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Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux : le style oiseau as reflected in La buse variable

Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux : from conception to performance

Roderick Chadwick and Peter Hill give a detailed account of the evolution of Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux for piano solo, from its initial conception in the Black Forest in 1953 to its completion and premiere in the Parisian 'Concerts du Domaine Musical' at the end of the decade. Through close examination of the composer's birdsong cahiers they demonstrate how Messiaen translated nature into music in a way that had a major impact on his later work. They also consider issues of performance, and Messiaen's artistic relationship with his dedicatee and wife-to-be, Yvonne Loriod, including the significance of her two recordings of the cycle. This book illuminates the Catalogue from a variety of angles: its historical significance, as a study of how mimicry of nature can be transformed into music of mesmeric originality, and as a guide that offers a wealth of fresh insights to listeners and performers.

Online EBSCO Academic Comprehensive Collection

Blinding moment : four pieces about composers

Writing from his background as a conservatory-trained musician and his lifelong passion Gert Jonke (born in 1946) has produced literary works in every genre involving the lives and works of various composers. This volume includes four pieces in several forms - a prose poem in tribute to Olivier Messiaen's great piano work "Catalogue d'oiseaux", which gives the title to the piece; a short story in the form of recollections by George Frederick Handel during the last hours of his life; a play ("Gentle Rage") in which Ludwig van Beethoven figures as the alternately despondent and triumphant main character; and a novella whose point of departure is the bizarre, accidental shooting death of Anton Webern in 1945 ("Blinding Moment").