LES OFFRANDES OUBLIÉES The Forgotten Offerings Symphonic Meditation This was the first of my works played by an orchestra and my first contact with the public at large. I was 22 at the time. Les Offrandes oubliées was composed in 1930, premiered at the Theâtre des Champs-Elysées on February 19, 1931 conducted by Walther Straram (an anagram of Mar- rast) and played by the eponymous Orchestre Straram. Messiaen, son of a poetess, provided his opus with a kind of prose poem: Arms outspread, deeply distressed, You shed your blood on Calvary’s tree. You love us, sweet Jesus, but we have forgotten. Driven by madness and the tongue of the serpent, We are racing breathlessly, unrestrainedly, inexorably Down into sin as into a grave. Here is the cleared table, the wellspring of charity, A feast for the poor, here is the adorable compassion, That offers us the bread of life and love. You love us, sweet Jesus, but we have forgotten. In his own commentary, Messiaen explained his piece as a kind of altar triptych: THE CROSS: plaint in the strings, whose painful ‘neumes’ divide up the melody into groups of unequal length, cut through by deep gray and mauve sighs. THE SIN: represented here as a kind of ‘race into the abyss’ at a nearly ‘mechanized’ speed. The strong accentuations are noticeable (comparable to grammatical endings), the whistling of the glissandos, the piercing calls of the trumpets. THE EUCHARIST: long, slow phrases in the violins rising above a carpet of pianissimo chords, red, gold and blue toned (like a faraway church window) in the light of muted string solos. Sin is forgetting God. The cross and the Eucharist are the divine offerings: ‘This is my body, given for you, This is my blood shed for you.’ L’ASCENSION The Ascension Four symphonic meditations for orchestra The four-movement L’Ascension was composed in 1932–33 and premiered in Paris in 1935, conducted by Robert Siohan. The organ arrangement is a transcription of the orchestral version, for which Messiaen wrote a new third movement. In his

commentary, the composer quotes after the title of each movement the bible passage that served him as inspiration: The majesty of Christ, asking His Father for His glorification ‘Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.’ (Pontifical prayer of Christ, Gospel According to St. John) The glorification of Christ, which began on the cross and continued in the resurrection, is only completed on Ascension Day. That glorification for which Christ asks in his pontifical prayer, at the end of his discourse at the Last Supper, it is already consummated by the unification of humanity and divinity in the unique person of Christ. Joyful hallelujahs of a soul longing for Heaven ‘Grant, we beseech You, Almighty God, that we, who believe Your Only Begotten Son our Redeemer, to have ascended on this day to heaven, may ourselves also dwell in mind amongst heavenly things.’ (Mass for Ascension Day) Dwelling in mind amongst heavenly things, that is the grace in accordance with the holy day. The style of the piece is contemplative, its form takes its orientation from an alternation between refrain and couplets. The couplets connect the pliant spirals of the neumes of the Gregorian chorale with ornamentations of a pastoral character. And each time the refrain is heard we have another variation on it before us. Hallelujah on the trumpet, hallelujah on the cymbal ‘God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.’ (Psalm 47) Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension are the prelude to our entrance into Heaven. This truth fills us all with joy. A joy which expresses itself in a new hallelujah that is less internalized but rather more ebullient than that of the previous piece. Prayer of Christ ascending to the Father ‘I have manifested thy name unto the men [...] And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father.’ (Pontifical prayer of Christ, Gospel According to St. John) In the hall of the Last Supper, Christ said these words first and thus took all the force out of the ideas of time and space. They will be spoken again in the moment of the Ascension and unite in them the entire solemnity of this departure from the Earth as an exalting which leaves all heavenly orders far behind. POÈMES POUR MI Poems for Mi for dramatic soprano and orchestra

In 1936 Messiaen, the 28-year-old organist at Sainte-Trinité in Paris (a position he held for more than sixty years) married violinist and composer Claire Delbos, who was two years his senior, and in 1937 their son, Pascal, was born. However, the family’s happiness did not last long. Claire Delbos became severely ill at the beginning of the war (an affliction of the nerves and brain; Messiaen did not even tell his friends the exact nature of the illness), but did not die until twenty years later. Among those compositions which Messiaen wrote for her or in her memory are two song cycles whose first – Poèmes pour Mi – was written in 1936 for voice and piano and one year later in the version “pour grand soprano dramatique et orchestre”. (“Mi” was Claire’s nickname – and in Romanic countries is also the designation for the note ‘e’, the highest open string on a violin. The fact that it consists of nine movements is a reference to the months of pregnancy.) Messiaen – son of the lyric poetess Cécile Sauvage – wrote poems himself, verses in which aspects of worldly and heavenly love merge, praise of the beloved and of God, marriage and theology run into one another. The landscapes are inspired by Messiaen’s favorite region, the Dauphiné in the southeast of France, the vocabulary and imagery by the Bible and the surrealistic poet Pierre Reverdy. First Book I. Thanksgiving II. Landscape III. The House IV. Terror Second Book V. The Wife VI. Your voice VII. The Two Warriors VIII. The Necklace IX. Fulfilled Prayer TURANGALÎLA-SYMPHONY for piano, ondes Martenot and orchestra This symphony was commissioned by Sergei Koussevitzky, long-time head of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, who had already conducted a Messiaen composition (Offrandes oubliées) in Boston in 1936 – the first heard in the USA. Koussevitzky also brought Messiaen to his famous Tanglewood Festival as a lecturer in 1949, the year in which Turangalîla premiered under the baton of Koussevitzky’s assistant Leonard Bernstein. Since then, the music world has always been fascinated and yet a bit bewildered by this monumental ten-movement work, a virtuoso poème de l’extase, a strange

blend of constructivism and sensual indulgence. Turangalîla – the name is constructed from two indefinite terms from the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, in which “turanga” means time, movement and rhythm, and “lîla” means the cosmic game of becoming and passing away, but most especially “love”, both spiritual and worldly. The paradoxes and dichotomies of Messiaen’s style are fully developed here: the influences range from the myth of “Tristan and Isolde” to elaborate results of his theory of rhythm, ecstasy alternates with total otherworldliness, reminiscences of Puccini combine with recollections of Varèse, pianistic cascades in the manner of Liszt encounter the howling glissandos and sugary sounds of the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument. Apart from the many themes assigned to each of the ten movements, the Turangalîla Symphony contains four cyclic themes which turn up nearly everywhere in the course of the work [...] The first cyclical theme, with its heavy thirds – it is almost always played fortissimo by the trombones – is brutal, oppressive and frightening, like old Mexican monuments. It has always called up in me the image of a terrible, baleful statue [...] I therefore give it the name of ‘statue theme’. The second cyclical theme – entrusted to the insinuating clarinets in pianissimo – is in two voices and recalls two eyes repeatedly looking upward [...] The comparison with a flower is most accurate here. One is reminded of the gentle orchid, the decorative fuchsia, the red gladiola or the so very supple lily [...] The third cyclical theme is at the same time the most significant of all: the ‘love theme’. The fourth cyclical theme consists of a simple chord sequence. It is less a proper theme than material for a variety of musical undercoats [...] 1 I. Introduction This is where the two first cyclical themes are introduced: the ‘statue theme’ is played fortissimo by the trombones, the ‘flower theme’ is entrusted to the clarinets playing pianissimo. A cadenza by the solo piano is followed by the centerpiece of the movement. This overlays two rhythmic ostinati in the woodwinds and strings, further a ‘gamelan’ layer, and finally a fourth musical structure with alternating brass instruments and piano chords answering one another. Final phase with the ‘statue theme’. 2 II. First love song Refrain form with two couplets and an elaboration. The refrain always brings two entirely contrary elements with respect to tempo, dynamics and emotion in alternation. The first element is a rapid, strong trumpet motif to be played passionately; the second, by contrast, is slow, soft and gentle (ondes, strings). Remarkable in the first couplet is the interplay between a wan twang (deep oboe, deep English horn, chalumeau register of the clarinets) and CD 2 English pizzicato sounds. The whole is mixed together with the col legno nuances in the violins and the percussive sounds in the piano and bells. 3 III. Turangalîla 1 First theme alternating between clarinets and ondes Martenot (metallic echo timbre); added to this are the tonal points of a bell and the vibraphone, as well as

