The Musical Language of Olivier Messiaen in Vingt Regards sur L’Enfant - Jésus (1944)

Abstract

Olivier Messiaen’s iconic importance to the 21^st century musical aesthetic is culturally and compositionally acknowledged.  The massive piano cycle ‘Twenty Contemplations of the Infant Jesus’ profoundly corroborates this expressive and artistic genius.  The discussion and musical presentation will illustrate the profound power of Messiaen’s transformational historical position, through Messaien’s inspiration of Roman Catholicism, the cycle’s salient characteristics, and the compositional tools. This presentation correlates the structural parameters through three of the Regard: Regards du Père, Première communion de la Vierge, and Le baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus.