composer Olivier Messiaen

On this day in 1908, French composer Olivier Messiaen was born in Avignon. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and was taught by Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor, and Marcel Dupré, among others. He was appointed organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, in 1931, a post held until his death in 1992.

On the fall of France in 1940, Messiaen was made a prisoner of war, during which time he composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the end of time") for the four available instruments—piano, violin, cello and clarinet. He was appointed professor of harmony soon after his release in 1941, and professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions he held until his retirement in 1978.

Messiaen was fascinated by birdsong, notating bird songs worldwide and incorporating birdsong transcriptions into his music. His most famous use of this compositional technique is in Oiseaux exotiques, his composition for piano and a small wind ensemble consisting of piccolo, flute, oboe, Eb clarinet, 2 Bb clarinets i, bass clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns in F, trumpet in C, and a percussion section of xylophone, glockenspiel, gongs, temple block, woodblock, tam-tam, and snare drum. The work, commissioned by Pierre Boulez for his Domaine musical concerts, is based on the songs of exotic birds of India, China, Malaysia and North and South America.

Celebrate Olivier Messiaen’s birthday by listening to this recording of Pierre Boulez conducting the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra live in 1970!