pizzicato notes on the double bass. Second theme in the low trombone register, overlaid by a ‘gamelan’ played by celesta, glockenspiel, vibraphone and piano. Third theme – it is smoother, more convoluted – in the oboe and flute in the form of a retrograde canon. Combination of both themes played fortissimo by the brass. Gentle coda sounding as if from afar instead of a reprise but featuring only a few brief allusions to earlier moments. Starting in the middle of the movement, a fourth, exclusively rhythmic theme can be heard without interruption. This consists of the three ‘rhythmic persons’ assigned to three rhythm instruments (maracas, wood block, bass drum). The ear hears the mineral timbre of small gravel or lead shot as contained in the maracas alongside the vegetable, wooden timbre of the wood block and finally the animal timbre coming from the skin of the bass drum. The roles of the three rhythmic characters call for the bass drum to ‘grow’ and the maracas to ‘shrink’ while the wood block remains motionless. 4 IV. Second love song This could conceivably be divided up into nine sections. 1. Scherzo in the piccolo flute and bassoon, along with a rhythmic theme played by the wood block; 2. Bridge; 3. Refrain and trio I in the woodwinds; 4. Trio 2 in the solo strings; 5. Both trios superimposed in woodwinds and strings, along with bird songs played by the piano; 6. Bridge; 7. Reprise at the same time that the scherzo is overlaid with both trios and the ‘statue theme’ – here is where all elements of the movement can be heard simultaneously, yielding a complex stratification of ten individual layers superimposed; 8. Cadenza in the solo piano; 9. Coda – we hear: the ‘flower theme’ (clarinets, pianissimo), the ‘statue theme’ (trombones, fortissimo) and a refrain (ondes Martenot, solo violins). Remarkable is the way the conclusion is formed, a fanlike structure involving vibraphone and piano, undercoated by the calm, almost solemn pianissimo sound of three trombones. 5 V. Joy in the Blood of the Stars This is a long-running, frenetic dance of joy. In order to understand the excesses of this movement, remember that true lovers experience union as a transformation of utterly cosmic magnitude. André Breton considered the beloved to be the embodiment of the elements, ‘My wife, your eyes are like the surface of water, a surface made of air, earth and fire [...]’ As early as Shakespeare, the lover (Juliet) says, ‘My bounty is as boundless as the sea | My love as deep [...]’ And Tristan says to Isolde, ‘And were all the world’s people around us, | I would see but you alone [...]’ – The movement is built on a single theme, a variation of the ‘statue theme’. Of great significance is the large, central elaboration. The ‘statue theme’ is heard in the trombones and horns arranged in the form of the ‘rhythmic persons’. Three such ‘persons’ appear: the first in augmentation, the second in diminution, the third remains motionless [...] Following this braying tutti passage, the delirious joy grows thanks to a piano cadenza which leads into the ‘statue theme’ at a breakneck tempo [...] 6 VI. Garden of Love’s repose A single large phrase derived from the ‘love theme’ takes up the entire movement. It is entrusted to the ondes Martenot and the muted strings. The solo piano plays bird songs, the songs of the Nightingale, the Blackbird and the Garden Warbler, in stylized or rather idealized form. Two temple blocks follow with their constant

‘chromatic’ scales in long notes. One runs forward to ever longer notes, from the present to the future; the other scale runs backward, that is, from very long to shorter notes, thus changing the future into the past; both illustrate the course of time. – [...] Time passes, yet has been forgotten. The lovers are outside of time; let us not wake them [...] 7 VII. Turangalîla 2 Two orchestral effects can be highlighted: [1] a closing fan [...] with the ondes Martenot on the one hand and three trombones with a tuba on the other as ‘adversaries’ [...] [2] a frightening rhythm which uses the chord theme along with metallic beats, which makes at once an impression of expansion and contraction, high and low. Each line ends with an implacable beat on the tam-tam. This recalls the two images of horror in Edgar Allan Poe’s famous tale ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’: the blade of the pendulum coming constantly closer to the heart of the prisoner; the depth of the indescribably horrible torture dungeon [...] 8 VIII. Development of Love This title allows a twofold meaning. What should we think of first? Of the lovers who cannot leave each other. The love potion has bound them together forever, as in the medieval story of Tristan. However, this incessantly growing passion multiplying into infinity is not the only aspect of the title. We must also speak of a development similar to a musical elaboration [...] In the course of this large-scale elaboration, we hear the ‘chord theme’, the ‘flower theme’ and three intense outbreaks of the ‘love theme’. [...] The explosive outbreaks of the ‘love theme’ show us Tristan and Isolde, exalted to a single Tristan-Isolde being and thus the high point of the entire symphony. The concluding beat on the tamtam calls forth echoing vibrations in the grottoes of the Grail. We hear the distant echoes of otherworldly languages, the ‘statue theme’ bows over the abyss [...] IX. Turangalîla 3 In this peculiar movement, a melodic theme can be discovered overlaid by many variations of itself in the piano, in the ‘gamelan’ formation, in the ondes Martenot and in the woodwinds. Further, we hear a ‘rhythmic mode’ which mixes seventeen note lengths and assigns the sequences thus arising to five different percussion timbres in simultaneity [...] 10 X. Finale First theme: fanfare in the trumpets and horns. Second theme: the ‘love theme’. The triumphant coda is preceded by a last explosion of the ‘love theme’ in the form of a fortissimo tutti. In this large tutti, the three orchestral groups of woodwinds, brass and strings balance one another. All the while, the vigorous effect of the brass gains an emotional component thanks to the unearthly voice of the ondes Martenot in the highest registers. Its luminous power, its tears of joy spread to the entire orchestra [...] 1 RÉVEIL DES OISEAUX

The Awakening of the Birds for piano and orchestra In 1953, Olivier Messiaen wrote with self-assur- ance and modesty to the mighty music master of the SWF southwest German broadcasting station, Heinrich Strobel, who had asked him for the obligatory commentary to his new piece Réveil des oiseaux, “Please translate my text into German without changing anything (neither to add something nor to leave anything out). In order to make your work easier, I am giving you the names of the birds in French and in German [...] I was unable to find the name of one bird, a rather rare one – ‘la bouscarle’ – in my technical dictionaries [...] Please do not add any biographical, personal or musical observations: I would like to put the birds in the foreground rather than myself.” (Incidentally, “la bouscarle” is Cetti’s warbler [...]) At that time, there was already a small Messiaen tradition at the SWF: in 1948 the orchestra had already played Les Offrandes oubliées, in 1951 the german premiere of the Turangalîla Symphony; in the same year, the Harawi song cycle was to be heard in Donaueschingen. And Réveil des oiseaux became the second of a total of six works by Messiaen presented in Donaueschingen – and yet again the first of three premieres. Réveil des oiseaux is something rather like a retraction of Beethoven’s “Pastorale” – that is to say, “more a painting than an expression of feeling” – since we enter the realm of an Arcadianutopian pact between Nature and Art from the opposite side. It is the first score by Messiaen in which every detail is imbued with the “style oiseau”: it is an ornithological piano concerto which consists only and exclusively of bird songs and calls, in which Messiaen also includes the pounding of the Woodpecker (on the wood block). Between the three corresponding Nightingales in the beginning piano cadenza and the “distant cuckoo” of the final measure, another 36 birds appear, ranging from Blackbird to Chiffchaff; they awaken according to nature’s (springtime) schedule, which the score also follows: midnight – four o’clock in the morning, twilight (in which a confusingly polyphonic “grand tutti” begins which ends abruptly at sunrise) – morning songs – noon (which ends in a “grand silence”). The piece has three dedications: to Messiaen’s ornithological teacher Jacques Delamain, to Yvonne Loriod, the pianist at the premiere and later Messiaen’s second wife, and to “all the birds of our forests”. 2 OISEAUX EXOTIQUES Exotic Birds for piano and orchestra

The non-European counterpart to Réveil des oiseaux was commissioned by Pierre Boulez for his concert series “Domaine Musicale” and premiered at the Petit Théâtre Marigny in March 1956. The conductor was Rudolf Albert, the pianist – of course – Yvonne Loriod. The orchestra consisted of eight woodwinds, three brass, glockenspiel, xylophone and nine percussion instruments of indeterminate pitch. The piece is structured by five birdcall piano cadenzas, contains a total of 47 bird species (including the Indian Mynah, Chinese Nightingale, Virginia Red Cardinal, Baltimore Oriole, Melodious Warbler, Swainson’s Thrush, Black Catbird, Bobolink) in up to sixteen-voice counter- point, uses and stratifies thirteen rhythmic models, six of which are Indian and seven Greek (including Asclepiad, Sapphic and Adonic meter). 3 – 9 CHRONOCHROMIE for orchestra Elle est de couleurs et de temps rythmés (“It consists of rhythmized colors and tone durations”) is how Debussy had already objectively defined French music – which certainly applies to his own, yet even more emphatically to that of Messiaen. He even called one of his orchestral works Chronochromie, that is, “time-color”, and it is likewise a part of the musical history of the SWR: in 1960 it premiered at Donaueschingen conducted by Hans Rosbaud. Here Messiaen is less a theologian than a rhythmist, ornithologist and synesthete, bringing Nature and Art together by operating with complex rhythmic series, but also the sounds of a waterfall and – of course – the songs of exotic birds translated into music. In the next-to-last movement – an eighteen-voice “bird fugue” in the strings – this happens so emphatically that even the auditorium in Donaueschingen at the time was taken to the limit of its tolerance – which in turn caused Messiaen to exclaim: Strange, they protested at the prettiest part! The seven-movement Chronochromie, the seemingly most advanced of all of Messiaen’s orchestral works, takes its orientation from an expanded form of the songs sung by the chorus in ancient Greek tragedy. ‘Chronochromie’ is based on two fundamental elements: sound and time. The material specifying time or rhythm, by far the most important, uses thirty-two different durations; they are subject to symmetrical permutations which constantly follow the same rule. We hear the permutations thus achieved now alone, now fragmented, now in a ratio of 3:3 superimposed. The material specifying sound or melody uses bird songs from France, Sweden, Japan and Mexico, as well as the sounds of waterfalls in the French Alps. The extremely wide-ranging mixtures of tones and timbres remain subject to the time values which are emphasized by coloration. The color thus serves to structure the chronological sections [...] 3 I. Introduction II. Strophe I

III. Antistrophe I IV. Strophe II V. Antistrophe II VI. Épôde VII. Coda ET EXSPECTO RESURRECTIONEM MORTUORUM And I look for the resurrection of the dead for woodwinds, brass and metal percussion Messiaen somewhat reoriented the commission given to him by writer André Malraux in his position as De Gaulle’s Cultural Minister in 1964. He was asked to write a piece in memory of the fallen in the two world wars, but he did not write a requiem – after all, this had already been done by agnostic or even atheist composers before him. Instead he thought “Death? That does exist, of course. But for my part, I accentuate the resur- rection!” and composed a piece for 34 wind instruments and percussion which he titled with the core statement of the Catholic creed. Besides: It is perhaps reasonable to recall that the author liked to surround himself with forceful and simple images when he was writing the score – Mexican step pyramids, ancient Egyptian temples and statues, Roman and Gothic churches – that he was once again reading St. Thomas Aquinas on the resurrection, and that he was working in the Hautes Alpes, in view of the mighty, majestic landscapes which are his true home. In the preface to the score, Messiaen also describes the circumstances of the first three per- formances; on May 7, 1965 in Sainte Chapelle in Paris (in the presence of Malraux), where “the blue, red, gold [and] violet” of the church windows and the morning sun corresponded so wonderfully with the music; on June 20, 1965 in Chartres Cathedral (in the presence of General De Gaulle and the Archbishop) “world famous for the beauty of its architecture, statues and windows” (both times conducted by Serge Baudo); and the performance on January 12 in the Odeon Theater (“with less mystical radiance” but musically “no less glorious”) conducted by Pierre Boulez. I. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! (Psalm 130, Verses 1 and 2) The church assigns this psalm to the souls in Purgatory hoping for Paradise – and all those (living and dead) looking for resurrection. The theme of depth in the heavy brass – harmonizing with colorful complexes in the six horns – a cry from the abyss. II. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. (Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 9)

A few quick tones – the same melody (“very slow”) ‘par manques’ (“through depletions”: a six-voice chord successively disappears so that the melody notes “are left over”) – again the same melody in the oboe and clarinet, echoes in the flute. Cowbells, bells and gongs play an Indian ‘Simhavikrama’ rhythm (“the strength of the lion”) In the Apocalypse, Jesus is called ‘the Lion of Judea’ [...] It is dedicated to (the Hindu divinity) Shiva [...] and Shiva is a symbol of the death of death [...] Above is a trumpet melody which rises from the color complexes of the woodwinds (a bit like the resurrected Christ by Matthias Grünewald, who seems to be wafting away in a rainbow). 3 III. The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. (Gospel According to St. John, Chapter 5, Verse 25) The voice that wakes the dead [...] is symbolized in three ways. First symbol: the song of the Musician Wren, a mysterious, magically piping Amazonian bird. One legend tells that it is heard at the moment of death. Second symbol: the silence and permutations of the bells. Third symbol: a long, mighty beat of the tam-tam. 4 IV. They shall be raised in power, with a new name – when the morning stars sing together and all the sons of God shout for joy. (Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 43; The Revelation of John, Chapter 2, Verse 27; Job, Chapter 38, Verse 7) The three mysterious beats, the threefold echo, the pianissimo and fortissimo beats on the tam-tam which interrupt the flow of the music again and again, symbolize for one thing the call of the Trinity, the solemn moment of the resurrection and the distant melody of the stars. The paschal introit of the bells and cowbells, the hallelujah in the trumpets with its halo of overtones symbolize one of the qualities of the glorified bodies: the gift of purity. The Calandra Lark, a bird of Spain and Greece [...] symbolizes joy [...] Then all the themes join together. We find the paschal introit once again, the trumpet hallelujah, the ‘Simhavikrama’ rhythm and even the trombone theme from the first movement. The angels and the stars unite to praise the resurrected in their glory: four kinds of music, a fourfold play of colors, four sound complexes are again superimposed on one another [...]5 V. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude ... (The Revelation of John, Chapter 19, Verse 6) ‘Like the roar of a waterfall’: song of praise of the saints whose ceremonial authority is described in the Apocalypse. The orchestral tutti and the incessant beats of the gong bring about this mighty, unanimous and simple choral effect. LA TRANSFIGURATION DE NOTRE-SEIGNEUR JÉSUS-CHRIST The transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ for mixed choir, seven instrumental soloists and orchestra

This oratorio, which goes beyond the scope of all liturgical dimensions, was commissioned by the Lisbon-based cultural foundation of the Armenian oil magnate Calouste Gulbenkian. Messiaen worked on the piece for nearly four years, from 1965 to 1969, compiling its Latin texts himself from the Old and New Testament, the Roman Catholic missal and the Summa theologica of Thomas Aquinas. The theme is the transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor in Galilee in the presence of the Apostles Peter, James and John as told in the Gospel of St. Matthew. “His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow” it says in the Gospel. This is the Apostles’ vision of the Messiah which Messiaen wanted to portray in music, a premonition of the beyond, a vista of Paradise, of heavenly landscapes flooded in light. To this end he made use of the most extravagant means: a 100-person choir, a group of seven instrumental soloists and a gigantic orchestra, including six percussionists who have to operate a largely exotic set of instruments – especially impressive is the collection of gongs and tamtams. The work is divided up into two septenaria – two groups of seven movements each. After each reading of a fragment from the Gospels on the subject of the Transfiguration there follow two pieces in which the main ideas are stated in more detail. Each septenarium ends with a chorale. The structure is thus as follows: First Septenarium I. Gospel Reading II. | III. Meditations IV. Gospel Reading V. | VI. Meditations VII. Final chorale Second Septenarium VIII. Gospel Reading IX. | X. Meditations XI. Gospel Reading XII. | XIII. Meditations XIV. Final chorale First Septenarium 6 I. Assumpsit Jesus Petrum et Jacobum Rhythmic division by the metal percussion instruments, the temple blocks, the claves and the bells. The Gospel text as unaccompanied recitative. Rest and vocalization on the word ‘transfiguration’. 7 II. Configuratum corpori claritatis suae Recapitulation of the idea of light. When Christ shines in new splendor, then so too shall we following the resurrection, as soon as the gift of brightness is given. The voice of the Greater Honeyguide (an African bird) proclaims this with joy and the tenors give expression to their expectation: ‘exspectamus’. 8

III. Christus Jesus, splendor Patris Continuation of the idea of light, albeit a higher form of light. The lightning bolt as symbol: ‘Thy lightnings lightened the world.’ The birds of the high mountains – the Alpine Accentor and the European Roller – join voices with the Superb Starling (Africa) and the Baltimore Oriole (North America). What the marimba and marimba-xylophone have to play contrasts with the low notes of the double bass tuba. A massive, choral setting proclaims the majesty of Christ, reflecting the splendor of the Father and the image of His nature. And the Barred Owl (in the horns) expresses reverent worship [...] 9 IV. Et ecce apparuerunt Rhythmic introduction. Continuation of the Gospel text as unaccompanied recitative. V. Quam dilecta tabernacula tua ‘Lord,’ says the Apostle Peter, ‘it is good for us to be here [...]’ and Psalm 84 proclaims ‘How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! [...]’ The men’s voices soft and tender, then the whole choir more forcefully and louder. Modal colors unfold: gold and violet, red and purple violet, gray-blue speckled with gold and deep blue, green and orange, blue and gold, yellow and violet with gold and white stripes [...] The solo cello sings of the simple sacredness of the eternal light. The solo piano adds the voice of the American Eastern Bluebird, the ensemble of soloists lets us hear the Rufous-Tailed Rock Thrush (a mountain bird with intense orange and slate-blue feathers). At the end, the choir hums red and gold harmonies: a floating carpet of sound, pianissimo from a great distance, above this at night, in the piano, the first stanza of the Nightingale [...] 11 VI. Candor est lucis aeternae ‘Brightness of eternal light’ sing the women’s voices. With these words, the Book of Proverbs prophesies simultaneously the Word made flesh and Christ transfigured. Counterpoint of birdsong, very dense, multicolored harmonies. Gradually, a transformation of a decî-tâla (an ancient Indian rhythm) by means of augmentations and diminutions. 12 VII. In monte sancto eius Psalm 48 now prophesies the greatness and beauty of our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. Extremely slow chorale. The fourteenth piece will end fortissimo. The seventh piece closes the first septenarium in pianissimo. 1 – 7 Second Septenarium VIII. Hic est Filius meus Rhythmic introduction (varied). Continuation of the Gospel text as recitative. The radiant cloud is rendered by string glissandos of various lengths and tempos. The ‘voice’ from the cloud is accompanied by multicolored trilled chords whose colors move at differing speeds: the trills in the triangle and cymbals combine with the harmonics in the string to underscore the trembling of the light [...] 2 IX. Perfecte conscius illius perfectae

Unfolding of the idea that we are children of God. It begins with baptism and is consummated after the resurrection in the state of transfigured bodies. However, it is nothing but the image of that one Child of God, the descent of the Son from the Father. Only the Father, Son and Holy Spirit can know and comprehend this condition of being a consummate Child of God. The irregularly augmented and diminished rhythms on the cymbals and gongs, the pedal points in the trombones, the tam-tam and the bass voices in the low register try to give expression to the loftiness and depth of the mystery. A large number of birds join in: the Golden Oriole, the Alpine Accentor, the Olive-Tree Warbler (Greece), the Western Meadowlark (Canada) and the Blue Mockingbird (Mexico). Highly song-like refrain, whose harmonies range from green-striped blue to diamond, emerald and purple violet up to black speckled with red and gold, with a clear dominance of orange dappled with milky white. Cadenza of the soloists above the voices of three Mexican birds: the False Thrush, the Grayish Saltator and the Tropical Mockingbird. The rhythm of the choir is overlaid by a large rhythmic superimposition of three rhythmic groupings in which Greek metrical feet of varying lengths and Indian decî-tâlas in retrograde motion are put to use. Unisono fortissimo. A second stanza takes up all these elements again, resulting in a different music. The last unisono cries out the terrible words ‘perfectae generationis’. 3 X. Adoptionem filiorum perfectam Still the idea of children of God. Now it comes to our status as adopted children: children – in the sense of heirs, co-heirs – of Paradise, the Kingdom of Christ. At the beginning of the piece, permutations of note values of a timbre melody are used, giving the solo cello a dominating role. Long cadenza in which the rhythms of the percussion instruments mix with the bird songs played by the soloists: the Blackcap (France) in the flute, the Sub-Alpine Warbler (Spain, Greece) in the clarinet, the Superb Starling (Africa) in the marimba, the Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting and Rose-Breasted Grosbeak (North America) in the solo piano. Some sopranos and tenors sing the Hallelujah pianissimo, while violin harmonics, Crotales and vibraphone accompany them with colorful chords which are bundled into iridescent complexes. Counterpoints of the bird songs in the marimba and marimba-xylophone (the Seychelles Magpie Robin) and in the woodwind ensemble (the Trumpeter Finch and Moussier’s Redstart from the High Atlas). 4 XI. Et audientes discipuli Rhythmic introduction (extended, varied). Continuation and conclusion of the Gospel text as recitative and vocalizations. 5 XII. Terribilis est locus iste As I was observing Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau and the three glaciers of La Meije in Oisans in clear weather, I understood the difference between the weak luster of the snow and the radiant majesty of the sun – and there I could also imagine how frightful the place of the Transfiguration must have been! [...] The pedal points in the trombones and the clusters of trills in the low register render the sacred terror. The background to this is provided by the cries of mountain birds: the Peregrine Falcon and Bonelli’s Eagle. The light from ‘on high’ appears in the chords of the woodwinds and brass, which suddenly change into the pianissimo of the violin harmonics: in this supernatural way, the pizzicatos of the cellos and the chordal

colors of the piano, the bells and the crotales sound as if shuddering. A mutual twenty-voice vocalization leads into the final word, ‘Terribilis’. 6 XIII. Tota trinitas apparuit This is the most highly developed piece. The same solemn music illustrates ‘everything that is on high’: the mountains, the eternal glory, the voice of the Father, the Son of Man and Son of God, the sanctity of the Holy Spirit. XIV. Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuae Extremely slow movement. Fortissimo of the entire choir and orchestra. This last chorale concludes the work with a text from Psalm 26: ‘I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine glory dwelleth!’ The glory dwelled on the Mount of Transfiguration, the glory dwells in the holy sacrament in our churches, the glory shall dwell in eternity DES CANYONS AUX ÉTOILES … From the canyons to the stars … for piano, horn, marimba-xylophone, glockenspiel and orchestra New York patron of the arts Alice Tully – who gave her name to the exquisite concert hall in Lincoln Center – was able to persuade Messiaen to compose a piece for the 200th anniversary of the USA in 1974. It was presumably clear to her that it would not turn out to be a paean to Amer- ican history and civilization – Messiaen could not even get excited about skyscrapers – but another variation of his “theological rainbow”. And he wrote an evening long work, albeit for only 44 musicians, reaching Des Canyons aux étoiles …, from the (American) canyons up to the stars. Before this, he had taken a trip to Bryce Canyon, to Cedar Breaks, to Zion National Park, and so imbibed this incomparable landscape that he was able to put to music not only the colors of the rocks (orange-red in Bryce Canyon), but also the songs of 52 indigenous bird species (plus 14 in Africa, five in Australia, four each in Hawaii and Japan, two in China and one in India). And when Messiaen points out in his comments to Movement III that he put the famous writing on the wall “mene tekel” to music, that is to be taken quite literally: he had developed a “communicable language” for his organ cycle Méditation sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité with which he was able to translate the alphabet into pitches and note durations. First Part I. The Desert The desert is the symbol of that emptiness of the soul which allows it to hear the inner talking of the spirit. A horn theme conjures up the peace of the desert. The aeolophon (wind machine) recalls the wind which sometimes blows here. A bird’s

voice is that much more precious here because it is surrounded by silence: in this silence we hear the Greater Hoopoe-Lark, a lark of the Sahara. Crotales, piccolo flute and violin harmonics imitate this pure, shrill voice. ‘He whom one must find is immeasurable; one must be free of everything to take the first steps in his direction [...] Immerse yourself in the desert of deserts.’ (Ernest Hello) 2 II. The Starlings Orioles from the west of the U. S. A. Most of them are birds with orange and black feathers, all are excellent singers. Here we hear the Troupial in the solo piano, Scott’s Oriole in the marimba-xylophone, the Lichtenstein Oriole in the woodwinds and D trumpets, the Baltimore Oriole again in the piano, the Gold Star Oriole once more in the marimba-xylophone; finally the Hooded Oriole in the woodwinds and glockenspiel. III. What is written in the stars ... ‘This is the inscription that is written there: Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. Mene: counted; Tekel: weighed; Parsin: divided.’ (Book of Daniel, Chapter 5, Verses 25 to 28) These words undoubtedly go back to three kinds of Oriental coins and possibly allude to the waning might of the Babylonian, Median and Persian empires. They sound like a decree of divine law. I have only taken over the idea of number, weight and measure from them in order to apply them to the system of the stars. The fateful words are first played with the aid of an alphabet made up of pitches and tone durations to which is assigned an unchanging harmony. Then a brass chorale is contrasted to several birdsongs. These birds are the Gray-Cheeked Thrush in the solo piano, the Mountain Bluebird in various instruments, and three Vireos: the Brown-Capped Vireo, the Warbling Vireo and the White-Eyed Vireo played by the marimba-xylophone, woodwinds and piano. In addition, we hear the North American Sage-Grouse, whose piercing cries are heard to come from the sagebrush in Utah and the Nevada desert, and the Canyon Wren, whose particularly characteristic accelerando-rallentando returns in several movements of the composition and is always played by the solo horn. The words are spoken one last time. ‘The hand which wrote the three solemn words on the wall at the accursed feast would also have been able to write them on the walls of the universe in the silence of the seventh day of creation [...]’ (Ernest Hello) 4 IV. The White-Browed robin-Chat A piece for solo piano. The White-Browed Robin-Chat is a bird of southeastern Africa and a wonderful singer. Here we find all aspects of his musical style: flute-like stanzas repeated two, three or even four times in succession – soft and long tones followed by rising crescendo-accelerando and their opposite: long and loud tones followed by a falling accelerando-decrescendo – plus a deep, rolling vibrato which resembles a roll on the cymbal or maracas (or even a bass drum in the distance) more than birdsong. All this allowed me to write for a ‘bird piano’ which is at the same time an ‘orchestra-piano’. For the accelerandi-crescendi (or decrescendi) I

have used my ‘modes of limited transposition’: Mode six 2 (brown, red, orange, violet), Mode three 2 (gray and golden) and the superimposition of Mode two 3 (green) and Mode four 3 (yellow and violet). As far as the timbre of the repeated, flute-like stanzas is concerned: they are entrusted to chords with ‘transposed inversions’ and ‘contracted resonance’ which yet further extend the palette of colors. V. Cedar Breaks and the Gift of Awe ‘If one replaces fear with awe, then a view of worship opens up.’ (Ernest Hello: “Words of God”) Cedar Breaks is one of the wonders of Utah. Less important and less colorful than Bryce Canyon, yet very impressive in its wild beauty. It is a mighty amphitheater that slopes down into a deep abyss, with orange, yellow, brown and red rocks rising step-like to walls, pillars, towers big and small, and turrets. Birches, firs, a residue of snow and the strongly blowing wind only serve to intensify the majesty of the landscape. It gave me a feeling that corresponds to ‘awe’. The ‘gift of awe’ is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the Bible teaches us that ‘awe is the beginning of wisdom’. On the scale of sensations, fear of punishment is quite far down – awe (veneration of the sacred, of the divine presence) is more exalted and leads to worship, which is right up at the top. INTRODUCTION. The deep growl of the Capercaillie in the bass trombone and double bassoon (violoncellos and double bass bow on the edge of the bridge, follows the loud calls of the Red-Shafted Flicker. The wind whistles: the trumpet, blown only on the mouthpiece, accompanied by crescendo-decrescendo on the aeolophon. STROPHE. In the tutti, using the same alphabet of sounds and lengths as in the third movement, we hear Greek invocations: Hagios o theos (Holy One, O God!), Hagios ischyros ( Holy and Strong One!), Hagios athanatos (Holy Immortal One!). Then the trumpet with wow-wow mute, sounds of the temple blocks and the shrill trills of the White-Throated Swift flying above the abyss. Another inhabitant of Cedar Breaks: Clark’s Grebe, a gray bird with black-and-white wings and tail which cries in the woods: its shrieks are heard in the double-tonguing on the brass and in the E-flat clarinet (teeth on the reed). Then comes the American Robin, a gray-black bird with a brick-red breast found all over the United States (even in Cedar Breaks!). His merry ‘torculus’ and ‘porrectus’ are entrusted to the flutes, clarinets and harmonic tremolos in the double bass (played with the bow’s metal button). TWO ANTISTROPHES work with the same elements. EPODE. An elaboration of the sound of the wind which is now and then interrupted by bird calls and songs: the Red-Tailed Hawk in the trumpet and the Fox Kestrel in the marimba-xylophone. CODA. It takes up the components of the introduction again but in retrograde sequence: the wind, the Blue Grouse, the cries of the Red-Shafted Flicker in the tutti.

Second Part VI. Interstellar Call ‘He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.’ (Psalm 147, Verses 3 and 4) ‘O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place!’ (Book of Job, Chapter 16, Verse 18) Horn solo: INTRODUCTION with characteristic effects: trills with stopped notes, double- tonguing and fluctuations on a long, fallow, unreal tone. In addition, we hear a brief stanza of the Melodious Laughing- Thrush, a Chinese bird. CHANSON, first phrase. Then the stillness is broken. Glissando with overtones from D. Accelerando-rallentando of the Canyon Wren, for the second time in this work. The horn changes over to the fingering of the D horn and thus recalls its origins as hunting horn. Its calls become rougher and more intense: no answer! The calls echo away in the silence [...] In the silence there is perhaps an answer: worship [...] CHANSON, second phrase. CODA, which takes up again the components of the Introduction in an altered sequence. 1 – 5 VII. Bryce Canyon and the Orange-red rocks ‘Temporal things are not extinguished, but are absorbed into eternity.’ (Romano Guardini: “The Mass”, Chapter 26, Temporality and Eternity) ‘May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height.’ (Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, Chapter 3, Verse 18) ‘And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones [...] the sixth [foundation was] sardius (red) [...] the ninth, a topaz (yellow-orange); [...] the twelfth, an amethyst (violet).’ (Revelation of John, Chapter 21, Verses 19 and 20) Bryce Canyon is the greatest wonder of Utah. It is a huge cauldron consisting of fantastically formed red, orange and violet rocks: castles, square and potbellied towers, natural windows, bridges, statues, pillars, whole cities, now and then a deep black hole. You can admire this forest of stone and petrified sand from above (height: roughly 2500 meters) or descend to the floors of the canyons and take a walk through this fairy-tale architecture. Here is where a marvelous bird lives, Steller’s Jay. Its belly, wings and long tail are blue, head and hood black. When it flies over the canyon, the blue of its feathers and the red of the rocks take on the brilliance of Gothic church windows. The music of this movement tries to depict all these colors. Its form is similar to that of the Greed triads: strophe, first

antistrophe, second antistrophe, epode (which contains a cadenza on the solo piano and a coda.) Third Part VIII. The resurrected and the Song of the Star Aldebaran ‘For one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.’ (Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verses 41 and 42) ‘The Heart of Jesus will be the space which holds all things [...] All will be clarity and light [...] Love as the eternal state of creation, complete agreement of inner and outer. That will be heaven!’ (Romano Guardini: “The Lord”, last chapter) The stars sing. And the Book of Job speaks of ‘When the morning stars sang together’ (Book of Job, Chapter 38, Verse 7). Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus. Its name goes back to the Arabian ‘al-dabarân’, which means ‘the follower’ because this star follows the Pleiades. Paul’s text means that the ‘transfigured bodies’ will be free of the shackles of mortal bodies. He also points out their qualities (clarity, agility) and various types of ‘glory’. Guardini’s text adds love, the fruit of the ‘blissful vision’ of Heaven. The entire movement consists of a long phrase in the strings. The harmony makes use of ‘chords of transposed inversions’, the ‘modes of limited transposition’ 2, 3, 4 and 6, above all, however, Mode three 3 and the key of A major, which gives the whole a blue color: blue like sapphire, like chalcanthite, like certain transparent fluorites, blue like the sky [...] 2 IX. The Mockingbird The second movement for piano solo. It consists entirely of songs of the Mockingbird. It is the most famous songbird of the United States. Its song is very versatile. It consists of brief calls which are repeated two, three or even five times in a row; soft tones which accelerate in a crescendo: trills, strokes, long rolls; slow, loud iambs as well as brief, fast iambs in rising sequences. Often the repetitions end in a brilliant run, rising victoriously. All this appears in the course of four strophes which divide up the movement. A few Australian birds mix their own melodic and harmonic colors into the repeated songs of the Mockingbird. In the first and second strophes, these are: a brief phrase of the Golden Plover harmonized with chords in ‘transposed inversions’ and ‘contracted resonance’, and in the third strophe, the downward glissando of the Superb Lyrebird. In the fourth strophe, the movement ends after a final song of the Mockingbird together with the calls of three new Australian birds – the White- Backed Woodpecker, Albert’s Lyrebird and the Japanese Gray Thrush. 3 X. The Wood Thrush

‘To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.’ (Apocalypse of John, Chapter 2, Verse 17) ‘When we return to the state of grace, we will be given a new name by the Holy Spirit, and this will be an eternal name.’ (Jan van Ruysbroeck, “The Sparkling Stone”) 7 The Wood Thrush is fire-red with a blackand- white speckled breast. Its song is a major arpeggio in the style of the ‘porrectus flexus’ – a light, merry and shining timbre. It is usually preceded by an upbeat, and there follows a deep hum. I have entrusted this song to the piccolo flute and marimba-xylophone, adding violin glissandos and crotales. Furthermore, it appears from the beginning of the movement in simplified form in the solo horn (with stopped notes). This original form is intended to triumph over the other. For me, the song of the Wood Thrush symbolizes that archetype which God has planned for us but which we, in the course of our earthly existence, more or less deform and which only after the resurrection will be entirely realized in our Heavenly life. Additional thrushes sing at their sister’s side: the Great Reed Warbler in the piano and the Hermit Thrush in the woodwinds. Then we hear the simplified theme of the Wood Thrush in the horn and the trumpets with various mutes and in various chordal colorings. A moment of uncertainty arises through the double-tongued flutes, the high harmonics on the double bass, in the polymodal call of the Carolina Wren in Cretic rhythm and once again the theme becomes simplified. It is a secret of love between the soul and God: the new name will be written in the stone, the eternal archetype rediscovered. 4 XI. Omao, Leiothrix, Elepaio, Shama Two kinds of birds live on the Hawaiian Islands: those which have been indigenous here from time immemorial, and those which have been imported from other countries. This movement contains the songs of the one kind as well as the other (to which I have added the calls of additional foreign birds.). It is built of two elements: a refrain played by the horns and the birdsongs comprising the couplets [...] 5 XII. Zion Park and the Celestial City The people who discovered the cliff walls in pink, white, mauve, red and black, the green trees and the crystal clear rivers of Zion Park saw in them a symbol of Paradise. In memory of the fact that Mount Zion is a synonym of the New Jerusalem, I followed them in this. Three components make up this finale: 1. a brass chorale in Mode three 2 (gray and golden) and three 3 (blue and green) which moves in the range of A major; 2. a carillon; 3. bird songs which can be heard in the West of the USA and in particular in Zion Park [...] Frequently, the radiant, majestic brass chorale interrupts the birdsong.

The peal of the carillon joins the final joy over an A major chord in the strings – as unchangeable as eternity. 6 LA VILLE D’EN-HAUT The City on High for piano, brass and percussion This brief piano concerto was written on commission of the Paris Festival d’automne and premiered at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris in November of 1989. Pierre Boulez conducted, Yvonne Loriod was the soloist, her partners were musicians from the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The City on High is another piece documenting Messiaen’s obsession of sketching a musical image of the New Jerusalem, the heavenly life of the redeemed. The piece takes its orientation from two Bible passages: ‘[...] seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God’ (Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians 3,1) and ‘I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband’ (Revelation of John 21,2) The brass chorale represents the glory of the celestial city. The birds in the xylophones, woodwinds and piano solo symbolize the joy of the resurrected, who can be sure of being close to Christ [...] 7 UN SOURIRE A Smile for orchestra Messiaen was a great admirer of Mozart, having treated all (!) of Mozart’s piano concertos at his famous analysis courses at the Paris Conservatory and named a chapter in his textbook Traité de Rythme “Mozart et l’accentuation”. When he was asked to write an orchestral for the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death in 1991, he wrote Un Sourire – because he was of the opinion that ‘Mozart despite all pain, suffering, hunger, cold, misunderstanding and approaching death would still have smiled.’ The piece is “Mozart-like” plain, a brief rondo which limits itself to two constantly alternating basic elements of Messiaen’s musical idiom: the chorale and – of course – birdsong, in this case, the ‘South African White-Browed Robin-Chat’.

ÉCLAIRS SUR L’AU-DELÀ Illuminations of the Beyond for orchestra The New York Philharmonic commissioned a composition from Olivier Messiaen to celebrate its 150th anniversary. It was to be his last: he did not live to hear the premiere, conducted by Zubin Mehta, in November 1992 – he died on April 28 at the age of 83. In a large number of compositions he had already attempted to portray what was awaiting him after death, but most exhaustively and touchingly in this musical bequest called by him Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà – “Illuminations of the Beyond” – in which he envisages the glories of the New Jerusalem and tries to come yet closer to the “longed-for perception of the unseen”. To do so, he makes use of a number of Biblical passages – primarily from the last chapter of Scripture, the Revelation of John, with its visions of the end of humankind’s history – which he puts at the head of the eleven movements in programmatic form. In powerful images, Messiaen depicts Christ transfigured, the redeemed, stellar dances (and his own Zodiac sign – Sagittarius) and celestial trees full of exotic birds, including the Australian Superb Lyrebird to symbolize the city, adorned as a bride and festively receiving him, Olivier Messiaen. 1 I. Appearance of Glorified Christ ‘And I turned to see [...] one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle [...] his eyes were as a flame of fire; [...] And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.’ (Revelation of John Chapter 1, Verses 12–14, 16) Slow, solemn chorale of praise, played forte by the woodwinds and brass. In the middle of the movement the melody arises and awakens the recollection of certain motifs from the Gregorian chant ‘Alleluja Christus Rex’. The harmonies are kept in the second and third mode, and in chords of cumulative resonance. The entire work is dominated by these harmonies [...] 2 II. The Sign of Sagittarius ‘O ye stars of heaven, bless ye the Lord.’ (Song of the Three Holy Children, Daniel (Apocrypha), Chapter 1, Verse 41) Stars and nebula in the constellation Sagittarius in the center of the Milky Way. A. The movement begins with rhythms of the Indian deci-tâla: candrakalâ and lakskmîca, fortissimo on the three chimes [...] B. Three musical layers: 1. Solo strings play an expressive theme, accompanied by bassoons, bass clarinet and horns in the second mode. 2. Rapid song of the Alpine

Accentor in the piccolos and flutes. 3. On glockenspiel and crotales on the one hand and on the three chimes on the other, a canon of clusters in various rhythms [...] C. Brief glissando passage in the first violins in natural harmonics, the second violins and the violas rise in the sixteenth mode in an accelerated rhythm and crescendo [...] D. Layered birdsong played by the six flutes in free tempi, that is, each flute plays in a different tempo [...] Eastern Orphean Warbler (Greece), Spotted Morning-Thrush (Kenya), Chorister Robin-Chat, Red-Capped Robin-Chat (South Africa), Rueppell’s Robin-Chat (Kenya), Flutist Wren (Venezuela), accompanied by a pianissimo trill on the triangle and small cymbals in the highest range. Restatement of Strophe A with other Indian rhythms: vijaya, makaranda, pratâpacekhara, and other harmonies; restatement of Strophe B with another expressive theme in the solo strings and with other rhythms on the glockenspiel, crotales, triangle and chimes; restatement of Strophe C with its glissandos and its accelerando in the strings; restatement of Strophe D: birdsong in the six flutes in free tempos. E. Strophe A once again with other Hindu rhythms: simhavikrama and gajajhampa. Theme in the celli and bells alone. Conclusion by the solo strings with color harmonies [...] accompanied by staccato notes like water drops and stalactites (piccolo, two flutes, glockenspiel) [...] 3 III. The Superb Lyrebird and the Bridal City ‘And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.’ (Revelation of John, Chapter 21, Verse 2) It is the song of the Superb Lyrebird. It symbolizes the adornments of the bridal city [...] The bird sings in a large number of variations; its voice can be heard over great distances. It is also called the ‘master mimic’. Its song covers several registers and consists of iambs (short-long), very rapid and wide-ranging glissandos, whirling tones and ascents which lead into tone repetitions [...] Its song gradually gets louder on a held note followed by a cry, then two tones from low to high; the bird is capable of singing a long strophe covering twenty notes and at the same time changing the register at each note. This is a whistling, fluting, screeching, shining, blaring and disjointed song; rushing water mixes itself among mimicked birdsong, and all with incredible virtuosity and an extravagantly rich scale of articulations and nuances of color. When three Lyrebirds sing together one has the impression that an orchestra is filling the entire forest with happy, colorful sounds [...] The movement is difficult to play, because the music must jump from the woodwinds to the strings and from the xylophones to the brass at a very rapid tempo [...] 4 IV. The Elect Marked with the Seal ‘Till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.’ (Revelation of John, Chapter 7, Verse 3) In the seventh chapter of Revelation, it says ‘I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not

blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God [...] saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.’ This movement only treats this seal which is pressed onto the foreheads of the elect. We hear three layers of symmetrical permutations in 23 solo strings. The duration of each tone has its own harmony. Moreover, chimes, gongs and cymbals mark the beginning of each new rhythmic line of this nature. FIRST LAYER: the violins play together with the first set of chimes and the high gongs. SECOND LAYER: the second violins play together with the second set of chimes and the three cymbals. THIRD LAYER: the violas and cellos play together with the third set of chimes and the low gongs. The harmonies consist of circling chords, chords of transposed inversion and chords of contracted resonance. They are chosen according to their timbre and should call up an impression of colors as rich as in a church window. The resonance of the three sets of chimes played fortissimo is as luxuriant as that of carillons. The first piccolo, the four flutes, the three clarinets and the xylophone mimic the songs of the following birds: the Large ScimitarBabbler (Pomatorhinus hypoleucos, Singapore), the Chorister Robin-Chat (Cossypha dichroa, South Africa), the Rufous-Tailed Rock Thrush (Monticola saxatilis, Greece), the Spotted Morning- Thrush (Cichladusa guttata, Kenya), Brownish Whistler (Papua-New Guinea), White-Throated Fantail (Papua-New Guinea), Pied Butcherbird (Australia), New Guinea Friarbird (Papua-New Guinea), White-Throated Gerygone (Papua-New Guinea), Tawny Breasted Honeyeater (Papua-New Guinea). V. Abiding in Love ‘God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him’ (1 John, Chapter 4, Verse 16) Great melodic line full of tenderness and adoration, entrusted to the string instruments alone. Sixteen first violins play the melody in unison with mutes. The harmonies are played by six solos each of the second violins, violas and cellos, without mutes. FIRST PERIOD: The melody begins above the charming chord D-D-F sharp-A. Its C serves afterward as the bass note of a harmonic ‘litany’ and for chords of transposed inversion [...] SECOND PERIOD: It is but brief, the melody sinks into the middle range.

THIRD PERIOD: in the third mode at first; the melody rises above chords, recalling the seventh act of the opera Saint François d’Assise, where the saint sings, ‘We are climbing Jacob’s ladder [...]’ FOURTH PERIOD: It takes up the beginning again, but is much longer, since the melody rises up with great intensity into the highest descant as if it were being drawn by Heaven [...] 6 VI. The Seven Angels with the Seven Trumpets ‘And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.’ (Revelation of John, Chapter 8, Verse 2) Powerful, mighty theme played by six horns, three trombones and three bassoons in unison. The rhythms of the three cymbals, the three low gongs and the three tam-tams unfold together in three times three tone durations in each case: three sixteenths, three sixteenths, three sixteenths. There follow four sixteenths, then five, six, seven, six, five, four and three (like a fan opening and then closing again). Each of these rhythms is interrupted by a tone duration of seven sixteenths in the following way: a mighty whiplash in fortissimo (duration: one sixteenth) announces three uniform eighths which the bass drum plays forte (duration: six sixteenths). Thus the number seven is honored: seven angels and seven trumpets. 7 VII. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ... ‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying.’ (Revelation of John, Chapter 21, Verse 3 ff.) ‘Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.’ (Matthew Chapter 5, Verse 4) Above a tapestry of sound made up of harmonics and high trills pianissimo in the violins, the follows a double descent of a very pure theme played by the woodwinds in chords of transposed inversion in the third mode, which ends in each case on a fourth and a sixth in low range [...] A brief, mysterious call of three horns followed by an echo in three flutes. Four solo cellos take over this chord pianissimo. Then the xylophone begins a short strophe of the Calandra Lark. It is answered by a Blackbird in the solo flute. The Lark sings her short strophe anew, twice in a row, this time accompanied by pianissimo trills in the six solo strings. Recapitulation of the beginning; the tender melodic phrase lowers itself down once again [...] Vision of a rainbow-colored richness of tenderness and a smile that pierces through a veil of tears. We see God giving solace and turning the tears into dewdrops [...]

‘For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.’ (Revelation of John, Chapter 7, Verse 17) 8 VIII. The Stars and the Glory ‘And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand.’ (Habakuk, Chapter 3, Verse 4) ‘The stars shined in their watches, and rejoiced: when he calleth them, they say, Here we be; and so with cheerfulness they shewed light unto him that made them.’ (Baruch, Chapter 3, Verse 34 ff.) ‘When the morning stars sang together.’ (Job, Chapter 38, Verse 7) ‘The heavens declare the glory of God.’ (Psalm 19, Verse 1) ‘Glory to God in the highest.’ (Luke, Chapter 2, Verse 14) This is the longest movement in the work. It is filled with the jubilation of the stars, their radiance, with everything that partakes of the motion, circling and shining of the celestial creation. There are ten sections: 1. Main theme: H-F-E-Bb, consisting of two diminished fifths announced by the contrabass clarinet and the double basses in forte and by the tam-tam in pianissimo – nebula: air and dust – trills in the low strings on the second chord of contracted resonance, along with light trembling of the cymbals. The song of Albert’s Lyrebird, [...] whose strophes always end in E major. 2. Four musical layers: canon on the main theme in the brass – carillon of the three chimes superimposed in layers of melodicrhythmic ostinati: the first set of chimes together with the glockenspiel; the second set of chimes together with the temple blocks; the third set of chimes together with the marimba-xylophone [...] the flute joins in fuori di tempo [outside the tempo] with the song of the Garden Warbler. 3. Songs of three birds: Mallee Ringneck (Australia) in the strings (like a rapid ritornello), the Eastern Whipbird (Australia) in the woodwinds [...] A low, long drawn-out tone in the trombones and horns carries the song of the Blackcap in the first flute fuori di tempo. 4. Now four birds sing: the Mallee Ringneck, the Hooded Butcherbird, the Seychelles Magpie Robin in the three xylophones with the three chimes, and the Pied Butcherbird. 5. Once again the four musical layers: threevoice canon in the horns, trumpets and trombones, reinforced each time; the three sets of chimes in layered ostinati; trills in the strings and this time the song of two garden warblers in two flutes fuori di tempo. 6. Once again the birds of Section 3

7. The four birds of Section 4: added this time are the Grey Butcherbird, the New Guinea Friarbird, the Brown Shrike Thrush, the Brown Oriole, the Yellow Honeyeater (with wind machine), the giggling of the Laughing Kookaburra depicted by constantly repeated tones in the accelerando crescendo and rallentando diminuendo of the brass; finally, the last bird, the Noisy Pitta. 8. the main theme once again, this time played twice (four notes): theme that opens and closes again. 9. Here follows the great ascent above the main theme: the rhythm – two quarter notes, a sixteenth and a quarter – prevails throughout the entire movement, except in the brass. Clouds of interstellar dust. Shining places: star clusters in a constellation. Very dense harmonies in the woodwinds, clusters in the middle range, chords with complete chromatics, chords going down from the high voices to the medium range, and up from the low voices to the medium range, simultaneous inversion, spots of color, circling. The main theme rises in five stages from the low ranges, taking with it all the strings, all the chimes, the xylophones and the percussion instruments in a mighty crescendo [...] 10. Then the chorale, victorious in fortissimo: ‘Glory to God in the highest!’ tutti (homophony across four octaves); the melody soars above the main theme: diminished fifths rising then falling. 9 IX. Numerous Birds in the Trees of Life ‘The Tree of Life symbolizes the humanity of the Eternal Word.’ (Dom J. de Monléon) ‘The elect shall pick the fruits of this miraculous tree and they shall sing in its branches like the birds.’ (Dom J. de Monléon: “Le sens mystique de l’Apocalypse”). What could have more enticement for a composer who is at the same time an ornithologist than to picture eternal life as a boundless ‘tree’ representing Christ, in whose branches the elect sing like birds and pick luscious fruits? These fruits are the gifts of God, although they could perhaps also be the merits of the elect. At the same time, this picture is a symbol of the peace of the saints in the arms of Christ. Eighteen woodwinds, all playing fuori di tempo, reproduce the songs of twenty-five birds, each of which twitters its own theme and does so in a tempo all its own [...] X. The Way of the Invisible ‘Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’ (John, Chapter 14, Verse 50ff.) We must travel this way all through life. But we only reach the goal in death. The search for the way: the melody arises quickly in the strings. There follows a fortissimo martelé [a staccato that must be played especially powerfully] in circling

harmonies. The melody sinks staccato into the woodwinds, while the xylophones pipe up irregularly. Impression of a crowd climbing up a hill. The theme played by the brass is made up of augmented fourths rising and falling. Not a moment of peace in this musical setting [...] The way is long, the ascent hard. Only Christ can bring light to this difficult, stony way which leads to peace on the summit of the illuminated mount. XI. Christ, Light of Paradise ‘And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.’ (Revelation of John, Chapter 21, Verse 23) ‘And his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.’ (Revelation of John, Chapter 22, Verse 3ff.) ‘For the Lord God giveth them light.’ (Revelation of John, Chapter 22, Verse 5) It is the final arrival, happiness, paradise, the light that is Christ Himself and illuminates eternity. The slow, tenderly sounding musical setting is rendered by the first violins, muted, and accompanied by six second solo violins, six solo violas and two solo cellos [...] The pianissimo trills on the three triangles give the entire piece a tender, faraway vibration. The fifth movement, Abiding in Love, also played by the strings, was a hymn to divine love and illuminated the middle part of the way that must be traversed. Now this last, eleventh movement, is the consummation of the whole of life. The Earth is far away. Time waved away. We stand in the presence of happiness that never ends. The infinite love of Christ lives in the soul that beholds Him [...]